November 7, 2011: Blue Corn Flour Tortillas

I’ve shared a recipe or two using the new corn/flour tortillas I’ve found at my local grocery store such as this one for Lite Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas. Rather than buy another package, I decided to use the blue corn meal I had on hand to make my own version of these tortillas. Here’s what I came up – a tortilla that would be just as good in a taco recipe as a burrito or enchilada recipe.

Blue Corn Flour Tortillas

1 cup flour

1 cup blue corn meal*

1 t. baking powder

1 t. salt

3 T. shortening or bacon grease or lard

¾ cup warm water

Combine dry ingredients. Cut in shortening until thoroughly mixed in (like pie crust). Sprinkle on the water and mix with a fork. Form into a ball. Cover with a damp cloth and let rest for 15 minutes.

When dough has rested, pinch off small pieces of doll and roll into a ball. Flatten the balls as you would a hamburger patty. On a lightly floured surface, roll tortilla dough into a very thin circle (this may take some practice).

Heat a flat griddle to medium high. Place tortillas, one at a time, on the griddle and cook for about a minute per side, just until the dough gets slightly charred.

To use tortillas, fry briefly in very hot oil for soft tortillas, or cook longer and shape to make crispy taco shells.

*You may need to special order or visit a Latin grocery store in order to find the blue corn meal. For those of my readers who live locally, I found this ingredient at Cole’s in Clay Springs.