Whole Wheat Tortillas

Don't you love it when you go to the store and forget something so basic as bread?  Even when it's on your list!  Yeah, I did that.  On Saturday night. 

I didn't want to go to the store for a special bread-buying trip for a couple of reasons:  1.  waste of gas to buy only one thing.  2.  I am an impulse shopper (I know, shameful!) and that one thing would have turned into more than one, I can guarantee it.  Which means I'm spending money I don't need to. 

Anyway, without bread in the house earlier today, I decided to try my hand at some whole wheat tortillas I found a recipe for in the THRIVE Cookbook.  I love that this recipe can be made with 100% food storage!  And 100% THRIVE, for that matter.  Mine weren't 100% THRIVE, simply because we have wheat from years ago given to us by my in-laws, and we grind it up for flour.  We need to use the oldest stuff first, naturally ;).  But this could totally be 100% THRIVE.  And I love that I had my THRIVE Shortening Powder on hand to use!  It is one of my favorite items, because I don't usually buy shortening.  I buy butter a lot at the store, but not shortening, as very few of my recipes call for it.  So I'm really thrilled that, on the rare occasion my recipe calls for shortening, I now have a solution in my home store!

Anyway, so on to the recipe!  (P.S.  I halved the recipe below and ended up with 12 tortillas)

WHOLE WHEAT TORTILLAS
1 cup white flour*
4 cups whole wheat flour*
2 teaspoons salt*
1/2 cup THRIVE Shortening Powder (plus 1 to 2 tablespoons water)
 2 1/4 cups boiling water
additional flour for rolling

Sift together white flour, whole wheat flour, and salt.  Add shortening powder and mix.  Add 1 to 2 tablespoons water and mix in with a fork (or hands) until mixture is crumbly.

Make a well in the center of the mixture, then pour boiling water in the well.  Mix with a fork until all the water is evenly incorporated into the mixture.  Dough should be soft and not sticky.  If your dough is too flaky, add more water 2 tablespoons at a time until dough comes together.

Sprinkle with a bit of additional flour and knead until the dough does not stick to fingers (this took me about an additional 1/4 cup).  Make balls the size of golf balls and place them on a sheet pan.  Cover the dough with a cloth and let sit for an hour.

Heat a griddle or large frying pan over high heat.  On a lightly floured surface (we found we needed it heavily floured or the dough would stick...), roll out a tortilla as thinly as you prefer.  Fry the first side for approximately 10 seconds until you see a bubble form in the middle of the tortilla.  Flip the tortilla and let it cook for approximately 30 more seconds.  Flip the tortilla once more and let it cook for 30 seconds more.

*Denotes other ingredients available through THRIVE Life.

So this was my (and my husband's) first attempt at making tortillas from scratch.  We learned a lot!  I think we may have over-floured in an effort to prevent sticking when rolling.  And I think we over-cooked and dried them out.  We learned by the last few, and then those were much better.  They all still tasted fine.  Just some were drier than others. 

I used the tortillas to make cheese quesadillas for our lunch.

Then, I used one and slathered it with Nutella and put a banana in it and sliced it for an afternoon snack for my toddler and myself ;).

It was definitely a lot of fun trying out new things with the tortillas :).  And, as always, I had fun using my THRIVE!