Salvation Flour Tortillas

I miss familiar foods and even just the general abundance of foods. There are not many vegetables to be found in our village – except potatoes, carrots, onions and occasionally tomatoes, cucumbers and beets. When Nathan goes to Pavlodar, I have him bring home herbs and green/red peppers and zucchini, a pale green variety, if he can find it. I do still have a couple of large unknown summer squash that I put aside for the winter. Every time I look at them, it makes me so happy.

Also during the summer I stock piled a lot of beans. I LOVE beans!! This summer there was this little woman at our rynick selling her beans (the bean babushka!) from a large burlap bag and whenever I saw her I would always get 4 scoops. I was sure we’d enjoy eating a lot of beans this winter.

It took the discovery of a very tremendous flour tortilla recipe, and the inheritance of baking powder, to ensure that we would enjoy our beansbeansbeans!! I obviously can’t go to the store and buy flour tortillas – there are substitutes in the larger cities, one nice flat bread is called lavash. However, I found a flour tortilla recipe online and I wanted the real thing but it called for baking powder. This was tricky because neither I nor the other Americans that I’ve talked to have been able to find baking powder in this country. Baking soda – yes; baking powder – no. When the Wikle’s left their work at the US Embassy in Astana they sold the bulk of their western food treasure trove to the Wellings, who are the LDS Humanitarian missionary couple and also live in Astana. When we started visiting regularly and staying with them they opened up their food supply to us, which included baking powder – along with a lot of other things like dried black beans and lentils!! My mom then mailed me baking powder in a Ziploc baggie along with some taco seasoning.

Homey, nostalgic SALVATION!

Seriously, when I give one of my habitual sighs, and open my meager cupboards I am comforted by the thought, “Make flour tortillas and it will be alright.” Because the flavors of the beans and the sour cream and the fresh peppers and, on occasion, the taco seasoned meat, mingles so consolingly with those soft, chewy, flour-y warm tortillas. It tastes so good and familiar and all this helps me through the moment. Moment by moment right?

And in the morning, I fry an egg and warm the homemade refried beans and tortilla’s and we have huevo ranchero’s!!

HEAVEN!
So enjoy a flour tortilla with some fresh cooked beans and feel glad.


Texas Flour Tortillas
I usually double this recipe.

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of vegetable oil
3/4 cups of warm milk

Method:
Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and oil. Slowly add the warm milk. Stir until a loose, sticky ball is formed. Knead for two minutes on a floured surface. Dough should be firm and soft. Place dough in a bowl and cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap for 20 minutes.

After the dough has rested, break off eight sections, roll them into balls in your hands, place on a plate (make sure they aren’t touching) and then cover balls with damp cloth or plastic wrap for 10 minutes. (It’s very important to let the dough rest; otherwise it will be like elastic and won’t roll out to a proper thickness and shape.)

After dough has rested, one at a time place a dough ball on a floured surface, pat it out into a four-inch circle, and then roll with a rolling pin from the center until it’s thin and about eight inches in diameter. (If you roll out pie crusts you’ll have no problem with this.) Don’t over work the dough, or it’ll be stiff. Keep rolled-out tortillas covered until ready to cook.

In a dry skillet, cook the tortillas about thirty seconds on each side. It should start to puff a bit when it’s done. Keep cooked tortillas covered wrapped in a napkin until ready to eat. Can be reheated in a dry skillet, over your gas-burner flame or in the oven wrapped in foil.
While you probably won’t have any leftovers, you can store in the fridge tightly wrapped in a paper towel then plastic for a day or so.

Yield 8 tortillas.