These recipes come from the Wycliffe Cookbook, put out by the Wycliffe Bible Translators. I do not know if it is available to the public; I got mine from my translator brother.

Corn Tortillas:

Stir together in a saucepan over low heat: 1 1/2 cups boiling water, 1 cup cornmeal, 3 tablespoons butter, 1 teaspoon salt. Remove from heat, cover for 5 minutes. Add 1 cup (or more) flour until not sticky or stiff.

Pinch off balls about walnut size; roll each very thin on floured surface. The more rolling pins the better, or you will be at this a long time. I usually have one person make balls, two or three rolling, while I fry them. To make plain tortillas, fry on hot ungreased skillet (I have an iron pan just the right size), turning once. You want to watch and experiment with the frying time and temperature. You want it cooked through, but not much brown at all; they need to be pliable. If they brown around the edges, they've been cooked too long.

Flour Tortillas:

Combine 4 cups flour with 2 teaspoons salt. Cut in 6 tablespoons shortening or oil. Add 1 cup water. Form a ball. Add more water if necessary until bowl is clear of all dough (kind of like making pie dough). Knead well on floured surface and make balls the size of an egg. Let stand for 15 minutes (important; this gives the dough time to relax, making the rolling easier). Roll thin to about the size of a salad plate. Cook as for corn tortillas.

Sometimes we fry them in oil; an inch for flats, more for tacos. The flats (I forget the Mexican name) are good for refried beans, but if you're doing ground meat, better use tacos. I have seen specially shaped pans for baking tacos, but I never wanted to pay the price. If you hold the tortilla in oil with a can (empty, with bottom cut out), the edges will curl around to make a bowl shape.

Another snack idea is to make the plain, fried kind (no grease), then cut them in eighths, pie-wise, and fry in oil for chips.

There is a better flour tortilla recipe, I think, which uses baking powder. If any of you know that recipe, please share it!

-- Cathy N. (keeper8@attcanada.ca), October 16, 2001

Answers

Thanks Cathy, I am going to print these and try them! I've never made them before so I hope it will work. Do you use whole-wheat flour or white, or a combination of both?

-- Melissa (cmnorris@1st.net), October 16, 2001.

Melissa, I have only used white flour, but the cookbook says you can half-and-half it with whole wheat. Try it and see. The thing I like best about this particular cookbook is that it has so many suggestions for substituting ingredients, that you could almost make anything in the book no matter what's in your cupboard.

-- Cathy N. (keeper8@attcanada.ca), October 16, 2001.

I've got a recipe for Maria's tortilla. They're made with whole wheat flour, sesame seed, unbleached flour, onion, sage/chicken seasonings, water and walnuts salt and garlic. I don't remember the exact amounts. The book is packed. If you want the exact recipe, I'll post it as soon as I find the book. These are delicious. I usually eat them with bulgar burger, another very healthy recipe from the same book, delicious and economical if you're stocked up on whole grains.

-- Cindy (S.E.IN) (atilrthehony@countrylife.net), October 17, 2001.

Printing..printing...printing........ :o)

-- Alison in N.S. (aproteau@istar.ca), October 17, 2001.

Oh, Hey! I forgot to say that if you are frying flats in oil, keep a potato masher handy to keep them flat. If you don't, they will puff up and you will have fried balloons!!

-- Cathy N. (keeper8@attcanada.ca), October 17, 2001.

Cathy,

Can you store these? If so, how and how long? I buy the one in the refrigerator section of the store and they taste like paper wads.

-- Charleen in WNY (harperhill@eznet.net), October 17, 2001.

Charleen, I don't know if you can store them or not. We have never had enough leftovers to store. What isn't consumed for supper is eaten for lunch the next day; overnight I just put them in a bread bag on the counter.

-- Cathy N. (keeper8@attcanada.ca), October 17, 2001.

Here are 3 Recipes that use baking powder that I use:

Recipe #1 (I use this one the most) 3 cups Bread Flour 3 teaspoons Baking Powder 1 Teaspoon Sea Salt 6 Tablespoons: Lard/Shortening/Oil (non-soy vegetable/corn/canola) I split the 6 tablespoons between the Lard and Oil. So far the best is 2 Lard 4 Oil 1+ cups warm water (not hot - skin temp) ////////// Recipe #2 2 cups Bread Flour 3 teaspoons Baking Powder 1 Teaspoon Salt 1/4 cup Lard, chilled 3/4 cup Warm Water

/////////// Recipe #3 (I use this one the most) 4 cups Flour 1 teaspoon Baking Powder 1 Teaspoon Salt 2 Tablespoons Lard 1/2 cup Warm Milk

Directions: 1. Mix all dry ingredients in wide bowl. 2. Add oil and lard and mix well with hands. 3. Add water while kneading dough until all flour is used and it has the consistency of bread dough. 4. Divide into 16 small balls and leave in the bowl, covered with a towel for 10 - 15 minutes. 5. Pat out each ball by hand. 6. Roll out each circle as thin as possible. 7. Cook as normal

To get really thin Tortillas (My family really likes them thin); 1. Place an already rolled out tortilla 2. Sprinkle and rub flour on the top 3. Place a second Tortilla on top 4. Roll out both Tortillas as thin as possible 5. Separate 6. Cook The flour keeps the tortillas from merging and both together allow a thinner rolling.

//////////////// I haven't tried recipe #3 yet, but I was going to use warm milk in my next batch for #1.

;o) John

-- V. John Kelly, Jr. (haven@ntwrld.com), December 26, 2001.