Ga Ga's Flour Tortillas

My mother has made these things for years and years. She learned from my paternal grandmother who learned from an elderly woman from New Mexico during the Great Depression. There's never been a written recipe and when I asked for one, Mom just shrugged and said to figure it out.

So here goes my mom's version of her recipe with measuring estimates....

2 cups all purpose flour (if you use self rising flour, you don't need the baking powder)
Fistful of shortening (about 2 tablespoons)
dash salt
4 tablespoons warm water
1 1/2 tsp baking powder

Make a well in the flour. Add salt, baking powder, shortening, and water. Mix it together until it is stiff and smooth and you see no chunks of shortening. The dough should be like bread dough and not pie crusty.

Knead it for about five minutes on floured countertop. Take a fist-sized amount and roll it out into a circle (or if you're me, a strange looking blob resembling an egg). You will do one at a time while you cook one tortilla. The dough doesn't need rise.

Spray small skillet with some Pam and heat skillet over medium heat. Make sure the skillet is hot. Add tortilla and (this is the weird part), using a hand or spoon, twist the tortilla around in circles while it cooks. Also press it down while it cooks. Flip it after a couple of minutes (it crisp slightly and brown) and cook other side. Take out hot tortilla and place on cloth towel and cover.

Before you cook the next tortilla, fold a paper towel into fourths and slightly wet it with shortening. Clean out the skillet with it before you add next tortilla. Don't add Pam again.

Try these suckers hot with butter melting over it. OMG--my favorite non-chocolate thing in the world is my mom's homemade tortillas.

If there are any left over, reheat in microwave with a small glass of water (so the tortilla won't harden).