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[BakerAunt]

Thank you for typing in the directions and recipe for your mother-in-law's tortillas, Italian Cook. The recipe I followed said to cook on both sides, which may be part of the issue. I am not ready to try over the open flame. I also wanted to avoid using lard, which is probably one reason mine got hard. The King Arthur recipe, and another one from How to Cook Anything (Mark Bittman, I think) do not call for baking powder, but I think an old one I once used does, and that it uses Crisco. More experimentation is needed!

I seem to recall a discussion about tortilla back on the Baking Circle. Mrs. Cindy was adamant that tortilla should be rolled out by hand.

I rolled mine with a small rolling pin that came with a ravioli form (a form that I have yet to use, but hey, what is retirement for?). That little rolling pin is my go-to for making tart crusts as well as various small flat breads.

[Italiancook]

BakerAunt, my mother-in-law made thousands of flour tortillas in her lifetime. She didn't use a regular-sized rolling pin. The pin she used was wooden, tortilla-sized long -- sorry I don't know the exact length. I believe, but may be wrong that I've seen that sized rolling pin at lehmans.com. She had a 1950's-type kitchen table, metal legs, laminated-looking top. She rolled them directly on the table -- no parchment, no saran. I don't recall her putting flour on the table as she rolled.

When she cooked them, they'd puff-up as they cooked, which is a sign of a really well-made tortilla. All her cooked tortillas were pale in color, except for the brown-to-black spots on one side of them. Those spots are a sign of a well-made tortilla. All the tortilla shops in her area that made tortillas by hand had that color. Perfection! Her tortillas were 6"-7" round.

Below is my mother's-in-law tortilla recipe, written exactly as she did it while I watched. It probably won't be much help to you, but hopefully, the cooking instructions might be useful to you.

BakerAunt, if you're going to buy tortillas, the only store brand we're willing to use is La Banderita. They're 6-1/2" round.

FLOUR TORTILLAS

Mix in a long cake pan. Makes about 5 dozen.

Using a big coffee cup (about the size of hubby's green cup -- remember, cups were smaller last century), measure 5 heaping cups of flour.

Using a regular eating teaspoon, measure 5 level teaspoons of baking powder. Add lard (a chunk the size of a walnut) and gradually add 2-1/2 cups (approximately) (using the cup you used for the flour as the measure) HOT water. Mix the flour quickly with the water.

Work dough well. May have to add a sprinkling or 2 or water -- work until no longer sticky. Do NOT knead dough like bread dough. GENTLY knead by rolling back and forth -- pick up at the top and roll back & forth. Change ends. Then roll dough into a ball & rub Crisco on the top. Cover with a cloth & let set in a warm, draft-free place for about an hour.

Make semi-flat balls -- punch dough under with thumb. The more dough in each ball, the heavier your tortilla will be (don't want heavy tortillas), but have enough dough to make a large tortilla (6"-7" round) When all balls are formed, cover with damp cloth & let rest for about 10 minutes. Then start rolling, but keep those unrolled balls covered all the time.

TO ROLL: Roll in one direction, then turn -- roll in other direction & keep repeating until reach desired size. Pat with hands when turn to keep from sticking.

TO COOK: Put tortilla on a hot griddle -- turn right away. Cook on 2nd side, but move it around on the griddle so it will cook evenly. Then toss it on the gas flame and let it cook there until tortilla gets nice & puffy with air. Cook only one side against the flame that way only one side will be brown & black from the flame. That is the sided you put your meat or beans on.

If you don't have a gas stove, then the entire process must be done on the griddle. The tortillas will still puff up with air.

FOR 2 DOZEN TORTILLAS: 2 cups flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, small dab of Crisco & about 1-1/8 cup HOT water (use the same measuring instruments that you do for 5 dozen.

NOTE: Grab flour fast & get it mixed fast.

[Mike Nolan]

I got some tomatoes from a friend (I've been supplying him with parsley from my Aerogarden and also gave him a big bag of lettuce yesterday), so with 3 or 4 dozen Fourth of July tomatoes I've got enough for a few quarts of tomato juice, so I'm setting up to do that this morning, before the heat sets in for the afternoon. Update: Looks like I'll get at least 5 quarts of juice, a good start to the canning season.

Dinner tonight is ribs on the grill and corn on the cob. I also bought a small container of cole slaw for me, and I might make some baked beans. These are spare ribs, so I'm going to give them a good 4 hours on the grill.

[Mike Nolan]

I was looking at a tortilla press last year, not for making tortillas but for making empanadas and possibly even thin pizzas.

I don't think a 6" press would be big enough for pizzas, though it'd be fine for empanadas.

There's a burrito place in town that has a really big press that flattens and cooks their flour tortillas in about a minute. I've seen a similar press at Blaze Pizza for making their pizzas, which are somewhere around 10" in diameter. It doesn't cook the dough, and it leaves a rim like you would want on a pizza.

We prefer hard corn shells for tacos, and I'm happy buying the stand-n-stuff ones in the store. Our younger son preferred flour tortillas but he's in San Fran now. (In January it will be 10 years since he moved there.)

Anyway, the reviews on the metal presses were a mixed bag, apparently the handle that applies the pressure is the weak link, literally.

[chocomouse]

BakerAunt, I have a tortilla press. My first one was plastic (?) and the handle broke off after a few uses, so I bought a metal press. For a while I was making tortillas, but for several years I've been buying them instead. I've never been able to make great tortillas. It's a lot of frustration, using parchment and saran, and peeling the pressed dough off, only to get a misshapen roundish thing that, after cooking, is pale with charred blotches on it. And they don't taste any better than most of the store-bought tortillas. My suggestion - buy them! I prefer the spinach or tomato flavored ones, they make great wraps and quesadillas. Sorry I'm no help to you!

[cwcdesign]

Will is back and is making dinner tonight. Baked chicken tenders (no propane yet for grilling) with marinade made with Sassy Mustard (a Georgia Grown Co. that I picked up at the Atlanta Market for the store) and rosemary; Carolina Gold Rice - my rep from Marsh Hen Mill gave me samples of the Carolina Gold Rice and Rice Middlins which are cooked like grits; and sautéed broccoli.

It's nice to have him back after a long day at work.

[BakerAunt]

I cooked a pot of black beans on Friday. We had fill-your-own rye tortilla wraps for dinner. I put ground beef, black beans, tomato (the first one from our garden!), onion, Penzeys Salsa and Pico, and grated mozzarella in mine. My husband omitted the black beans and onion and the seasoning. The tortillas did not soften in the microwave very much. My husband ate his like tostadas. I managed to get mine folded around the filling.

[Mike Nolan]

NY strip steak, mushrooms, baked potato and sweet corn here. The vendor I got the corn from this afternoon says she expect to have it until first frost. I also bought a cantaloupe, might be the last one I have to buy for a while, I've got several that are getting close to ripe, including one Crenshaw. (Oddly enough, that appears to be the only Crenshaw that set.)

If the weather cooperates, and the current forecast says it should, tomorrow I'm trying a pizza on the grill.

[Mike Nolan]

The guy who founded Portillo's sold the company to a Boston-based private equity group a couple of years ago, for about $900 million. He retained ownership of a number of the buildings, though. A typical Portillo's has a yearly turn of over $7 million, or about twice the typical McDonalds. Chick-Fil-A also has a high average store volume, which I can believe given the lines I see in their drive-thru nearly every day. (Unfortunately, all their chicken is marinated in a garlic marinade, so my wife can't eat there.)

The Tribune had an article a while back ranking 30 non-chain Italian Beef shops. Now that's research that you can sink your teeth into!

In Chicago Al's Beef is generally considered the best of the chains, Mr. Beef is pretty good, too. (I've only been to an Al's once, I thought the beef was too greasy, maybe that wasn't representative, though.) I've seen frozen Italian Beef in stores, including Sams Club, the brand is Charlie's. It's OK, but I need to find a sturdier bun recipe, or just stick with Rotella, made in Omaha, they're not quite as good as the buns in Chicago but hold up better when dipped than my home-made ones do.

[Mike Nolan]

BA, your chocolate cinnamon rolls would probably freeze well, if you have freezer space for them. When I make a batch of cinnamon rolls I freeze most of them in bags of 2, I do the same for burger buns and banana nut mini-muffins. (We reuse the bags.) Most of the time I cut the rolls into 1" segments for baking, we like them small. The batch I made for my neighbor I cut into 2" segments, though. I think I'll need to make another batch of them next week, that's when I'll test the cheese slicer method.

Our latest house problem is that my garage door opener has a bracket above the door that pulled loose. It still works but I'm trying to avoid opening it, as I don't know how much stress that is putting on the door or the other brackets.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I unsubscribed from Bobs. At this point I'm looking for substitutes. It's really disappointing. And Whole Foods (I know that's not an option for everyone here) is upping their store brands for some of the main things I bought from Bobs and their store brand is usually pretty good and less expensive.

[cwcdesign]

My son in New Zealand said I HAD to watch The Bear, 1) because he says it’s good and 2) because we work in food and beverage - we both worked at the 5-star restaurant for the resort (5-6 years ago). I’m happier working at The Market and he’s happier working at a restaurant in Wellington where they moved in April - they love Wellington!

[RiversideLen]

Yesterday I made a small pork roast on the bbq grill, had it with asparagus, rice and baked beans (from a can).

[Mike Nolan]

I've seen barley flour in 'flourless' cakes, it doesn't have much gluten so it doesn't add a lot of structure. Every time I look at the 'Katharine Hepburn Brownie' recipe, which uses maybe a 1/4 cup of flour, I wonder if you could make it with a non-wheat flour like barley flour. (It wouldn't be gluten-free, though.)

Barley syrup is sometimes used with chocolate candies, it adds a sweetness that complements chocolate well. It has a nuttiness to it, too.

[BakerAunt]

On Sunday afternoon, I baked Chocolate Zucchini Bundt Cake, a recipe from an email that Williams Sonoma recently sent. I baked it as four small Bundt cakes, using my Nordic Ware 9-cup pan that makes four small ones, and the batter fit perfectly. I decided to weigh ingredients using the metric measurements. I replaced the AP flour with barley flour, after researching it online and finding a lot of chocolate cakes that exclusively use barley flour. I halved the salt since I was not using kosher salt. I added 2 Tbs. of Bob’s Red Mill milk powder. I used the canola oil option. I used light brown sugar rather than dark, as that is what I have. I reduced it from 280g to 224 (20%), and I also reduced the granulated sugar slightly from 125 g to 109g. I used the fine grating disc for my food processor to achieve the finely grated zucchini. I had a bit more than needed but added all of it. I baked for slightly less than 45 minutes, cooled in the pan for 15 minutes, then turned them out with no sticking. (I used The Grease.) I will let them rest overnight. One will be sliced at dessert after dinner on Monday. I will freeze at least two of the others for dessert emergencies.

I will add a note to this post tomorrow about taste and texture.

Promised Note: The flavor is good, and I can even taste a bit of the 1/2 tsp. of cinnamon. Next time, I would use avocado oil instead of canola, because it needs a bit more fat. I might also bake it for a few minutes less.