Breakfast Tacos & Flour Tortillas Recipe

bean & cheese breakfast taco in homemade flour tortilla

I grew up in San Antonio, Texas - king of breakfast tacos (I hear Austin's are pretty good too). In San Antonio, you roll out of bed and hit up one of the many Taco Cabana, Las Palapas, or Bill Miller drive thrus...or you pick your favorite local taqueria for a hot soft flour tortilla (or two!) in aluminum foil filled with your favorite fillings like bean & cheese (my personal favorite!), bacon & egg, potato & egg, chorizo & egg (chorizo is sausage), or one of the more creative choices from the menu. Without a doubt you will scarf down your taco and start your day very satisfied and having spent only around a dollar or two per taco. You can hardly get any decent Mexican food in Australia so you certainly can't buy any decent breakfast tacos in Adelaide (yet). So even though none of my friends' abuelitas (grandmas) ever taught me how to make homemade flour tortillas back home, my love for breakfast tacos has led me to give it a go here in the land down under. I replaced the traditional lard with butter or margarine or canola oil. The results even on the first try made me want to make all my tortillas fresh and without preservatives and crap for almost nothing instead of paying almost $1 per tortilla for the packs from the supermarket. All you need is a rolling pin, a fry pan, a few ingredients and a bit of muscle. I'll leave it up to you what you put inside and what time of day you eat them but believe me you will want to eat them. and the plate will be lonely again...



Flour Tortillas Recipe

Makes approx 6 tortillas. Double the quantities for approx 12 tortillas.

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour or self-raising flour
1 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons butter or margarine or canola oil
approx 1 & 1/2 cups boiling water

Preparation method:
1. Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl.
2. Mix in butter or oil until the mixture resembles the texture of polenta or fine breadcrumbs.
3. Add a little boiling water at a time, stirring each time.
4. Begin mixing with your hands to make a soft dough. You may not need all the water.
5. Knead the dough for a few minutes on floured surface until it becomes smooth and elastic.
6. Put the dough back in the bowl, cover it with cling wrap and let it rest for 20 minutes.
7. Divide the dough into small balls similar to the size of golf balls and roll out one ball at a time using a rolling pin into the size and thickness you prefer. (I try to get mine as thin as humanly possible)
8. Cook one at a time in a dry heavy frying pan until the top starts to bubble. Then turn to cook on the opposite side.
9. Place cooked tortillas on a large plate with a clean tea towel over the top to keep them warm.
10. Fill with your favorite fillings and enjoy!