Gluten Free Tortillas - 30 Minutes - Serves 8

Fuego and I haven't had a real burrito now for almost three years.

This was one of our favorite foods - both of us independently before getting together, and continuing together after - and the gluten free tortillas on the market just aren't up to the challenge. Our favorite, being local to the Berkeley area, was Gordo's on College Ave. Fuego had been going there with friends since Captain Technology lived in the loft over the garage on Ashby (and the world was young). We went there together at least once or twice per week while I was in seminary, and looked forward to trips into town after we moved to Davis.

It was nearly as sad as having to give up Zachary's pizza when we couldn't go there anymore.

The past few weeks Fuego has been craving mexican food, and since we've been talking about trying to make a decent tortilla for about ALL of the past three years, I decided it was time (tortilla press or no!). I found a great, traditional mexican recipe that I adapted, which worked great! I will, of course, continue to experiment with different flour mixes (I've tried two already and both worked equally well) to try out different flavors - hope you enjoy it!

3C GF flour (I used the french bread flour mix from The Gluten Free Gourmet Bakes Bread)

3/4C shortening (or lard if you eat it ;o)

3/4C hot water

Cut shortening into flour until "crumbly" (adjust ratio until it looks like the consistency of bread crumbs). Add hot water until the mixture is moist and kneed until well mixed - should easily form into ball - not too sticky but not too dry to roll out. Separate into about 8 parts and roll out to about 1/16" (recipe called for 1/8" thick, but I wanted something more like what I remember flour tortillas being like so I could wrap it up into a burrito).

Cook on a med-hot cast iron skillet for about 1-2 minutes per side. They will be the consistency of large delicate crackers, but when you steam them they turn pliable and work perfectly for burritos.

**Note - If you don't have a tortilla steamer, I use a cookie-cooling rack - the wire kind - set over a wide, shallow pan of boiling water. Set the tortilla on the cooling rack over the boiling water and cover with a high-arched lid - about 2 minutes of steam works wonders). I recommend wrapping the burrito up in foil like they do at the taquerias - helps to keep everything put together and hot - plus it adds to the experience of finally getting to have a good burrito again ;o).