{Recipe} Homemade Flour Tortillas

I found the best recipe, I adapted, for homemade flour tortillas on epicurious! My husband and I are really starting to take a look at what we eat and especially what we are feeding our kids. It is unbelievable what artificial ingredients and preservatives companies add to our store bought food. Sad, really. It is so easy to make little changes that can go a long way. I admit, cooking from scratch is time consuming. However, it is doable.

Just to give you an idea of what a typical store bought flour tortilla may have in it:

• Enriched bleached flour- enriching the bleached flour is necessary due to processing. Processing the flour removes nutrients. Nutrients required by FDA that need to be present (iron, vitamins, calcium). Enriched products tend to quickly raise blood sugar levels. Chemicals are used to bleach the flour, such as, chlorine and organic peroxides. 
• Hydrogenated oils- trans fats. According to Natural News, "They take these naturally healthy oils such as palm, kernel, soybean, corn oil or coconut oil and they heat it anywhere from five hundred to one thousand degrees under several atmospheres of pressure. They then inject a catalyst into the oil for several hours. The catalyst is typically a metal such a nickel, platinum or even aluminum...The molecules in this new product are now closer to cellulose or plastic than to oil. In fact hydrogenated oil is only one molecule away from being plastic." 
• Dough conditioners- According to Natural Revolution, "Bromide is a dough conditioner found in most flours as potassium bromate...Constant ingestion of bromate in your daily bread may eventually create a thyroid hormone imbalance because iodine is needed for thyroid hormone production. It is also implicated in many cancers. The UK banned bromate in bread in 1990. 
Canada banned bromate in bread in 1994." 
• Preservatives- food additives to prolong shelf life. BHT/BHA, Nitrates. 
• Cellulose Gum- food thickener. Is also used in non-food products such as, toothpaste, water-based paints, detergents. 

 Scary, right!? That is just tortillas! Why not  try something fresh. A recipe with ingredients you can pronounce and understand. Simplicity.

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2 cups unbleached flour (you can use whole wheat flour)
1/4 cup salted butter (cut into pieces)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup warm water
Pastry Blender

Measure 2 cups flour into a medium bowl. Cut butter into flour using a pastry blender, until flour resembles small crumbs. Add oil and water. Using a fork, work mixture into a ball of dough. Place dough on a floured surface and kneed 3-4 times. Wrap in plastic wrap and let dough sit for an hour. 
Divide dough into 12 equal portions. Roll each portion out into a 7-8" circle (or desired size and thickness). Using a floured surface to avoid dough from sticking. Place tortilla in a heated skillet or griddle and cook for 45-60 seconds on each size. TIP: you will know when to flip tortilla when it bubbles.
Store tortillas in fridge or freezer. So yummy!!!