Unfortunately- soy is in there. I have a goiter and hypothyroidism- some soy is ok for me upon occasion- but bread is not an "upon occasion" food, so I've decided to just stop having to read all the ingredients lists at the store and start making my own baked goods so I KNOW whats going into them.
Besides all this- I grew up on homemade bread- and there is NOTHING better. Nothing compares to the warm fuzzys I get from baking bread. It is a bit intimidating but I encourage you to try making your own bread products- I think you'd be surprised at your own skills.
So my most recent endeavor was whole wheat tortilla wraps- I looked up recipes online after having a meltdown about what was in my "carb balance" tortillas. I was still unhappy to find that MOST recipes include lard, or way too much oil/butter. I am after all, trying to lose weight- however a lot of the "low fat" seemed to not have ENOUGH oil (and like they would come out dry). So I compiled the "best of the best" to make my own version of these.
Tortillas
Yields 12-14 tortillas (roughly 10" each- if you make them smaller like soft taco or fajita size this will change the yield and the points value).
WW Points Value: 5 (this depends on a lot of things- please calculate your own value using the recipe builder and your yield/needs)
Nutrition calculated on SparkPeople.com (AGAIN- this will vary depending on your needs/yield-please adjust accordingly) :
Ingredients:
-4 Cups of Whole Wheat Flour (Or 2 Cups of Whole Wheat and 2 Cups of All Purpose- this will change the points, but it won't be as dense- the picture above I used white whole wheat flour cause that's what I had on hand)
-1 1/2 tsp of salt
-1 1/2 tsp of baking powder
-4 tbls olive oil (you can use canola too)
-1 to 1 1/2 cups of HOT water
Instructions:
In a medium sized bowl- whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder.
Add the 4 tbls of canola oil. With your hands mix the oil in- until it is incorporated the mix is slightly crumbly (with this little oil the crumbliness of it is pretty discrete, so if you don't notice a lot of it, don't worry).
Add HOT water- Why hot water? this makes the dough soft and easy to roll out- also it makes the final texture a bit better. Add water slowly- mixing it as you go. The dough should form a soft, slightly sticky ball. It should be closer to pizza dough than pie crust- stretchy and moist- and not crumbling or dry, stop adding water when you have reached the desired texture and stretchiness.
Knead the dough 10-15 times (in other words, knead the dough very little). I found it easiest to just knead it in the mixing bowl.
COVER (or else it will dry out) and allow the dough to rest for a half an hour.
Once dough has rested take it out and roll it out into a log (ROUGHLY 2"x6") - using a dough cutter (or a knife)- cut it down the middle once (you should have to logs)- then cut the two logs vertically 6-7 times- you should end up with 12-14 dough balls.
(If you want SMALLER tortillas just make more cuts)
On a floured surface roll out each ball. You should wind up with a roughly 10" tortilla. They will be VERY THIN. If you like thicker tortillas adjust your cuts and rolling accordingly, that will change the points value though. They will also probably not be perfect circles, that's ok.- put them on plate with a towel in between each so they are easy to handle (if your concerned that isn't green you can just lay them on top of each other, but work slowly and patiently so you don't tear them).
Heat up a large skillet on medium heat.
You are going to "DRY FRY" these- and things happen quickly at this point- so get some tongs and get ready to pay close attention to the tortillas.
Place one tortilla in the pan let it sit until it starts to JUST BARELY bubble, flip it and take it off very quickly after. I would say maybe 20 seconds a side depending on your thinness and heat. You do not want to dry these out- otherwise they will get crackery-and break and not be foldable. How long this is on your stove-top I can not tell you. It takes a bit of practice. When you lift the tortilla out of the pan it should be floppy still, with only a few brown spots- like a tortilla you buy at the store.
Stack all the cooked tortillas on top of each other, you no longer need to put paper towels between them. However- put one paper towel on the bottom and one on the top- take a LARGE plastic Ziploc bag (or if you're green- a sealed container) and while the tortillas are STILL WARM- place the whole stack in the bag and seal it. Let them rest in there for 5 minutes. You want to steam them- this will help them stay flexible and store bought like.
Remove them from the bag- and let them finish cooling on their own (or serve right away), allow the bag to dry out. Once they are cool you can place them back in the bag and store in the fridge for 5-7 days. You can freeze them and defrost when needed- but they will get a bit soggy in the defrosting process, so I suggest warming them up with a QUICK dry fry after they are defrosted. BUT they probably won't last long enough to need to freeze them.
