Flour tortillas and pie crust. What
do they have in common, you might ask? A reader (thank you, Tim) posed a question asking why the taste and texture are so
different from each other, considering they have basically the same
ingredients. Indeed, they do have similar ingredients-flour, salt,
shortening or lard, baking powder, and water for tortillas; flour,
salt, shortening or butter, and water for pie crust. Two notable
differences between the two are the baking powder in the tortillas
and the temperature of the ingredients. Warm water for the tortillas;
ice cold water and cold butter or shortening for the pie crust.
Baking powder makes dough rise, hence the fluffy tortillas. As far as
the different water temperatures, I speculate that it reacts with the
other ingredients differently, resulting in a more dense texture for
the pie crust, and a softer texture for the tortillas.
So
there is my opinion on the matter. I hope you have enjoyed this
installment of fun and interesting facts about food that you never knew you
wanted to know.
Great post! It's interesting to know why food are the way they are.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I've had fun thinking up topics.
DeleteThis is some awesome information to know, thank you for sharing it. Prior to this entry, I did not think of what tortillas and pie crust might have in common. I enjoy cooking but have never made flour tortillas before so that might be part of the reason I did not put the two together. Them having the same ingredients and all. Think I will share this information with some people I know that enjoy cooking as well.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I hadn't thought about it, either, until someone asked me about it. I think it is interesting how you can take the same basic ingredients and make completely different things with them.
DeleteI've never thought about it. The idea that pie crust and tortillas are made of the same ingredients never occurred to me. Now I'm hungry for some nachos. I think tortilla chips are made of the same ingredients too.
ReplyDeleteI love nachos! Flour tortilla chips would be the same, but corn tortillas and chips are made with masa and water. I actually had to look that up, so now we both know!
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