Flour Tortillas or Yeastless Naans(?)
Flour tortillas or yeastless naans
Flour Tortillas or Yeastless Naans(?)
The other day, I had finished cooking the ground chicken, made the guacamole, and made the salsa. I reached into the refrigerator and pulled out the tortillas to heat them on the pan only to discover that they were moldy! I did not have enough toppings to make taco bowls that would be satiating and needed some form of carbs on the plate, so I did the next best thing and Google’d. I found and halved this recipe for Homemade Flour Tortillas and replaced the call for lard with vegetable shortening. I have no clue if they’re authentic, but in a pinch, they worked for me.
However, as I was eating them, I realized that they weren’t rolled super thin, so they seemed to take on this almost naan-like quality. So I figured that the next day, I might as well try to make mini naans to enjoy with some chicken curry. They actually turned out pretty great!
I believe the reason this works is that the shortening has a higher melting point than butter which allows it to not burn as easily while on the pan. It gains its leavening abilities from baking powder and inherits the right amount of flavor from the salt. Anyways, this comes together really easily and it’s definitely difficult to go wrong with this recipe.
Quick notes/tips before starting
When “grilling” on the pan, it is probably best to occasionally wipe off the excess flour from the pan using a paper towel in order to prevent excess flour from burning and passing that burnt smell to the other tortillas.
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp vegetable shortening
3/4 cups water
Items
rolling pin
floured surface
large bowl for mixing
Instructions
Combine the flour, salt, and baking powder in a mixing bowl with fingers.
Mix in the vegetable shortening with your fingers until the flour resembles cornmeal.
Add the water and mix until the dough comes together. Add more flour by the tbsp if the mixture is too wet.
Knead for a few minutes until smooth and elastic.
Heat a skillet over medium-high heat.
Pull apart a 1-inch diameter piece from the dough.
Lightly flour the working surface. Do not flour too heavily or there will not be enough surface tension to roll out the dough.
Roll the small piece of dough into a ball between the palms of your hands.
Press flat onto the surface and sprinkle the top with flour.
Dust the rolling pin with some additional flour and roll the dough flat. The thinner the piece, the closer to a tortilla it is. The thicker the piece, the more similar to a naan the end result will be.
Repeat steps 5-10 for the remaining dough.
For each tortilla/naan, place onto hot skillet and cook until bubbly and golden.
Flip and continue cooking until golden on the other side.
Thoughts
Is it possible to create other flavors of naan/tortilla by adding garlic salt for example?
I would imagine that because the quantity of shortening/lard is so minimal that it would definitely be possible to substitute butter for either shortening/lard.
Is there a difference in adding regular room temperature water as opposed to warm water?