Homemade Flour Tortillas- A Comparison

So yesterday, I decided I wanted to make some homemade flour tortillas for dinner. I then set off to find a recipe. A friend of mine, Liz sent me hers and I found THIS one on Homesick Texan.

I couldn't decide which to make so I decided to do both and hubby (the mexican food lover) and I would weigh in.

Recipe 1-Liz's
Ingredients
1 1/2 C all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tablespoons lard, butter, canola or other neutral oil
about 1/2 C warm water, plus more as needed.


Recipe 2
Ingredients
Texas Flour Tortillas (adapted from The Border Cookbook by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison)
Ingredients:
Two cups of all-purpose flour (can make them whole wheat by substituting one cup of whole-wheat flour for white flour)
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of vegetable oil
3/4 cups of warm milk

Here is how it went.

First in my Kitchen aid stand mixer I put the ingredients for recipe #1, let it form into a ball and knead for a few minutes until it was somewhat elastic-y (nope, that isn't a word but I am going to use it)

I put the dough ball into a bowl (the blue one).

Then I repeated this process with the ingredients for recipe #2. That went into the silver bowl.

I covered them both with a towel and let rest for a good 30ish minutes (it should be at least 20).

Then I took the dough ball out onto a floured surface and decided that they felt like the needed more kneading (that's a mouthful!) I kneaded both balls until they were where I thought they should be.

Then I separated them into 8 pieces each and placed them on a plate and covered with a towel to rest again for another 20ish minutes (should be at least 10). I put the plates on their corresponding bowls just to keep them straight. As you can see Recipe #2 has larger dough balls because it had more flour- though both recipes said they made 8, so that is what I stuck to.
After they had rested I started with the blue bowl because they had been first all along and I wanted to be fair with resting time.

I took one ball at a time and took it into my hands, starting in the middle I pressed it into an evenly flat disc and placed it on a floured surface. Then I flattened the rest of the way making it as even as possible.
Then I took a rolling pin and rolled it out THIN and they rolled out very easily. (even though my rolling skills are sub par and not all of them came out looking like perfectly round circles) I did this for all 16 balls.

I had Recipe #2 in the lead, because it had felt better while kneading. After rolling I started to think perhaps they were about even and maybe #1 had a slight edge because it rolled out nicer.

At this point I heated a non-stick skillet (because I don't have a cast-iron one, but if you are cooler than I am use that) and I heated it over medium/medium-high heat (I found a 7 on my stove worked well).

I cooked 1 tortilla from #1 - for about 1.5-2 minutes on each side (I flipped the first time when nice bubbles started to appear)- I then tore off 1/4 for myself and 1/4 for hubby- took it to him and interrupted his practice time at the piano and had him try it. He said they were great!

So I went back and cooked 1 tortilla from #2- same thing about 1.5-2 minutes each side (this one didn't show bubbles)

I then interrupted hubby again and said ok tell me which one you like better. He said he didn't really notice a difference so I brought him another piece of #1 and had him compare that way.

His thoughts (and I came to similar conclusions)
#1- thinner and not as chewy
#2- thicker, a little softer and chewy

He chose #1 as did I. We had some vegetarian taco's for dinner with these. They were great!

#2 was very good as well- they tasted almost exactly the same but the thickness of the 2nd tortilla made it kind of bready (which made it great for eating with some butter later (yum) ) but for mexican food we liked the thinner variety.

#1 on Left #2 on Right

As you can see #1 looks thinner and a little more crispy whereas #2 looks thicker, softer and more bready.

You can keep these stored in a plastic bag or tinfoil for a few days in the fridge.

Depending on your "likes" for Mexican food either tortilla is a good option but in our house we will definitely make #1 again!

Have a great day and God Bless!