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Question re: Genius Flour Torillas Recipe
Is it possible to replace the vegetable shortening with lard in this recipe? https://food52.com/recipes...
I have not made this exact recipe, but I always use pork lard when making flour tortillas and would never use vegetable shortening. I say go for it. The recipe itself sounds awesome. Using cake flour is really smart!
Thanks Susan and sexyLAMBCHOPx for answering my question! I have a really nice jar of pork lard that I'd like to use instead of vegetable shortening. Additionally, I love the idea of making uniform flour tortillas using a tortilla press. I'm going to give it a try and I'll report back and let you know how it works out.
A tortilla press is going to make an awfully thick flour tortilla, especially with the baking powder (which you certainly don't need)- being wheat flour, there will also be a certain amount of spring back. If you want to use the press, it might be helpful use some shims- maybe a few layers of non corrugated cardboard, thin plastic, or anything similar you might have. You could also use a couple of strips of something of an appropriate thickness for guides with a rolling pin, but once again, there will be spring back.
When I bought Tacos: Recipes and Provocations I bought the Victoria 85008 Cast Iron Tortilla Press, 8-Inch via amazon. I've had great success with it and highly recommend. The book has wonderful variations of the tortillas (I'm partial to corn, though) Lard is preferred fat. Needless to say after great results with the recipes and press we're eating lots of tacos and having a blast.
sexyLAMBCHOPx - I also have the Victoria tortilla press. I make corn tortillas quite often, but I've yet to make flour tortillas using it. I like the idea of a perfectly round flour tortilla.
Lard, yes - Susan is right... but a press, no. It's essential for corn tortillas but not so great with flour. They are really easy to roll out (a rest is good) and after a few you will get them round enough. Perfectly round looks industrial and not like loving hands at home, which is much better.
Paseo - Thank you for your reply. The recipe in question is "genius" due to the technique of using a tortilla press.
I am happy to report that I made these tortillas today. I replaced the vegetable shortening with a really high quality lard and they came out beautifully. The technique using the tortilla press worked really well. To make the tortillas a bit thinner, I pressed them twice, turning the tortilla 90 degrees after the first press. Thanks to everyone for sharing your opinions and cooking experiences with me, I learn so much about cooking on Food52!
I'm looking forward to trying these. I have a jar of Fatworks wonderful lard in my fridge. I picture them being slightly pillowy which I really like in a flour tortilla. I wonder if they can be frozen before cooking them.
Susan - I think you'll be really happy with the results using lard. I wanted to add that I kept the leftover tortillas in the fridge for the past 3 days and they are still very fresh.
