The weekly “little of this, little of that” feature here at Like Mother, Like Daughter.
So I've sort of ruined my life by becoming an expert at making tortillas. I more or less use this King Arthur recipe (I probably end up using more flour, and unless I have lard handy, I use my stored bacon fat). It's not super hard, mind. But it does take a bit of time and concentration, unlike ripping open a package of store-bought.
It's terrible. It's a kind of terrible obsession where you are forced to roll out and individually cook up each tortilla.
You have to, because they are just that good and that different. They are super amazing. They are devastating. How will I recover? Is every meal to be a monstrous chore??
But recently, I found this recipe for homemade sourdough tortillas that you don't have to roll out. You make them more like pancakes or crepes.
So what I want to know is, have you tried both ways? Can it be that not rolling could be a tad more efficient but just as good? Can you advise?
This week's links:
- A delightful interview with Fr. Schall.
“One advantage of a liberal education is that, through novels, poems, histories, and biographies, it takes us through the human condition before we ourselves are much exposed to it. This vicarious learning is what education is supposed to be, not merely a preparation for a job, which we can usually learn quickly. Liberal education is a preparation for life about which we need to know much, if we can, before and during the time we live it ourselves.”
- When we were in Paris, we saw a boatload of armor at Les Invalides. Many, many boatloads. It's hard to believe that this was a viable way to protect oneself. This video helps figure it out:
- Peter Hitchens on Russia: The Cold War is Over.
- The importance of remembering the horrors of the Soviet Union: The House is on Fire! (Everyone should read Alexander Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago — I'm sure you can find a used hardcover copy. Any senior in high school can read it, though it's quite a tome, and should. For freshmen, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is a good introduction to the themes of the articles and the Gulag — an amazing novel, a work of art, not long, that plunges you right into the depths of the totalitarian nightmare.)
- A young man who makes musical instruments. “I'm man creating something, something beautiful.”
From the archives:
- I give you some tips for thrifting!
- A really foolproof, really delicious chocolate cake that everyone wants for their birthday!
Happy feast of St. Nicholas of Tolentino!
~We’d like to be clear that, when we direct you to a site via one of our links, we’re not necessarily endorsing the whole site, but rather just referring you to the individual post in question (unless we state otherwise).~
Caitlin says
Thank you for sharing the Russia article. My (Russian-born) husband and I have just returned from a trip to Moscow. Some people even among our friends and family have been becoming surprisingly intolerant, expecting him to sort of cringingly renounce his Russianness and everything he grew up with because of idiotic rhetoric on the major news networks. It’s really very sad. The country does not exist only in relation to America and Ukraine! (and Ukrainian nationalist groups, frankly, can be dangerous. I appreciated the parallels the author drew toward the end.)
Anyway, I was so happy to finally see the country of his birth. Our experience was not as grim as the journalist’s! We had a lovely time…
Melissa says
Ah! I’m so excited you posted about tortillas. I’ve been wondering for a couple weeks what to do about all the weird ingredients and soy and corn oils that fill the store bought ones. I will definitely try the sour dough recipe since I have that starter going. This will make an easy and go-to meal and bit more complicated, but maybe I can make ahead and freeze? Does anyone know of a healthy store bought tortilla? Thank you Auntie Leila!
Leila says
Melissa, I do make ahead and freeze, so yes, that works. They don’t store too well just in the breadbox or fridge. And then there’s the issue of how the “nicer” store-bought ones are expensive… the Trader Joes ones are fine, I guess, but I don’t have a TJs anywhere near me, more’s the pity!
Katie says
I’m remembering an old episode of Alton Brown’s Good Eats, in which he goes to a local Mexican restaurant/bakery/commissary-supply type of place… basically where Mexican restaurants go to source their tortillas in bulk. I want to say that this was an attempt to procure “the good stuff” before showing you that it was actually easier to make them fresh at home– rather than a place that distributed bags of Sysco food-service types– but I can’t recall. Tantalizing though, because might such a place exist, and would it sell direct to individuals, or was it one of AB’s zany TV scripts??
Meredith says
We have many tortillerias here in Nashville, so, yes, you can definitely shop there as individuals!
Rebecca S. says
I found uncooked tortillas at Sam’s the other week. All you have to do is cook them on the stove, and we thought they tasted as good as the fresh ones at Mexican restaurants. They freeze well, are comparable in price to other store-bought tortillas, AND the ingredients are not bad at all. (They have canola oil- not my favorite, but better than the transfat of partially hydrogenated oils in most store-bought ones….)
Emily says
Tortillaland flour tortillas are a happy medium. They are uncooked, so you quickly cook them in a skillet. They have a simple ingredient list, too. I felt like my eyes were opened the day a friend told me about them!
Rachel says
No help on the tortilla front here. I’ve become a huge fan of corn tortillas and don’t want to eat any other!
Jill R. says
Oh yes, I am familiar with the tortilla conundrum, (though my recipe leaves out the baking powder, uses 3 cups of flour, 1/3 cup of fat (oil), and we fry them on a slightly cooler (350) griddle to prevent them from getting crispy). My husband has found us a respectable store bought alternative because I just don’t have time to make them in the evening, but they are very easy, just time consuming, I even cut down on their resting time (the recipe calls for an hour) to speed it up, without any negative results.
Paula says
Get thee a tortilla press! No need for rolling!
Katherine says
I think a tortilla press is only used for corn tortillas. I don’t think the gluten in the flour responds well to being “squished;” but needs to be gently rolled out. I’ve never seen a flour tortilla recipe that uses a press.
Kimberly says
Yes, you can press flour tortillas. But you need an electric press, not a cast iron one. They aren’t easy to find and can be pricey. My family is from Mexico and homemade flour tortillas are a staple. Electric presses make it easy.
Leila says
Ha, Kimberly, I am going to try to resist the temptation to buy an electric press.
Ashley says
I actually use my cast iron press for flour tortillas. They do spring back a little (less so with home ground flour than store bought) upon removal from the press, but it’s not a big deal. The press makes the job so, so much easier! They are very reasonably priced, too. I got mine at Amazon. It is impossible to go back to store bought tortillas once you have had the homemade ones.
Leila says
Ashley, I’ll have to try!
Leila says
paula, I have a tortilla press, and I tried it on the flour tortillas. It’s much easier to roll them out.
I can actually do it pretty fast.
But not as fast as opening a package waaaahh
Nadine says
My Latina friends made me promise, in the most stringent way they knew how, to never press flour tortillas again. It could be because I was using the hand press, and that just doesn’t work so well. Homemade tortillas are amazing – and, indeed, a conundrum. I haven’t made the flour ones in years. I should do so again soon.
Mary says
I must confess, I tried the sourdough tortillas. It was yet ANOTHER use of sourdough that left my family BEGGING me to keep the sourdough “for BREAD, just BREAD!” The texture was more crêpe-like, not at all appealing to us, nor suitable for whatever the filling was for that meal. (I am working on mentally blocking out the whole SOURDOUGH TORTILLA DEBACLE.)
I would LOVE a tortilla press. The press seems to take up a good bit of space, though, for a one use kitchen item. I’ve seen a lovely wooden one on you tube. Until then, I guess it’s a rolling pin (hand carved–lovely gift from DH!) for me.
Leila says
Mary, wow, thanks for the report. And for killing my dreams LOL!
I have a press but it doesn’t work for flour tortillas anyway. So it hangs in the pantry. I do make corn tortillas sometimes, but not that often. Probably shouldn’t have gotten it…
Katherine says
I haven’t made tortillas in a long time because it is so time consuming, Corn tortillas are the easiest, but still demand a good chunk of time. I might get back into it though because so many tortillas are going the “improved” softer route. My husband has been complaining that corn tortillas have become tasteless. We live in California and know a lot of Mexicans, so I’ll have to get some tips from them. I keep meaning to learn to make tamales by helping out the church ladies when they have their annual tamale sale.
Melisa says
Dear Auntie Leila,
You’ve always got such fascinating, thought-provoking links. (I showed my children the video link of the 14th century knight donning his armor.) I’ve read Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, and want to read the Gulag Archipelago. However, when I checked my library website to request a copy, I see it is in 3 volumes. I also saw something on Amazon about an abridged copy (which I generally try to avoid). What do you recommend? Is there a version which contains the 3 volumes in 1? Thanks!
In Christ,
Melisa
Leila says
Hi Melisa,
I saw that one-volume edition. I haven’t read it, so I can’t recommend it — maybe read the reviews? I’m guessing it’s fine.
The first volume is the one to read, though. You won’t regret having read it.
Anamaria says
Peter Hitchens is such an excellent and interesting writer. I’m so glad that First Things has started publishing more of his pieces. I am fascinated by Russia, even more after a literary pilgrimage in 2008 that found my friends and I in the houses of Spanish missionaries, in both Moscow and the stunning St. Petersburg. His insight into the current situation there is very welcome. Thanks for sharing.
P.S. I made a modified version of that chocolate cake this summer- my sister and I expanded it into four layers to feed our entire extended family in celebration of my grandparents’ anniversary. We alternated blackberry and strawberry jam between the layers and, if I recall correctly, tucked a bit of fresh fruit in there as well. Needless to say, it was much enjoyed by all! My grandmother was particularly impressed by our handiwork.
Jocelyn Ingraham says
Thank you for sharing the music link ! It was a bit of a thrill to see our oldest featured here .
-Jocelyn
Leila says
Jocelyn, awesome! Love seeing a young man doing work he loves!
RubberChickenGirl says
I’ve been on a roll (!) making gluten free tortillas. I have to look at my recipe but I think it’s close to the King Arthur one. We are now addicted to high class quesadillas with sauteed peppers and onions and melted cheese and Trader Joe’s Dragon Sauce AND homemade Greek yogurt that my husband is not addicted to making.
RCG
corina says
I think I disagree with almost everything Peter Hitchens says in that article. I’m not surprise as lately this kind of attitude is very diffuse in Western Europe, especially amongst social conservatives and prolife catholics. I don’t see the peaceful Russia he is talking about and I refuse to dismiss the Ukraine war the way everybody does in the West. Putin’s intervention in Ukraine was an agression and a violation of another state’s independece and territorial integrity. Ukraine belongs to a cultural sphere that is not the Russian one, just like Poland, Romania and the Baltic States. After the Soviet Union experience, those countries don’t recognize as legitimate any Russian claim to regional power. It is a completely immoral claim. I totally agree with the words of general Pacepa from this older article I’ll link to:
“During the Cold War, the KGB was a state within a state. Under President Putin, the KGB, rechristened the FSB, is the state. Three years after Putin plunked himself down on the Kremlin throne, some 6,000 former officers of the KGB – that organization responsible for having slaughtered at least 20 million people in the Soviet Union alone – were running Russia’s federal and local governments. Nearly half of all other top governmental positions were held by former officers of the KGB. Having taken care of that, the newly appointed President Putin brought back good old Stalin’s national anthem, which had been prohibited since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Although the “new” anthem did have new lyrics, they had been written by the same old poet, Sergey Mikhalkov, who had written the original words praising Stalin, Lenin, the Communist Party and the “unbreakable” Soviet Union. Yelena Bonner, the widow of Nobel Peace Prize winner Andrey Sakharov, called the revived Soviet anthem a “profanation of history.” Putin disagreed, saying: “We have overcome the differences between the past and the present.”
On Feb. 12, 2004, Putin declared the demise of the Soviet Union a “national tragedy on an enormous scale,” and in July 2007, he predicted a new Cold War against the West.
“War has started,” Putin announced on Aug. 8, 2008, just minutes after President George W. Bush and other world leaders, gathered in Beijing to watch the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, were shocked and surprised to learn that Russian tanks had rolled across the Russian border into Georgia.
Is it too far-fetched to suggest that this new Russia calls up the hypothetical image of a postwar Germany being run by former Gestapo officers, who reinstate Hitler’s “Deutschland Über Alles” as national anthem, call the demise of Nazi Germany a “national tragedy on an enormous scale” and invade a neighboring country, perhaps Poland, the way Hitler set off World War II?”
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2012/09/a-brand-new-cold-war/#u7xEi4CjXDQ5EOYX.99
Leila says
Thanks, Corina. I read the article and I saw many people I respect commenting favorably on it. I’m glad you commented too with your perspective from a bit closer to the ground. It’s hard to know who to trust or where to get information.
I will continue to read…
Elizabeth says
I think it best to trust the Ukranians and Poles on Putin & Russia. I’ve a good friend from Moldova that I’ll share Hitchen’s article with and gather her opinion.
E.
corina says
Leila, have you read Pacepa&Rychlak’s book “Disinformation”? It sheds light on why it is so difficult to get a real view of the situation. It is very difficult for Eastern Europeans too, because there is a lot of propaganda from both sides. I too wish to believe in the conversion of Russia and the peace that this will bring. For now I just watch the fruits of Russia’s action, and I don’t see any proof of repentment (countries too need to recognize the evil from their own history) and conversion. The possibility of war with the big Russian neighbor looms again on Eastern European countries.
Rosebud says
I have watched the bombings in Ukraine get closer and closer to the orphanages where my children grew up. The orphanage director – one of the most generous, loving, and GOOD women I’ve ever been privileged to know – is running triage for those injured and feeding & housing those whose homes have been destroyed, in her “spare time” after raising and protecting 30 children.
The plural of anecdotes is not data, but neither is the fruit of “peace” the slaughter of innocents.
The Hitchens article was so far from my reality and experience – I had to check that it wasn’t supposed to be satire!
Lisa G. says
David Satter has written a book – The Less You Know, the Better You Sleep, on this very subject, and also an article in National Review. He lived there for years and is especially concerned about Putin’s mysterious rise to power. He said the terrorism attributed to the Chechyens was FSB work and deliberately pinned on the Chechyens.
Donna says
Commenting days later to let you know I made your “foolproof, really delicious chocolate cake” for a feast day, and it was just as easy and tasty as described. I’m sad to admit it was my first time to bake without a mix. You were right- it was just as easy and much better! Thank you for your digital mentorship!