Soft Flour Tortillas

Since Vegans avoid the use of animal products, you can easily swap out the lard or shortening for coconut oil to make Vegan tortillas!

A tortilla press sounds like a lovely idea, but to get it to press down thin, you’d need to have a pretty greasy dough to make it spread easily on its own and not stick to the press. This recipe is pretty moldable which could be a good match, but I don’t feel the need to buy more equipment when I have a good old rolling pin to rely on.

If you’d like to purchase one I’d recommend a heavy-duty one like this cast-iron tortilla press.

Keep in mind a tortilla press will only make a certain size, the convenience of rolling your own benefits from the different sized tortillas that you can make. An 8-inch tortilla is a standard size for soft flour tortillas and falls in the middle of a burrito size and small 6-inch tortilla.

Tortilla chips are great over a tortilla soup or salad. Try this chicken tortilla soup with grated cheese!

How to make Tortilla Strips from soft flour Tortillas: Cut 4 flour tortillas into strips. Toss with 1 Tbsp of oil and sprinkle with salt. Bake at 375°F for 7-10 minutes or until crisp turning once in between.

How to Make Tortilla Chips from soft flour Tortillas: Stack and cut 4 small flour tortillas into 6 pieces like a pizza. Toss with 1 Tbsp of oil and season with salt. Bake at 375°F for 12-20 minutes turning once in between.

Keep in mind you can fry either one in oil instead of baking.

Tortillas typically come in 3 different sizes. Here is a recap of all the sizes you’d likely spot at the grocery store:

• 6 inch- are the smallest size and are good for enchiladas, soft tacos, or small roll-ups. They’re also the perfect size for Breakfast Quesadillas!
• 8 inch- Are the medium-soft taco size. They’re good for burritos or enchiladas.
• 10 inch- Are large-burrito size flour tortillas. They are the perfect size for quesadillas as you can fold them in half.

Just like cornstarch, cornflour is gluten-free! Make Corn Tortillas by kneading 2 cups of cornflour (Masa Harina) with 11/2-2 cups of warm water.)

Tortillas are Spanish flat cakes and come together with a few simple ingredients. Most recipes call for flour, leavening, salt, and fat. The flours can differ as some use wheat or corn flour depending on what style tortilla your making.

• Flour- all-purpose and bread flour work best for homemade flour tortillas. You could use all-purpose flour instead, just knead long enough to bring out the gluten and make a soft supple dough.
• Lard or Shortening- shortening and lard are kinds of fat. Use coconut oil to make it Vegan.
• Baking Powder- is the leavening and gives tortillas some, lift after being rolled thin.
• Salt- gives flavor!
• Water- binds the tortillas together.

To make soft Flour tortillas you need:

1. Combine and Mix the Dough: combine the dry ingredients like flour, baking powder, and salt. Rub together the flour and lard then mix in the water.
2. Knead the Dough: Knead the dough for a good 10 minutes. The dough will first be sticky, then the longer you knead the smoother it’ll get. Kneading for a long time also brings out the gluten naturally, which is why you can use all-purpose flour too.
3. Rest the Dough: Let the dough rest up to 1 hour.
4. Divide the Dough into Balls: divide the dough into 14-16 balls for medium 7-8 inch flour tortillas.
5. Rest again: after you roll the balls, allow them to rest covered for 15 minutes.
6. Roll the balls: Roll each ball into a thin 7-8 inch circle and pre-heat the skillet over low.
7. Cook the Tortillas: cook each tortilla for 30-40 seconds on each side.
8. Serve: wrap around your favorite Mexican filling!

To make-ahead flour tortillas: form into balls and roll-out like you would before cooking. Layer each tortilla between parchment paper and cover. Place into the fridge until needed for up to 3 days. Then cook as directed. This will be the same concept as uncooked tortillas that you’d buy at the grocery store.

It is normal for the dough to be sticky in the beginning stage of kneading, for these tortillas. If you watch how a Spanish Lady makes her Grandmothers Flour Tortillas (Como Hacer Tortillas De Harina) then you will get what I mean. My recipe is very similar to hers and I found that the longer you knead the better the dough gets. Keep kneading until your dough smooths out.

Keep in mind depending on your location altitudes and elevation in baking can vary which means you may need to add additional flour. I’ve noticed some flours can vary in volume from brand to brand as well. The proportions in the recipe worked great for our elevation of 65′ feet. Here is a helpful article on high-altitude-baking from King Arthur.

https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/resources/high-altitude-baking

Homemade tortillas are not made with a heavy-duty commercial machine that cuts out perfectly round tortillas. If you use a rolling pin you are likely to get uneven edges but that doesn’t mean you can’t make nice ones.

To roll tortillas into circles: roll the ball of dough into one direction then the other. Start rolling the flattened circle up and down from one side to the other in a circular motion. Roll edges thin to make a 7-8 inch circle.

Never. Unless you want crisp tortillas. They go on dry and the fat in the tortillas does its job. Authentic tortillas are not cooked in oil but rather have fat inside the tortillas. Using oil will crisp up the outer shell, like chalupas or meat turnovers.

I don’t use flour when I roll out my tortillas. Flour residue can burn in the skillet once cooking, which is why I don’t recommend using any additional flour. I have a vinyl table cover that has a non-sticking effect so it helps with the rolling part. A countertop can work but if you find it too much of a hassle lightly grease the top of the working surface instead.

However, if you found yourself using flour when rolling out the tortillas, brush off the excess flour with a basting brush to dust off any flour residue.

Like my Naan Bread recipe, I’ve found that resting the rolled out dough helps create better bubbles when cooking. Roll the dough out into a circle and let rest while the skillet heats. Once you start cooking the tortillas the process goes much quicker as you only need to cook them under a minute for each side. I recommend rolling out all the tortillas first then cook.

If you have ever bought the uncooked Tortilla Land Tortillas, you will notice how thin they are. That’s how thin you want to go. Roll tortillas as thin as possible almost translucent but not quite. That’s the secret to store-bought tortillas! Anything thick will give you a flatbread which is not quite how tortillas are supposed to be.

To roll tortillas thin: roll the ball of dough into one direction then the other. Start rolling the flattened circle up and down from one side to the other in a circular motion. Roll edges thin to make a 7-8 inch circle.

Tortillas should cook at a low to medium heat. If your skillet or cast iron is pre-heated it will make all the difference. Don’t cook tortillas over high heat they will burn quickly.

Since Flour Tortillas are part of the Mexican Cuisine, recipes like Enchiladas, tacos, burritos, quesadillas go best. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t make delicious wraps or roll-ups with flour tortillas!

I own a tortilla warmer, but if you don’t have one try to wrap your stacked tortillas in a bag wrapped around paper towels to absorb any sweat.