Homemade Tortillas - Beer Battered Tortillas DIY

Ever buy tortillas at the store, and find them old, crusty, and tasting like cardboard? I recently ventured into making my own fresh homemade tortillas, and I'll share how to do it right here on DIY-Homebrew.

What's the connection to beer brewing? Well, we use beer instead of water in the ingredients!

Now I know some of you will take a look at the flour I'm using, and say "That's cheating!"  I suppose it is.  I haven't tried to actually mix and prep the tortilla flour from scratch, and would welcome suggestions in the comment boxes below.

Start off with Tortilla Flour.

In a mixing bowl, follow the instructions (typically 2 cups flour and a 1/2 cup water).  EXCEPT, substitute beer or a 1/2 cup of your homebrew in place of the water.

Mix and cover with a damp cloth.  Let it sit for about 20 minutes.

Remove the dough, and begin the process of folding the dough in upon itself.  Keep folding it and flattening the dough out, as you can see below.

When you have a nice, consistent, well packed dough ball, slightly flatten it out and slice into 1.5 or 2 inch

Roll the pieces into small balls and set aside.  These will be your tortillas.

Begin by spreading flour out on a smooth surface.  Grab a dough ball and flatten it with your hand.

Grab your rolling pin and go to work.

It's hard to make a perfect circle.  Often you'll end up with these odd oval shapes.

Fire up your skillet on medium-high, and when it's heated, toss a tortilla on.

Let it cook until you can see brown spots on it.  Then, flip it over.

Make a bunch to save for later, and be sure to slop on some butter and eat one right away!

True Bruschetta Receipe - DIY from Scratch

Once, while traveling in the little town (almost a village) of Jerome, Arizona, I stumbled upon the best Bruschetta I've ever had.  A small place -- in fact, historically it had been a Brothel -- the husband and wife owners took time to speak to my wife and I, and I grabbed the opportunity to quiz them on the recipe.  It's fairly simple, and I've listed it below.

First, you'll need to make homemade bread.  A simple flat bread will do, and I tend to add rosemary and oregano into the batter (although I did not in the photos below).

In a bowl, add a cup of water and a 1/2 tsp of yeast.  Get yourself two scoops of flour, and mix gently.  Make sure there are no lumps.  Add in the herbs, if you want.

Mix it up and let it sit, covered with a damp cloth, for about 15-30 minutes.

While you're waiting, you can prepare the toppings.  I use cherry tomatoes from the garden, but any type will do.  If you want to get fancy, try multiple colored heirloom tomatoes.

Dice them into quarters, and then place them in a bowl filled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  Add pepper, garlic, and a touch of salt, and stir.

Next comes the basil.  You can either slice the basil into strips, or keep the leaves whole.

When your dough is ready, add some flour to your hands and sprinkle the top of the dough.  Roll it into a patty or a ball and remove onto a flat surface.  Fold the dough in upon it self, turning it out.  Craft several flat rolls in any shape you like.  I prefer rustic edges and an almost rectangular shape.  Glaze the top of the uncooked dough with olive oil.

Set your oven to 350, and put the dough in for 8-12 minutes.

Because they're relatively thin, the dough should cook into a slightly crispy bread.

Pull out the bread and fire up your cast iron skillet.  Roast the dough on the skillet with a touch of oil, just to give it a slight bite and added crunch.

Plate the bread and sprinkle the tops with more olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  Be liberal and messy, since you'll want some of the edges and bottom to be flavored as well.

Optional:  Add thin sliced mozzarella cheese or slivers of Parmesan, either to the bread itself or on top of everything.

Add the tomato mix, making sure you scoop out the oil/vinegar as well.  If your bread is crispy enough, it won't become soggy from the liquids.

Pour any excess oil and vinegar over everything for added taste.

Top it off with your basil, and you're done!

Mexican Style Homemade Salsa

When I commented how store bought salsa tasted salty and too much like vinegar, a friend noted that many salsas -- homemade or store bought -- add too many ingredients.  She boasted of her own salsa recipe  which despite being in the family for years, only consisted of two ingredients (plus salt/pepper).

I asked her to come over and show me how to make DIY homemade Mexican style salsa.

Ready for the ingredient list?  This DIY homemade Mexican salsa consists of:

2 large beefsteak tomatoes
1 Serrano or 2 small jalapenos (added or reduced for spice)

That's it!  Of course, you'll want to season with salt, pepper, and maybe even some garlic powder for taste.  I've experimented with a tad of onion for taste, and actually, for the recipe walk-though below, I've added a bunch of green tomatoes.

When you normally make this recipe  you can skip the green tomatoes, and you can actually use two large beefsteak vine tomatoes.  I used three tomatoes here because they are smaller than normal.  I decided to add the handful of green tomatoes because as I was pruning out garden, I accidentally cut a stalk of one of our tomato plants.  So rather than toss it, I picked the green tomatoes and added them.

Here's the ingredients   Like I mentioned above, two large beefsteak tomatoes are fine, and feel free to skip the green tomatoes.

Start by washing the veggies/fruits (tomatoes are a fruit), and removing the stickers.  It amazes me that organic stuff comes with stickers on it.  Is the adhesive organic too?

Heat up a pot of water to preboil.

Then, just before it starts boiling, add the tomatoes and peppers.

After a little while, you'll notice the tomatoes skin start to split.

Prepare a small amount of onion, for taste while you're waiting.

 Once the boil has been going for 10-15 minutes, pull out the tomatoes and peppers one by one.  You can turn the boil off while you do this.  Strip the skin from the tomatoes, and then core them (take out the core/stem area, as shown below).

Do all of this on a tray or in a pan, since the juices will leak and flow out.  You'll want these juices for the salsa. If skilled enough, you can skin the jalapenos  although I just cut off the stem and leave them whole.  Those who want little or no hotness can de-seed them.

Add salt and pepper, although you'll add these later to taste.

Add a little olive oil.

And a little garlic powder.  Why not real garlic cloves?  I find that they don't  break up as well into the salsa.  The powder mixes into the salsa very evenly.

Empty the mix into a blender or food processor.

Blend/Process the salsa until evenly distributed.  Check with a knife or fork to make sure there are no large pieces left.

Jar up a decent portion for later...

And then reward yourself with a nice bowl of fresh homemade salsa!