*The amount of water is approximate–judge by the feel of your dough.

Mix the flours and salt in a medium-size bowl. Cut in shortening with a pastry cutter. Stir water in (add a little at a time after the first cup) and mix the dough as much as possible with a spoon. Knead, adding water, until you have a pliable dough. (Not too wet! Be careful adding the water after the first cup.) Cover bowl and let rest for about 20 minutes. Sprinkle a bit of flour in the bowl and knead again briefly. Divide dough into 16 balls.

Place a cast iron skillet on high heat. (Cast iron works best–you need something that can take high heat with no oil.) Open the tortilla press and lay a piece of plastic wrap across the bottom of it. Sprinkle with a little bit of flour. Place a ball of dough toward the hinged end. (Not in the middle! I found that placing it toward the hinge created much nicer, rounder tortillas.) Sprinkle a little flour on top of the ball. Place another piece of plastic on top and close the press, pushing down on it to flatten the ball. Peel off the plastic carefully. Fry each side about one minute on high heat. I do the first side another 20-30 seconds after the second side. Keep the operation moving–as you’re frying one tortilla, press another. Move each tortilla as it’s finished onto a plate or into a tortilla keeper and cover to keep warm.

Note: An alternative method I’ve used in the press is to cut apart a plastic storage baggie and use that for the two pieces of plastic rather than the flimsier plastic wrap when pressing the tortillas. I find this much easier to work with for regular corn tortillas, though I have no trouble with plain plastic wrap with these soft flour-corn tortillas. It’s just an easier dough to work with.