Adela (Lita) Lerma's Homemade Tortillas

My mom has been making tortillas ever since I can remember. The only problem is she has never measured anything with any cooking or baking utensils. Mom actually uses the lines of the palm of her hand to measure and the feel of the dough to determine if it is right. So I have done my best to try to capture the measurements of her tortilla recipe.

2.5 lbs of flour

1 heaping soup spoon of salt

1 tsp of baking powder

1 handful (from the fingertips to the main crease of your hand) of Crisco

hot water (almost boiling - hot enough to make kneading the dough with your hands uncomfortable) - hot water is added until the dough feels right.

Knead the dough until it feels right and then make small round dough "patties". Not balls, but patty-like so you can then roll them into tortillas. Heat on a comal at medium high heat. It the comal isn't hot enough, the tortillas will cook too slowly and be hard. Also note if you add too much baking powder, the tortillas will also become hard. It's really a learning process to get the dough correct. Even my mom, when out of practice, can make a hard tortillas.

Dough "patty" topside view

Dough "patty" underside view

Dough "patty" side view

Standard comal

Rolling the dough "patty" into tortilla form

Tortilla