Homemade Flour Tortillas

So after my fiasco last month trying to make tortillas (see "Homemade Tortillas" from July '10), my friend Lisa gave me this recipe to try. She gave me 2 sample tortillas also, to prove that she had successfully done this. So I would know it wasn't a practical joke. She got the recipe from allrecipes.com. I have had varying degrees of success with that website. Anyway here is the recipe.

Homemade Flour Tortillas
4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp lard (I used olive oil)
1 1/2 cups water

Whisk the flour, salt, and baking powder together in a mixing bowl. Mix in the lard with your fingers until the flour resembles cornmeal. Add the water and mix until the dough comes together; place on a lightly floured surface and knead a few minutes until smooth and elastic. Divide the dough into 24 equal pieces (cha, right) and roll each piece into a ball. Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Use a well-floured rolling pin to roll a dough ball into a thin, round tortilla (oh, no problem). Place into the hot skillet and cook until bubbly and golden; flip and continue cooking until golden on the other side. Place the cooked tortilla in a tortilla warmer; continue rolling and cooking the remaining dough.

I think you can guess how this went for me. Emma came in as I was putting the ingredients together, and wanted to help. So we did this together. That was the only good thing about it!! We did okay until it was time to divide the dough into 24 equal pieces. I did attempt this. But when it was time to roll them out, even rolling them as thin as I possibly could, #1 they were not round, not even close, and #2 they were so small they looked like you would use them for a doll tea party. So then I put 2 balls together and rolled them out. The shape improved somewhat, but they were as thin as I could get them, so thin that they ripped a little when I transferred them from the pastry mat to the skillet, but once they hit the skillet, they rose so much that I think they were too thick. Lisa's didn't look like that. So, big fail (again). I have totally given up on homemade tortillas and will only be using store-bought from now on.

It was a very nice time with Emma though. I was getting frustrated with the dough, which was not always cooperative about being rolled into a circle. At one point Steve came in and I kind of snapped at him, just a little, and Emma said "Don't worry Daddy, she's not mad at you, she's mad at the dough." Ha!