homemade tortillas


this recipe is it! the perfect homemade tortillas. easy and quick and cheap and after a couple run-throughs, you will be a perfect tortilla maker.
these are equally yummy with either white (classic, flavorful) and whole wheat (hearty, filling) flours.
our favorite with beans, burritos, healthy fiesta wraps (wheat,) and fiesta wraps (white).

homemade tortillas

2 cups flour (white or wheat)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup oil
2/3 cup HOT water

combine flour, salt and baking powder in the bowl of a bosch or kitchenaid. (my preference is to use a mixer, but usually tortillas are mixed by hand.)
mix to combine. add oil and hot water (i heat water in a tea kettle until almost boiling.) mix to combine. if your dough comes together in a ball, you're all set. if your dough is still stiff and not coming together, add water by the Tablespoonful until it does.

get a dishtowel soaking wet and wring it out. place dough in a ball under the wet towel and let it rest for 30 minutes.

after 30 minutes, divide dough into 8-10 balls and flatten like little discs. leave them under the dishtowel while you are rolling out the tortillas.

heat a cast-iron or stainless skillet on high while you roll the tortillas. after you get going, you may need to lower the heat a bit. you can also use a griddle (electric pancake griddle,) but crank it to the max temperature setting.

lightly dust your rolling surface with flour. roll tortillas* into circles, starting from the center every time and rolling outwards, turning between rolls to get even circles. dust more flour underneath or on tortillas as needed. roll tortillas as thinly as you can, preferably as thin as paper. my first tortillas were more like pancakes, but with practice you get better at it!

cook tortillas on both sides, watching carefully. you should get little brown spots if your pan is hot enough.
immediately put the tortillas in a ziplock with the zipper part wide open, or in a tortilla warmer. this will keep them soft!

* i think it is easiest to roll thin tortillas using a pastry rolling pin.  i also love this for rolling out mini pot pies and mini pizzas.  it offers more control because of its small size.

2 comments:

  1. hooray for this! I've never made tortillas before, so this will be fun. Can you just substitute corn flour in for the wheat to make corn tortillas? Or is that a separate recipe?

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  2. it is really fun, and easy too. there is a really helpful video on www.everdayfoodstorage.net (great blog!), and it would be good for any first-timers to watch and see how easy it is. but she doesn't roll hers in circles too well, and her griddle is not hot enough. crank up the heat!!

    corn tortillas are a different animal all together. you use masa flour, mixed with water, and you don't roll them, you press them with a cheap little metal tortilla press. they are actually the easier tortillas of the two!

    and really really if you are going to be rolling tortillas often, get the little pastry rolling pin. it makes it so easy to get them thin!

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