Tortas Fritas

Ingredients

• 500 g plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1.5 tsp fine salt
• 100 g beef fat (grasa de pella) or lard, melted
• 280 ml warm water
• 1 litre beef fat or sunflower oil, for frying
• 4 tbsp caster sugar, for dusting

Before you cook

• Melt the 100 g of beef fat and let it cool until warm but still liquid
• Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together in a wide bowl
• Warm the water to about body temperature

Steps

1. Make a well in the flour and pour in the melted fat and the warm water.
2. Mix with your hand until the dough gathers into a rough ball.
3. Knead on the worktop for 6 minutes, until the dough is smooth and no longer sticks.
4. Cover the dough with a cloth and let it rest for 20 minutes.
5. Divide the dough into 12 pieces and roll each into a ball.
6. Flatten each ball with a rolling pin into a disc about 12 cm across and 5 mm thick.
7. Push a hole through the centre of each disc with your finger, or cut a small cross with a knife.
8. Heat the frying fat in a deep pan to 180°C, hot enough for a scrap of dough to rise and sizzle straight away.
9. Slide in two discs at a time and fry for 90 seconds, until the underside is deep gold and puffed.
10. Turn them with tongs and fry for another minute on the second side.
11. Lift them onto kitchen paper and dust them with sugar as soon as they come out.
12. Fry the rest in the same way and eat them hot, with mate or coffee.