Tender, Flaky Whole Wheat Flour Tortillas

Ingredients

2 cups (240 g) whole wheat flour

½ cup (60 g) all-purpose flour

1½ teaspoons baking powder

1½ teaspoons kosher salt

5½ tablespoons (70 g) lard, chilled and cut into small pieces

Scant ¾ cup (180 ml) barely warm water

Directions

Stir together the whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Toss the lard pieces in the flour to coat them and then work the lard into the flour as you would for a pie crust, pinching the flour and lard between thumb and fingers to break it into smaller bits and sort of smear the lard into the flour. Do this until the mixture looks like very coarse cornmeal; it's okay if a few larger bits remain.

Pour in about half of the water, stirring gently to moisten all the flour. Add more until all the dry powdery bits have been incorporated and you have a dough that holds together easily when you squeeze it; it should feel like soft Play-Doh. Depending on your flours, you may need to add a few more teaspoons of water.

Knead gently for one or two more strokes then wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes or up to overnight.

Divide the dough into 10 pieces and roll each into a ball. Work with 1 portion at a time and keep the rest covered loosely with plastic wrap. You'll need to use a bit of flour to keep it from sticking, but the dough should be fairly easy to work with, so don't overflour.

Flatten the dough ball with your fingers and press it out to a disk that's 4 or 5 inches (10 or 13 cm) across, then switch to a rolling pin and roll until very thin and about 9 inches (23 cm) in diameter. Roll between sheets of parchment to manage stickiness

Heat a heavy skillet—a cast-iron pan is ideal-over medium-high heat until the pan is quite hot. Flop the tortilla into the pan; if you get a few pleats, try to straighten them out quickly, but don't stress if your first few aren't perfect.

Cook the tortilla until you see bubbles forming and the underside looks dry and has plenty of brown spots, then flip and cook the second side. Total cooking time will only be 1½ to 2 minutes. You can flip a few times if needed to get the tortilla cooked evenly. You want it fully cooked, but cooking it too long will make it brittle and harder to roll. Tuck into a clean cloth napkin to keep warm and continue shaping and cooking the remaining tortillas.

If you don't want to serve all 10 tortillas now, only cook what you want and wrap the other dough balls individually in plastic and refrigerate for up to 1 day, or wrap and freeze for up to 2 months. Thaw at room temperature for a few hours, then cook per the instructions.

Notes

Homemade flour tortillas are a huge upgrade from the kind you buy in the store, which are usually uninspiring at best, not much more than neutral delivery vehicles for whatever you're wrapping them around. These homemade ones, in contrast, are tender and flaky, with all the right puffed and browned bits and the nutty taste of whole wheat flour. The most amazing thing is that they are super simple to make. You do need lard, however, which is traditional in most Mexican flour-tortilla-making. Once you get past the name, you'll realize that lard is just another all-natural animal fat, like butter or schmaltz; lard actually contains less saturated and

more monounsaturated fat than butter. The best lard for baking is leaf lard, a very delicate white fat from a certain part of the pig. It can be hard to find other than online (though you can make your own), but mass-market brands such as Armour are widely available. Just be sure you buy it from the refrigerated section and that it contains only pork fat. The shelf-stable brands often contain hydrogenated vegetable shortening. Or play with another type of fat. Some superstar Mexican chefs are making tortillas using avocado oil or duck fat. Yum. I like to make a batch of tortilla dough, portion it, cook up a few tortillas, then keep a couple of dough balls in the fridge for the next day and the rest in the freezer. Let the frozen dough thaw on the counter for a couple of hours, and you have fresh warm tortillas whenever you want. —Makes ten 9-inch (23 cm) tortillas