This was my very first social media collaboration with a brewery! This is a three part series using Lake Pleasant Brewing Company‘s Mexican Amber Lager; ¡Uno Más! Ambar.
The beer has a 5.4% ABV and was brewed with pilsner and Vienna malts with flaked corn added. Any similar style beer may be substituted.
Part 1 of this series is tortillas, part 2 is beef brisket tacos, and part 3 is a three-cheese beer sauce.
Here’s how I made the tortillas:
Make sure you have clean hands with jewelry removed and a clean surface to spread flour and dough on.
I start with 3-4 cups of flour, but keep additional on standby because it may take up to 5 cups total. I’ve always used normal white flour to make tortillas.
Then mix 1 tsp of salt into the flour. My favorite salt to use is Redmond Real Salt.
I’ve experimented with different types of fat across many tortilla making adventures and this ratio seems to make the best tortillas as far as final consistency: 1/4 cup of salted sweet cream butter along with 3/4 cup of any other animal-based fat. For these I used lard.
I based the ratios of all ingredients for this tortilla recipe on using one full pint of beer, which is typically the size of each brewery 4-pack beer.
This is where it gets messy! Mix your fats and beer into the flour/salt combo and get to kneading. I always make these by hand, but a stand mixer with a dough hook on a low setting will do the job as well.
Gradually add flour to the dough until it becomes less sticky, but is a soft doughy ball.
After this, place the dough in a mixing bowl and cover with a clean towel. Let it rest like this on the counter for at least 30 minutes. You could also refrigerate for up to a few days before use.
When ready to make the tortillas, break off chunks of dough and roll into balls that are a bit larger than a golf ball.
A tortilla press is a cheap and easy way to save a lot of time with the next step. If you do not have one, you can roll out the dough with a rolling pin.
Smash the dough balls into somewhat see-through disks. Be sure to sprinkle each side with flour if laying them on top of each other. Do not stack them tightly together or for too long or they will regroup into a single piece.
Using a hot skillet or an open flame, toast each side of your flattened disks. You will not need to oil or grease your surface since so much of the dough is composed of fats.
The tortillas can be refrigerated for a couple of weeks or frozen for about a month.
To reheat, use the same method you used to cook. You can also cover with a damp cloth or paper towel and microwave for a short time.
In part 3 of this series, I’ll turn the leftover tortillas into tortilla chips for our beer cheese sauce.