Easy tortilla recipe. Make your own delicious flour tortillas.

Try making your own flour tortillas for your next Tex-Mex feast.

There are loads of fajita recipes on the net, but I think that most of them miss the point. The secret to great fajita is well grilled meat, sautéed onions and sweet peppers, a bit of hot sauce and a good fresh salsa; and most importantly...fresh homemade flour tortillas.

Fresh warm flour tortillas will transport a plain-Jane weeknight meal into something really fantastic; and they're very easy to make. Try them at least once, and I guarantee you'll be converted!

Flour tortilla recipe (makes 8)

2 cups flour (all-purpose or bread flour, cake flour should be avoided)

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

3/4 cup warm water

11/2 tsps salt

Mix all the ingredients in a mixing bowl, then turn the dough out onto the counter and knead the dough for about a minute. This isn't like making bread and a minute of kneading is plenty.

Divide the dough into eight rounded balls.

Heat up a heavy frying pan over medium heat. The heavier the pan the easier they are. If you have a cast iron fry pan it is ideal for making tortillas.

Sprinkle some flour onto the counter and roll out each ball of dough into a flat circle about 6 inches in diameter. If the dough is sticking to the table, just add more flour. Rotating the circle around as you're rolling it out can help you get that nice circular shape, but it really just takes practice; and they'll taste great even if they're not perfectly circular

Take a clean cloth and dust off any flour that's adhered to the tortilla, and place it onto the frying pan. You don't need to add any oil to the pan, they won't stick.

When you see bubbles popping up all over the top of the tortilla, it's done.

Take it off the heat and wrap in a clean dishtowel as you repeat the process.

You don't need to cook the tortillas on both sides as they're so thin they'll cook through from the bottom. Cooking on only one side will make a better tortilla.

Don't get discouraged if you're tortillas look funny, by the second or third batch you do you'll be a seasoned pro; and the whole process won't take more than about 20 minutes.

Be warned though, once your family or friends get used to your hot fresh tortillas, there's no going back to store bought ever again!