Don’t you hate it when you have plans to make something for dinner, have everything prepped and then realize you forgot a key component? What’s even worse is you are flat broke and can’t go buy what you need, let alone spare the fumes in the car to get there and back. Ya…that happened to me last week but it turned out to be an eye opening and very fun experience. I had a crash course in making flour tortillas from scratch.
Necessity is the mother of all invention, as the saying goes and it certainly applies to this case. I needed flour tortillas to complete this masterpiece of home-cooked goodness I was expertly concocting. No, really. My refried beans and burger mixture is so good that people use it as a chip dip and the makings for both tacos and burritos. Maybe I’ll share it with you sometime but this article is all about the awesome experience of making flour tortillas from scratch!
I was in a rut and needed a solution so, naturally, I went to the internet. I admit I did check my cookbooks to make sure there was a recipe for them there, too. Anyway, off I went and found a recipe that was, to my surprise, very similar to the recipe I use to make crackers from scratch! I thought, “Wait, if making flour tortillas is as easy as making crackers… WHY didn’t I do this sooner!”
I cannot stress this enough to you. STOP PAYING those insanely exorbitant prices of flour tortialls at the grocery store. Here, an 8 pack of taco size flour shells will run you around $4. Making the same amount yourself in the same size for ohhh….thirty cents? Let me show it to you this way: Store bought – $4. Homemade – $0.30. That means you are paying $3.70 for convenience, preservatives, and questionable ingredients. I’m not saying it is bad to pay for convenience. What I am saying is this simple recipe can be easily made and customized.
The ingredients are as follows:
- 4 C. Flour
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 1/2 C Water
- 2 TBL Lard (there are lard-less recipes out there, too!)
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
Whisk the flour, salt, and baking powder together in a mixing bowl. Mix in the lard with your fingers until the flour resembles cornmeal. Add the water and mix until the dough comes together; place on a lightly floured surface and knead a few minutes until smooth and elastic. Divide the dough into 24 equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball.
Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Use a well-floured rolling pin to roll a dough ball into a thin, round tortilla. Place into the hot skillet, and cook until bubbly and golden; flip and continue cooking until golden on the other side. Place the cooked tortilla in a tortilla warmer; continue rolling and cooking the remaining dough. (source)
That’s it. Mix the lard in with the salt and flour until it looks like cornmeal. Now, the original recipe says not to use shortening but it was all I had. I used double the amount of shortening than the measurement called for in lard. Then you add part of the water, mix, add a little more, and mix until the dough forms a ball. Knead it a few times to make sure it’s fully mixed on a lightly floured counter top. Let it sit for 10 minutes.
Heat a skillet up without any oil; it’s not needed due to the lard (or in my case shortening). Pinch off a golf ball size of dough and roll it out using a well floured rolling pin. Thickness is a personal preference. I suggest you go thinner to start with. Once rolled out, put it in the hot skillet until it’s browned (but not too crunchy*). Flip it over and do the same on the other side. Repeat until done!
It’s best to store them in a tortilla warmer so they don’t get too crunchy or dry out. If you don’t have one, place a clean kitchen towel on a plate and fold over the tortillas as they are done. If not large enough, another towel on the top will work, too.
*I think because I used shortening that the one I let get really brown broke when I tried to fold it around the burrito filling. Lard wouldn’t have likely done that as easily.
CUSTOMIZE TO YOUR TASTE
So, after I made these and got over the fact that I should’ve been making my own for years, my imagination started to go. Just like with the crackers, it would be incredibly simple to tailor these to suit whatever it is you were making. Think about all you could really do with it! Flavors like oregano and rosemary, garlic and black pepper….the possibilties are truly endless. But you can go even further than that!
What about substituting some of the white flour with wheat? I know from experience that it will make the dough thicker and more elastic. That could make for a harder time rolling it out so you wouldn’t want to make it half white and half wheat. You would end up with more of a bread than a tortilla. Another thing you could do is use some corn meal, say 1/2 a cup’s worth substituted for the same amount of flour. It would give it a good flavor! So many options!
Real tortillas don’t have baking powder.
Thank you for the information, Betty. I would love to learn a more traditional recipe if you have something you would like to share.
I use self rising flour myself and works just fine. also use real butter and cut it in instead of lard or shortening. I always let mine rest after mixing and also rest after forming balls. I find the thinner you roll them the more likely they are to break when trying to use as a wrap. I cook on cast iron and a Puerto Rican taught me to ‘spin’ the tortilla in the pan while cooking, not sure why, he just said his mother did that.
I love Pati. Here’s her recipe: http://patismexicantable.com/2013/10/homemade-wheat-flour-tortillas/
I purchase low-Carb tortillas. What is the Carb count in this recipe? Can you make them with low-Carb?
I’m sure there are low carb options. A quick Google search would likely find you many!
came across your page this morning, so glad I did. 🙂
can’t wait to try out your suggestions and tips. I feel inspired after reading all the info on your site. Thanks for sharing.
Welcome!!
I love making my own flat bread … the only difference is that I do not use baking soda or powder… I do not brown them long, maybe 30 to 45 seconds so that they stay softer. .. later I can use left over tortillas as taco bowls by putting one in a bowl to use as a form for shaping, then microwaving for 20-30ish seconds to crisp. ..
I tried making flour tortillas with only water, flour and salt and found them very dry and crispy so they’d always break when I tried to roll them up! Then I found another recipe that seems very similar to yours-it calls for lard too and I use butter, they work much better but still dry out if you leave them sitting for too long. I think I’ll take your advice though and give lard a try, I get the feeling that is the ticket to soft, flexible tortillas. Thanks for the insight. It’s amazing how much we pay for convenience! That is why I started making my own bagels, too, so expensive to buy them versus pennies to make them!
They taste more “authentic” is you add a little Masa Herina. Learn this from my Mexican mom-in-law. It’s available in any grocery store. Use about 1/3 c for every 1 c of flour.
Thanks for the tip!
Measurement for ingredients? For flour tortillas.
They are listed when you click the link for all recipes.
I’ve made them for years with a Belizean recipe using oil and coconut milk with no baking powder. They have a great aroma. The hard part is learning to roll them into nice uniform, thin, circles; but even ugly ones taste better than bought!
I love home made tortillas!!!!! I use a little flavored olive oil very tasty