Chef Johns Flour Tortillas Food

CHEF JOHN'S CORN TORTILLAS

Steps:

• Add masa harina to a large bowl. Sprinkle in salt and add hot tap water. Stir mixture with your fingers until dough starts to pull together.
• Knead for a few minutes to smooth it out until texture resembles modeling clay or putty. Add more water if dough is too dry and more flour if too wet.
• Place a damp towel and over the dough to keep it from drying out. Let rest for 20 to 30 minutes.
• Cut a zip-top bag into 2 rounds the same size as your tortilla press. Place 1 round on the bottom of the press.
• Place a clean kitchen towel over a pie dish for holding the cooked tortillas later.
• Pull off a little piece of the dough, enough to roll into a 1 1/2-inch or 1-ounce ball. Remove the top round of plastic, place dough ball in the center of the bottom round, and press down lightly. Cover dough with the top piece of plastic.
• Fold the tortilla press over, apply pressure to the lever arm until tortilla flattens to your desired thinness.
• Peel off the top piece of plastic. Line up the index finger of your dominant hand with the edge of the tortilla; flip it over into your other hand. Carefully peel off the plastic.
• Gently slide tortilla, palm-up, into a hot, dry pan over medium- to medium-high heat. Cook first side for 30 to 45 seconds. Turn over and cook second side for 1 minute. Flip and press once or twice with a spatula until tortilla puffs up slightly. Cook for 30 seconds more. Flip one last time and cook for 5 to 10 seconds.
• Quickly transfer tortilla to the pie dish and fold the towel over to wrap it up. Repeat pressing and cooking the rest of the tortilla dough, stacking and wrapping as you go.
• Leave the stack of tortillas wrapped until soft and supple, at least 15 minutes.

CHEF JOHN'S FLOUR TORTILLAS

Steps:

• Whisk flour, salt, and baking powder together in a large bowl. Add vegetable shortening and work into flour mixture using a pastry cutter until it resembles coarse crumbs.
• Form a well in the middle of flour mixture and mix in hot water. Work flour and water mixture together with a fork and transfer to a cutting board.
• Knead until a smooth, soft dough is formed, about 3 minutes. Add more flour if dough is too sticky.
• Place more flour on cutting board, cover dough with bowl, and let rest for 15 minutes.
• Cut ball of dough into eight equal parts and cover until needed.
• Roll out balls of dough either by hand or with a tortilla press.
• Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Place flattened tortilla in skillet and cook until it begins to bubble, about 1 minute. Flip tortilla over and cook for an additional minute. Flip again and cook for 1 more minute. Repeat with remaining dough.

FLOUR TORTILLAS

Steps:

• In a food processor combine 2 3/4 cups of the flour (reserve the remaining flour for rolling out the dough) with the lard or shortening.
• Pulse several times until the fat is evenly distributed throughout the flour and no particles of fat are visible.
• Dissolve the salt in 2/3 cup of the warm water.
• With the machine running, pour the liquid through the feed tube in a steady stream and stop the machine once the dough has come together in a ball.
• Feel the dough; it should be a medium-stiff consistency, not too firm but not as soft as most bread doughs.
• If the dough is too stiff, divide it into several pieces, sprinkle with 1 or 2 tablespoons of the remaining water and process again until a ball forms.
• Divide the dough into 12 portions, roll into balls and place on a flat surface or plate.
• Cover with plastic wrap and allow dough to rest for at least 30 minutes.
• On a lightly floured surface roll each ball into a 7-inch circle by flattening the ball of dough, lightly flouring it, and with a rolling pin rolling forward and backward over the dough, then turn it a sixth of a turn and roll forward and backward again.
• Repeat the turning and rolling process until a 7-inch circle is formed, re-flouring the work surface as necessary.
• Place the tortilla on a plate and cover with plastic wrap.
• Repeat the rolling out process for the remaining 11 balls of dough.
• Heat a flat cast iron griddle over moderately high heat.
• Lay a tortilla on the griddle and cook for 20 to 45 seconds until tortilla bubbles and lightly browns on the underside.
• Flip the tortilla and cook it for another 30 to 45 seconds.
• The tortilla should be lightly browned but still soft and flexible.
• Transfer the cooked tortilla to a heavy towel and wrap it up.
• Cook the remaining tortillas in a similar manner and store stacked in the towel to keep them warm and soft.
• Tortillas can be stored in a sealable plastic bag and refrigerated until ready for use.
• To reheat the tortillas, tuck them in an"envelope" made out of aluminum foil and heat in a 325°F oven for 10 to 15 minutes.