These homemade flour tortillas use just four shelf-stable ingredients and are easily adaptable to either a thick, fluffy flour tortilla or a thinner, chewier flour tortilla!
Is it just me or does #quarantinelife give everyone permission to eat more carbs?
During this time, I find myself constantly reaching back into my childhood and digging up the recipes that somehow convey comfort and safety and family and a deep sense of home all in one bite. I’m opening up our family’s recipe box time and time again, even if it might have a little more carbs and a little more fat than our sensible eating habits have permitted in recent years.
While I always vehemently denied that my hometown in the Mountain West had anything to do with the Midwest, I will admit that in its essence, Mountain West food appears to be a fusion of midwestern food and southwestern food. Casseroles and pastas and fluffy dinner rolls. All the rich, hearty pasta. This cheese and that cheese, and yes times ten to just one more swirl of cream. But wait, is that green chile I see in your casserole? And hold the phone – are you glazing your strawberry shortcake with prickly pear jam? I love it.
We eat a lot of southwestern food in this household, but for a while there at the beginning of this strange new world we call quarantine, tortillas were nowhere to be found. 🙁 But, but, taco tuesday? Being a baker, I had a 50 pound bag of flour in my basement and plenty of shortening on hand.
We got this.
How do you make flour tortillas from scratch?
Four little pantry ingredients: flour, salt, baking powder, and fat of some sort. Plus water. Stir. Roll flat. Fry. Done!
Can I use shortening / lard/ butter in this homemade flour tortilla recipe?
Yes to all three. I would recommend sticking to shortening or lard, because these tend to hold up better to the high heat of the pan. Butter will work, but your tortilla may start to brown more quickly in spots before the rest of the tortilla has browned. So if you use butter, keep a close eye on it!
How do I make my flour tortillas soft and fluffy?
Lard and shortening will yield a softer tortilla than butter, because of the way it binds the flour. (Just like cookies.) The other consideration is how thick you roll your tortillas and how long you cook them! For a softer, fluffier tortilla, roll your tortillas thicker (1/4″ thick) and flip/remove them from the pan when they are just starting to brown in spots.
Why are my flour tortillas not puffing?
Tip 1: Make sure your baking powder has not expired. Tip 2: Make sure your pan is piping hot–around medium-high heat on most stoves. Tip 3: After you lay the tortilla dough circle down into the pan, leave it alone until it easily slides around the pan if you give it a shake. You don’t want to mess with it until it has started to cook and is no longer tacky in any way on the face-down side.
What does baking powder do in flour tortillas?
Bubbles!!! While tortillas don’t have much rise, they do – in fact – have the slightest little rise to give them those tasty browned air pockets. It keeps the tortilla from being too dense and chewy.
How do you roll out thin flour tortillas?
Rolling pin and generous amounts of flour. Dust your rolling surface. Dust your rolling pin. Dust your dough ball. Start in the middle and roll outward – middle to up, then middle to down, then middle to right, then middle to left. Now use your hand to lift the small dough circle and flip it over, re-dusting your rolling surface and the dough circle with flour. There should be zero sticking, otherwise your thin flour tortilla will rip when you try to pick it up off your rolling surface. Continue this process until you’ve rolled the dough out to about 1/8″ to 1/4″ thick, depending on your preferences.
Or use a tortilla press. 😉 But totally not necessary.
How do I keep the tortillas warm?
Line a plate or shallow bowl with a clean napkin or towel. Stack the tortillas as they come out of the pan and fold the edges of the towel in to cover the tortillas and keep their warmth in while not trapping too much moisture. (Aluminum foil will work as well, but I recommend placing a paper towel on the bottom and top of the tortilla stack, in case any moisture gathers on the foil from the steaming tortillas.)
mikaela | wyldflour
8-12 Tortillas
20 minPrep Time
10 minCook Time
30 minTotal Time
Save Recipe5 based on 1 review(s)
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 Tablespoon shortening or lard
- 3/4 cup water
- 1/2 cup additional flour for kneading and rolling
Instructions
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk flour, salt, and baking powder together. Cut the shortening into the flour mixture using a pastry cutter, until it resembles coarse sand. (This can also be done by pulsing the flour mixture with the shortening in a food processor or "rubbing" the shortening into the flour mixture using your fingers.)
- Add the water and stir with a fork until it starts to come together into a dough. Using floured hands, scrape the dough off the fork and press the dough into a ball, gathering the crumbs in the bottom of the bowl. Knead the dough on a well-floured surface for about two minutes, adding flour a tablespoon at a time, as needed, until the dough is smooth and elastic. The dough may be "tacky" but should not stick to your fingers.
- Divide the dough into 8 or 12 portions. (8 for thicker, fluffier tortillas and 12 for thinner, crisp-edged tortillas. The easiest way to do this is to pat the dough into a disk. Use a pizza cutter to slice the dough into however many portions or slices you prefer.)
- Sprinkle flour over your rolling surface and roll out each portion into a thin circle--about an 1/8" thick for thinner tortillas and about 3/8"-1/4" thick for fluffier tortillas, about 8-inches across. Each time you roll the rolling pin over the circle, pick it up and flip it over--making sure that you have enough flour on the surface such that the circle never sticks to it and is easy to pick up.
- Carefully stack each rolled-out circle on a plate, making sure that BOTH sides of the dough circle are well-floured and not sticky at all. You can even drop a teaspoon of flour between each circle and spread over the circle using your fingers. Re-flour the surface between rolling.
- Once you have rolled out all of your tortillas, heat a large frying pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Once the pan has heated, gently lay one of the tortillas on the hot pan. It will start to bubble all over. Let the tortilla sit for about 30 seconds and then use a thin spatula to lift the edge of the tortilla and check the bottom side. If it has started to brown in spots, flip the tortilla and let the other side brown. (The more browned the tortillas are, the more rigid they will become once they cool. The less browned the tortillas are, the more "floppy" they will be once they cool.)
- Remove each tortilla to a plate and cover lightly with a clean towel. Repeat with each tortilla, adding each to the stack and covering with a towel to keep warm and to prevent them from drying out.
- Serve with soup or use for tacos, enchiladas, and quesadillas! Store leftover tortillas in a plastic zip-top bag at room temperature or in the refrigerator.
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