I've been doing a lot of meal prepping lately to keep the grocery costs down and make sure that we are all have healthy yet yummy meals available throughout the week. I've recently started making my own tortillas and refried beans.
Store bought tortillas often are loaded with salt and need preservatives to love on the shelf, not to mention they can cost $1 a tortilla. I calculated one burrito dinner to be nearly $20 after we added up all our costs with store bought products. I reduced this cost by half by making everything from scratch, improved the nutrition of the meals, reduced the calories and increased the taste factor by a million. If I get a couple requests, I will post my simple recipe for traditional but healthy tortillas and homemade frijoles refritos.
Store bought tortillas often are loaded with salt and need preservatives to love on the shelf, not to mention they can cost $1 a tortilla. I calculated one burrito dinner to be nearly $20 after we added up all our costs with store bought products. I reduced this cost by half by making everything from scratch, improved the nutrition of the meals, reduced the calories and increased the taste factor by a million. If I get a couple requests, I will post my simple recipe for traditional but healthy tortillas and homemade frijoles refritos.
Mix the flour, baking powder and sea salt together first, then add the warm water and olive oil. Mix with a wooden spoon until it becomes ineffective, then knead on a flour covered surface for 3 more minutes to break up the gluten (wheat proteins).
You will end up with a ball of dough, I roll this into a thick roll and break it into 3 or 4 even parts and make those into smaller balls. 3 balls makes 3 medium tortillas that fit in a 12' pan, 4 makes 4 9" tortillas.
You can store the dough balls covered in the fridge or make the tortillas. I press them into a thick disk in my hand then put them on a flour covered surface. Next I use a rolling pin to flatten it out. This takes time to learn as you need to go in all directions to keep it round. You will only get about one roll in each direction, then you flip it and repeat. I keep flipping it every time I get it as thin as it will go on that side. The rule of thumb here is that it is thin enough once you can start to see the surface you are rolling on through the tortilla (it's thinner than you think).
To cook I put a pan on the stove top, heat to medium high, rub some olive oil into it with a paper towel and once hot, place the tortilla on it. I flip frequently to avoid burning it until it has golden brown spots on both sides and has gone from translucent to white everywhere else.
These are delicious and fresh. I'll put up the simple recipe for refried beans tomorrow or the next day.