My Cooking Journey (As a Terrible Cook) (Part 3)

This flour is never going to leave the grooves
I only had tin foil to cover the dough
After letting the dough sit for 20 minutes, take it out of the bowl and start kneading it once again on the countertop with some flour. I usually knead it until most of the air pockets and holes are covered and fully mixed together. The left picture shows the dough after just took it out of the mixing bowl (of course I forgot to take a picture after I kneaded it).




Now comes the fun part; cutting the dough into little balls. First, I cut the dough in half. With each half, I either roll or shape the dough into a long, cylindrical-like shape. From there, I mark where I want to cut the cylinder into 5 equal sections. If you have a dough cutter, that works the best. However, I used a pizza cutter, which works about the same. A butterknife would work good too if nothing else. Below are some pictures of the process I explained. 

Cutting the dough into halves
Creating the cylinder shape



Cutting the cylinder into 5 equal pieces

Do the second and third steps for the other half and you should end up with 10 little sections of dough. Then, I roll them into a ball shape and place them back into the mixing bowl. They will need to sit for another 10 minutes, so I just reuse the tin foil I used to place it back over the top. They may stick together, which is normal, so just try your best when it's time to take them out to keep them the same size.




I have to use a ton of flour for this press
Now that the 10 minutes is up, it's time to turn them into tortillas! I have a tortilla press, so that is what I used to flatten them out. Of course, a rolling pin on the countertop is the alternative, but considering my tile countertops, it's probably best that I had the press. Make sure to use plenty of flour, for they will very easily stick to whatever they're on or whatever is being used on it. Also, make sure to really flatten out the dough, for a thicker tortilla is really hard to cook all the way through without burning. After flattening, just pop them on the stove in a pan and cook each side until they start to get golden brown (or whatever your preference is) and voila!





I had to flatten it out more but turned out pretty good!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Cooking Journey (As a Terrible Cook)

Image
 My Past With Cooking Hello! My name is Madison White, and this is my blog on my experiences on learning to cook. Growing up I was never really that good of a cook. Sports and school took up a lot of my time to cook as well, so I depended heavily on my parents to cook food. On those "fend-for-yourself" nights, it was ramen noodles or something I could heat up in the microwave. And I was always too scared to cook, knowing that cooking it based on the taste that you like, rather than following a strict recipe such as baking.     Picture by Madison White It wasn't until I moved out of the house for college that the reality of cooking meals hit me. No longer did I have parents to rely on to have a meal ready, and these late nights with classes and practices make it difficult to plan a whole meal out that takes longer to cook. So, I started learning easy recipes to start, which has taught me a lot about how certain spices flavor foods and which ones go the best together. ...
Read more

Steps to Making Alfredo (part 3)

Image
Cook the sauce until you get a thick consistency , as shown on the picture to the left. To tell if it's thick enough, I slowly slide my spatula along the bottom of the pan in order to see if a gap will show. The gap on the left shows that the heavy whipping cream has thickened up from its watery consistency. If there is no gap showing or it feels too watery for your personal preference (a lot of these cooking steps are based on your preference), then continue cooking it until you get your desired thickness. Also shown in the picture is a pot on a burner in the top left. I started boiling water right after I put the spices in the heavy whipping cream so that the noodles can cook at a boiling temperature right after your sauce becomes thicker.  Next, I add my parmesan cheese. I use shredded parmesan because I like the consistency of the sauce after the cheese has melted. You can use the more powder-like cheese, but you may have to use more of it. I typically use about as much cheese ...
Read more

Steps to Making Alfredo

Image
My Alfredo Experience I actually learned this recipe from my boyfriend's aunt. I went her house for the day, and she stood with me in her kitchen, talking me through how to make the Alfredo sauce. She taught me 2 ways to make it; one with a  roux  (which is using flour and butter to make a thick base for the sauce) and one with just using heavy whipping cream to make a thick sauce. I prefer the heavy whipping cream because not only is it way easier, but I think it gives it a better taste. Using a roux can make a sauce taste gritty, especially if the roux isn't done correctly, and it makes the texture feel like chalk. So the heavy whipping cream way of making the sauce is definitely the beginner way to go.  It doesn't take many ingredients to make: only heavy whipping cream,  parmesan cheese , garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, and a little bit a  nutmeg . The nutmeg surprised me the most, because you typically, but it actually gives it that signature tas...
Read more