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Flour Tortillas


6 cups flour
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup lard or vegetable shortening
2 cups hot water

Stir together the flour, salt,and baking powder in a large bowl. Add the lard or shortening, and rub it in with your fingers. The flour will feel kind of heavy, but not meal-like, when it's all rubbed in.

Add the hot water, and knead the dough. If you have a heavy-duty mixer with a dough hook, you can use that to knead it. Don't try it in a bread machine though, the dough is too stiff and could damage the motor. If you are kneading by hand, ten minutes or so is sufficient; by mixer, five minutes.

Let the dough rest for another fifteen minutes after kneading.

Break off golf-ball sized balls of dough, roll them out thin, and bake on a heated griddle, medium heat. If the heat is too high, the tortillas will scorch.

If it is too low, they won't cook fast enough and may also burn. Experiment with different heat settings until you find one that is sufficient, since all stoves are different.

If the dough is hard to roll, or tears easily, it wasn't kneaded enough.