Flour tortillas and letting go

There is a little known fact in the Watson family and that is that for many years my brothers and I lived with my paternal grandmother.  We called her Buela Gonzalez.  Now this was an event that is still disputed amongst my brothers and I but we all do know this: our parents could not take care of us.

Please do not judge them harshly.  They were not in love and they had four children.  Did I forget to mention that he was only 25 and she was only 23?  Yeah.  They were also dirt poor and had no idea how to care for all of us.  So we were left with an amazing woman who took us in without question and loved us.

Now as much I would love to say I remember everything about her...I cannot.  But one of the things that I do remember is her hands were always covered in flour.  She made THE BEST flour tortillas. We had them smothered in almost anything.

My favorite? It was when I woke up and my flour tortillas were smothered in this...

Don't scoff!  Try it and see what you think.  Of course Buela did not have this type, but I did not care.  It was wonderful.

I also remember how much Buela loved us.  She once took my little brother from our room when he was having nightmares and I sat on the bed crying thinking he was not coming back.  He did come back...out like a light and not crying anymore...and after she laid him down she took me in her arms and held me until I stopped crying.  No one had ever done that before.  I fell asleep.  I slept through the night for the first time.  

When I woke I saw this on the counter top...

The peanut butter was next to the dough on the counter and I knew she was trying to make me feel better.

I watched her roll them out...

Then she placed them on a hot cast iron skillet.  She only used cast iron.  It was everywhere in her kitchen.  I learned quickly that it hurt to drop one of those pans on your foot.  The upside to that was that Buela would hold you until you stopped crying.

I remember how they puffed up...

How she turned them using only her hands because they were so calloused from hard work that she could not feel how hot they were...

I tried that but I do not recommend it.  I used a set of tongs after I attempted this.

I remembered how they sat stacked on a plate waiting for us to devour them...

I remembered how deeply she loved me...even though I was not truly her granddaughter. So I made them. I remembered her and am thankful for my hands being covered in flour...

Recipe:
4 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp of kosher salt
1 tsp of baking powder
2 Tbsp unsalted butter cut up into small cubes
4 Tbsp of shortening cut up into small cubes (you can purchase this in stick form now. My Buela just had a huge tub of it.)
   Add all of the above into a food processor and pulse until small pea size clumps form.  This is about 10 pulses.

1 1/2 cups of warm water
   While pulsing, slowly add the water down the feed tube until a wet mass forms.

Remove this from the food processor and place it on a lightly floured wood board. Knead the dough until it forms a uniform mass and it smooth.  It should only take about three turns on the board. Cover the dough with a slightly damp cloth for 10 minutes.

Roll the dough into a log (do this quickly and DO NOT over handle the dough) and then divide it into 12 equal size pieces.  Gently form them into a round disk.

Cover them again with a damp towel for another 10 minutes.

Roll out three tortillas to an 8 inch diameter using a rolling pin while you heat your skillet on medium high heat. You should make sure your counter or board is well floured. Make sure it is nice and hot.  Once you put the first one in, it should bubble like the picture above and then flip the tortilla.  Cook it for 1 minute on the next side.  Remove it from the skillet and place on a warmed plate.

Repeat these steps with the rest of the dough. 

You can use a non-stick skillet if you want to, but Abuela would never approve. I think they are soft, pliable and wonderful.

Enjoy these and if even for a moment think of my Abuela.