Ingredients
This is my grandmothers recipe. She never measured or wrote anything down. Because this was the lifeblood of our family meals together my mother made her slow down one day so that she could measure each ingredient and write down the recipe. I remember my Grandmother laughing at her like she was crazy. I don't know when she started using Crisco but I am certain in her younger years this would have been lard or bacon grease. I will sometimes substitute oil. I encourage you to experiment with like ingredients that you prefer.
INSTRUCTIONS
1) Mix flour, baking sods, salt, and shortening in a bowl and slowly add the water around the edge of the bowl. Mix the dough with your hands and form it into a large ball.
2) Oil your hands and rub the dough ball until moist. Place the dough ball back in the bowl and cover with a towel. Let sit while you for the balls of dough. Pinch off enough dough to roll a golf ball sized ball in your hands.
3) Rub a rolling pin with flour and roll out your dough side to side turning your tortilla after each roll to create a circular shape.
Heat your comal (or cast iron or non stock pan*) to medium and gently place your tortilla on the griddle.
4) Cook until the tortilla releases form the pan, flip it and cook the other side until the tortilla starts to bubble. Remove your tortilla and wrap it in a towel to keep it warm while you continue to add to your stack.
5) Lay your bacon out on a sheet pan. For easy clean up line your sheet pan with parchment paper. Cook your bacon in the oven at 350. Cook until desired crispness, anywhere from 25-45 minutes.
6) Slice avocado. Lay your tortilla on a plate, lay down a slice of bacon, a couple of slices of avocado, and a big spoonful of Gramal’s Chilie. Wrap one side over and then the next, leaving the ends open. Enjoy. Repeat.
Growing up in Arizona our favorite family breakfast was my grandmother’s warm fresh flour tortillas wrapped around a strip of bacon, a few slices of avocado and her ubiquitous jalapeño salsa. So simple to make but so soul satisfying. It is the salsa that inspired me to start my company Hot Mama Salsa when I was missing the flavors of home, and it’s the meal that is always sure to bring every Guerrero I know the comfort of family love. Still to this day I can feel her soft brown hands rolling out the balls of tortilla dough and forming them into perfect circles with the sawed off end of a broom stick. They are really easier to make than you think, I hope that you enjoy trying to make Gramal’s fresh tortillas.
