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Bacon. Fat. Tortillas.

Yes, you heard that right!  This is a super simple recipe that you can make at home without any special equipment.  Home-made tortillas are miles apart from anything you can find at the grocery store and once you see how quickly these come together, it’ll be hard to go back.

What you need:

Flour

All Purpose flour is best here

Salt

I use Mortons Coarse Kosher

Baking Powder

This is what gives the tortillas a slight chew

Bacon Fat

The star ingredient!  Before you make the tortillas, cook up a batch of bacon and strain the bacon fat into a jar.  Allow the fat to cool completely before using-it’s best right out of the fridge.

Warm Water

Not too hot, not too cold-just warm enough to soften the bacon fat while mixing the dough.

How to make the tortillas:

Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl.  Add the cold bacon fat and work it into the flour with your hands.  Pour in the warm water and mix to form a dough.  Turn the dough out onto a work surface and knead until it’s smooth and elastic, about 4-5 minutes.  Cover with a damp towel and rest for 15 minutes.  Divide into the dough into 16 equal sized pieces (each will weigh about 35 grams) and shape into balls.  Keep covered with a damp towel. 

Heat a cast iron skillet or griddle on high heat.  Flatten one dough ball with the palm of your hand, then gently roll it out as thin as you can (about 6 inches in diameter).  A small rolling pin is the best option here, but any will work.  

Immediately set on the hot skillet-you will have a second or two to reshape the tortilla if needed (just like pancakes-the first one is always the practice tortilla!).  It will begin to puff up almost immediately.  After 30-60 seconds, flip it over and cook for another 30-60 seconds.  It’s fun to make these with someone-one person works on rolling out the dough while the other cooks the tortillas-it speed up the process quite a bit!

Cover the cooked tortillas with a dry kitchen towel to keep them nice and warm.  Repeat the process with the next dough ball until all 16 tortillas finished.  Enjoy right away, or store in the refrigerator.  Reheat on a cast iron skillet or quickly place over a burner on the stove.  Enjoy!