Tortillas

Flour, grease, salt, and water are all you need to make these soft, chewy, easy tortillas.

Spend a few minutes to mix your ingredients and form the dough into balls. Cover with a damp cloth and let them sit for several hours or overnight. After they have rested roll them out and cook them, one at a time, on a dry iron skillet.

Now comes the hard part. You have to ignore everything you've ever learned about putting something warm into a plastic bag. If you are not using them right away, put them into a plastic bag while they are still warm. They will stay soft for a few days if you do this.

TORTILLAS

Whisk together 2 1/2 cups flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Cut in 1/4 cup bacon grease until mixture looks like coarse crumbs.

Pour in 3/4 cup boiling water and mix together. Form into 1 1/2" diameter balls. This recipe makes 8-10 tortillas that easily fit in a 9" or 10" iron skillet.

Place the formed balls of dough on a plate, cover with a damp cloth, and let sit at room temperature for 2-8 hours. The longer these rest the easier they are to roll out and they make softer tortillas.

When ready to cook, roll them out to 1/8" thickness on a lightly floured surface and cook, one at a time, on a hot dry iron skillet. Cook each side for just a minute or less. Let them get a few warm brown spots. They puff up while cooking and then flatten again when removed. Let each tortilla cool briefly, but put it into a plastic bag while it is still slightly warm. The tortillas can be placed right on top of each other in the same resealable plastic bag.

When the bag has cooled to room temperature place it in the refrigerator until ready to use.

To make whole wheat tortillas replace a portion of the all purpose white flour with wheat. Wheat tortillas have a nice nutty wheat taste but they do not keep well like tortillas made with 100% all purpose flour.