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1
By Hand:
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2
Combine the flour, baking powder,salt, and optional dried pasta sauce mix. Either by hand or with a pastry cutter, cut in the shortening till the mixture is crumbly. If the mixture looks more floury than crumbly, be sure to add just one or two more tablespoons of shortening till it is crumbly. Add about 3/4 cup hot water to the mixture, or just enough to make the ingredients look moist.
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3
With your hand or a large fork, knead the mixture making sure to rub the dough against the sides of the large mixing bowl to gather any clinging dough. If the dough still sticks to the side of the bowl, add a couple more tablespoons of flour until the dough forms a soft round shape. The dough is ready to roll out now, but it is best to let it rest. Cover it with a dish towel, and let it sit for about an hour or so.
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4
Take the dough, and pull it apart into 10 to 12 balls. Lightly flour your rolling area, and roll each ball with a rolling pin to about 1/8 inch thickness.
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5
Place each tortilla on a medium hot cast iron skillet. Cook for about 1 to 2 minutes on each side, or until the tortilla does not look doughy.
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6
Bread Machine:
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7
Combine flour, baking powder,optional dried pasta sauce mix, and salt in bread machine. Cut shortening into pieces about the size of olives, and drop inches.
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8
Start mix cycle and slowly add tap water. Let cycle run five or six minutes, then stop machine.
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9
Remove dough from bread machine, cover with a warm wet towel and let sit for 15 minutes, so dough can relax. (Do not skip this step or dough will be difficult to form into tortillas.).
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10
Pinch off egg-sized pieces of dough and roll into balls. Use a rolling pin to roll them into thin rounds.
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11
Heat a dry cast-iron skillet to medium. Transfer tortillas to skillet and cook until spots on the bottom are dark brown. Flip tortillas and cook on second side until spots are dark brown.
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12
Serve immediately. Keep warm in the folds of a kitchen towel if necessary.
