Flour Tortillas

While I have not yet mastered the fine art of rolling a tortilla out thinly into a nice round circle, these are still amazingly good.  Much better than the sad bags of Old El Paso tortillas you'll find in Montreal ... not to mention cheaper!  I still can't believe they charge more than $3 for 8 - 10 tortillas.

Flour Tortillas (from Homesick Texan ... adapted from The Border Cookbook by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison)

Ingredients

2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vegetable oil
3/4 cups warm milk

1. Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and oil.
2. Slowly add the warm milk.
3. Stir until a loose, sticky ball is formed.
4. Knead for two minutes on a floured surface. Dough should be firm and soft.
5. Place dough in a bowl and cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap for 20 minutes.
6. After the dough has rested, break off eight sections, roll them into balls in your hands, place on a plate (make sure they aren’t touching) and then cover balls with damp cloth or plastic wrap for 10 minutes. (It’s very important to let the dough rest, otherwise it will be like elastic and won’t roll out to a proper thickness and shape.)
7. After dough has rested, one at a time place a dough ball on a floured surface, pat it out into a four-inch circle, and then roll with a rolling pin from the center until it’s thin and about eight inches in diameter. (If you roll out pie crusts you’ll have no problem with this.) Don’t over work the dough, or it’ll be stiff. Keep rolled-out tortillas covered until ready to cook.
8. In a dry iron skillet or comal heated on high, cook the tortilla about thirty seconds on each side. It should start to puff a bit when it’s done.
9. Keep cooked tortillas covered wrapped in a napkin until ready to eat.