Bigger & Better Whole Wheat Tortillas

Though I considered the Whole Wheat Flour Tortillas recipe a hit from the start it has taken me some time to feel like I've got them the shape, thickness and size I want.  I saw that my favorite blogger had a tortilla press in her list of must have kitchen items so after my first go round I treated myself to one: 

In the process I discovered Sur la table ... I sense DANGER!  I have a feeling that place will be like Target in that you can't escape for less than $100 - go in for just "one little thing" and then ... whoopsie!  Anyway, probably not much safer on-line but click here to find it and buy on-line.   

This did make them nice and round but quite thick and very small.  (I didn't realize until later that Lisa from 100 Days of Real Food had noted she uses this for her CORN tortillas, not flour - duh!)  They still tasted good but not convenient if you really want the tortilla to wrap around the food and not have it all fall out one end or the other.   So this past weekend I knew I had to try something new.  I had two recipes on my meal plan that called for tortillas - Honey & Lime Enchiladas and Southwestern Chicken Wraps.   The wraps in particular called for HUGE tortillas or wouldn't work.  

I still used the same recipe as before - just made 2 batches instead of one.  For one batch I made the regular number of 12 balls but after taking them out of the tortilla press I used my rolling pin to roll them out a bit.  Not perfect circles but it got them thinner and bigger!  And really, who cares about perfect circles?  Shouldn't homemade be a little imperfect?  

I also used my new Olive Oil Sprayer (told you Sur la table was dangerous!) to see if I could make them a little less greasy.  Oil is indeed yummy but just pouring it from bottle to pan means about a tsp for each tortilla ... I'm not focusing on calories but my goal in this is not to GAIN weight and so my common sense kicked in.  

Here's my new toy all covered with flour & then a pic from on-line that is a little prettier.  You put olive oil in it and the lid as a pumping thingy to push air in so that when you spray it it is like an aerosol spray.   Not exactly as easy and fluid as Pam but none of those extra (scary) ingredients!  Click here to get yourself one. 

Ta dah!  12 pretty big tortillas all ready & less greasy!

Next I had to make the HUGE ones.  Instead of cutting the dough into 12 pieces I cut it into 8.  I still used the tortilla press to start and then rolled it out afterwards.   This time instead of my regular pan I used a flat I guess you'd call it a griddle pan?   

The regular pan just wasn't big enough but this one worked great.  As you can see I got them almost as big as a dinner plate!  These will work great as 'wraps' ... and still less greasy!  Tip- you do have to spray for quite a while to really coat the pan, unlike with true aerosol sprays, but I really think it is worth it to not have the extra junk in there and to be able to 'go light' on the oil.