Gorditas de Harina Rellenas de Frijoles y Queso
Gorditas de Harina Rellenas de Frijoles y Queso·(gor-dee-tas de ah-ree-nah)
El Lonche: The Working Lunch and Midday Sustenance
If you grew up anywhere near the Texas borderlands, the smell of toasting flour on hot cast iron is the smell of home. While the rest of the world pictures corn masa when they hear the word, the arid north belongs strictly to the gordita de harina. These chubby, pillowy pockets of dough were designed to carry hearty beans and stews out to the fields for a midday lonche. The old-school secret to keeping them impossibly soft for days instead of turning them into hockey pucks is heat. Cutting hot, melted fat and near-boiling water into the dough partially gelatinizes the starches. It is a simple, uncompromising technique that translates perfectly to a modern weeknight kitchen, resulting in pure borderland magic.
Before you start
Refry the beans.
Heat the vegetable oil in a skillet over medium heat, add the entire can of pinto beans including the liquid, and mash them thoroughly while simmering until thick, hot, and creamy.
Ingredients
- all-purpose flour4 cup
- baking powder1 1/2 tsp
- kosher salt1 1/2 tsp
- vegetable shortening1/3 cup
- water1 1/4 cup
- pinto beans15 oz
- vegetable oil1 tbsp
- Monterey Jack cheese2 cup
Method
- 01
Whisk the dry ingredients together.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and kosher salt.
- 02
Work the hot fat into the flour.
Pour the melted, hot vegetable shortening directly into the bowl, rubbing it into the flour with your fingers or a fork until the mixture resembles wet sand and no large lumps of fat remain.
- 03
Hydrate the dough with near-boiling water.
Slowly pour in the hot water—it should be as hot as your hands can comfortably stand—and bring the dough together until no dry flour sits at the bottom of the bowl.
- 04
Knead the dough until smooth and let it rest.
Turn the dough out onto a clean surface and knead vigorously for 5 to 8 minutes until it feels elastic and no longer sticks to your hands, then form it into a ball, cover tightly, and rest for 20 minutes to relax the gluten.
- 05
Divide and roll the dough into testales.
Portion the dough into 12 equal pieces, rolling each into a smooth ball before flattening them with a rolling pin into discs about 4 inches wide and a quarter-inch thick.
- 06
Cook the gorditas using the three-flip method.
Place a disc on a preheated medium-high cast-iron comal for 15 seconds, flip and cook for 45 seconds until spotted, then flip once more, pressing the edges gently with a folded kitchen towel to force the trapped steam to puff the gordita like a balloon.
- 07
Immediately slit the pocket open.
Pull the puffed gordita off the heat and instantly slice a slit around one-third of the edge with a serrated knife so the starchy interior doesn't glue itself shut as it cools.
- 08
Fill the hot gorditas.
Stuff each warm gordita with a generous spoonful of hot refried beans and a handful of shredded cheese, letting the residual heat melt everything together perfectly.
Notes
The Hot Secret.
Do not use lukewarm tap water. Near-boiling water denatures the wheat proteins and swells the starches, keeping the dough incredibly soft and pliable even the next day.
Embrace the shortening.
While rendered pork fat is historically accurate, typical American supermarket lard is hydrogenated and lacks pure flavor. High-quality vegetable shortening perfectly mimics authentic manteca vegetal and yields a flawlessly fluffy crumb.
From Cook Tex-Mex.