I feel this rush to get all my chametz out of the kitchen. I feel embarassment by the amount of stuff I have left. My freezer is full, as is my pantry. I don’t know where I will put the Passover products that I need to buy. There are eight bottles of Passover wine living in the guest room, if that tells you anything.
In my freezer, sat 2 1/2 lonely cups of all-purpose flour. I rarely use AP flour, unless I have some event I need to bake for. Bread flour gets used, but not the “all purpose” kind. I thought about cookies or brownies or something similar, but I am not eating sweets lately, and I have imposed my baking adventures on my colleagues enough this month. They have probably reached their cookie and cupcake quota for March.
So as not to pester my coworkers with any more baking leftovers, I pondered other uses for flour. I had two cups too much flour for any gravy or sauce. Too little flour for anything that I would normally find use for. While scouring uses for flour, I came across an idea I always shoved aside – tortillas! Really, who makes tortillas? I have a few budget conscious friends who make them. I have always relied on the yummy handmade tortillas at Trader Joe’s and I am not a huge fan of anything that could be deemed a patchke – a bother. I have a fear of rolling pins. Really! Still, I had just enough flour, and all the ingredients. Even without a tortilla press, it can’t be too complicated, right? Well it is a patchke, and it is one of those things that requires some amount of practice. I could still see myself making these again, as the finished product was pretty good, and once I got the hang of it, it was pretty easy.
I made an evening out of this adventure. Got people over here. It’s easy when there is beer (also chametz) to be used up. Turned the fresh tortillas into quesadillas, with a slew of yummy toppings and a great salad. It was a good night.
Flour Tortillas
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1.5 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vegetable oil
3/4 warm water
Mix the dry ingredients together in a medium mixing bowl.
Mix the water and oil in a separate container.
Make a well in your flour mixture. Slowly pour the water mixture into the dry ingredients, bit by bit. Use a fork to mix up the dough. The dough will be sticky.
Once all the water is incorporated into the flour, turn the dough onto a floured board.
Knead the dough for a few minutes until the dough is nice and smooth and can be shaped into a ball.
Put the big ball of dough back into the mixing bowl and cover with a damp kitchen towel for 20 minutes. Use this time to prep your other dinner ingredients, mingle, have a beer, clean up a spilled beer, etc.
Take the big ball of dough out, and pinch of pieces of dough and roll them into little balls of dough. Place the dozen or so dough balls onto a plate and cover with a damp towel. Let it sit for 10 minutes.
Preheat your skillet on medium/high heat. A cast-iron skillet is recommended, but any large heavy skillet will do.
Re-flour your cutting board. Lightly flatten the doughball out on the board to a circle. 
Roll out the dough with your rolling pin. It should be around 1/8 inch thick. 
Once you have rolled out the tortilla, place it on the skillet. No oil is needed. Cook the tortilla for about 30 seconds a side.You will notice brown spots all over your tortilla. Flip it over and cook an additional 30 seconds.
Don’t over cook. The first tortilla came out a little too well-done and too crispy. Cover the tortillas on a plate while you cook the rest.
We ate the tortillas as bean and cheese quesadillas…slathered with salads and sour cream. It was a yummy dinner adventure!
About Hindy Garfinkel