Mexico: Tortillas

Hello fellow food lovers!

I love tortillas and I eat them relatively often, because they are quick to do and can be made so different every time. There are absolutely no limits in what you can wrap inside them. What made my tortillas different from usual this time? Well, me and my boyfriend decided to make even the flatbread by ourselves. I have never tried to do it before, but since I eat them so often I've felt obliged to try it at least once. Surprisingly, the difference was astonishing. The fresh, warm bread baked on a cast iron pan was so much tastier than the hard and chewy ones you can buy from the store wrapped in plastic. And they weren't even complicated to do. Usually if something is not complicated in cooking, it means that there are long waiting times, but it wasn't like that either. The dough must only rest for 10 minutes or so. One more thing which has to be mentioned is the lovely smell of fresh bread which floats around the kitchen long after... Did I already manage to talk you into trying it? I hope so, because here's the recipe!

Tortilla Flatbread

5,5 dl Flour (I used 5 dl of wheat flour, and ½ dl of wholegrain Spelt flour (self-ground))
~1 tsp Salt
~1 tsp Baking powder
½ dl Olive Oil (I also ran into recipes which used vegetable shortener or lard, but since neither is available in my local stores, I decided to go with this version)
2 dl Water

Just mix the flour, salt and baking powder together in a bowl, then measure the liquids and add them in. Knead the ingredients to make an even dough. Pour the dough on a floured surface and form it into a rod. Divide the rod into ten pieces and roll them into balls. Let the balls of dough rest for ten-ish minutes. You can use that time for preparing the fillings for your tortillas, for example. When the time has passed, use a rolling pin to roll them out to make circular "pancakes". Heat up a cast-iron pan on a stove, but don't use any oil or butter anymore. You're supposed to bake the bread on a dry, hot surface. Keep the stove on medium-high temperature. When it is hot, bake the "pancakes" one at a time. 30 seconds per side should be enough, but you'll know the right time by observing the down side of the bread. When some brown spots start to appear, you may turn it.

I recommend you to enjoy them fresh and warm! But if some will be left over, you can turn them into a healthier version of tortilla chips by toasting them in the oven until crispy. Or then you can do it like we did, because there was one left over tortilla and we forgot it on the table, and the next day it was already pretty hard and tasted just like unsalted tortilla chips. This proves that you must never be afraid of failure in the kitchen because who knows, it might lead to some awesome discoveries!

Fillings are completely up to your imagination. Our tortillas were filled with salad composed of crispy ice-salad, tomatoes, cucumber and mandarin pieces, accompanied with fried and seasoned minced chicken meat, and self made (sour cream-based) salad dressing. Later in the evening the salad dressing also worked as dip for the chips. Note, that this meal can be made fully vegan.