Have you ever read the label of a package of store-bought flour tortillas?
There are eleventy-billion (that may be a slight exaggeration) ingredients, one of which is sometimes a petroleum product called propylene glycol. Propylene glycol is the main ingredient in anti-freeze and studies have been shown that contact with it causes skin irritation, kidney damage and liver abnormalities. It’s found in numerous cosmetic products and hey, let’s go ahead and ingest it through our food.
Even corn tortillas, while generally containing many fewer ingredients, the problem with corn is that unless it is certified organic or labelled Non-GMO Project,you have to assume the corn is genetically modified.
So, like I’ve done with so many things lately, I decided to make flour tortillas myself from scratch.
I had this cookbook on my shelf, and luckily it had a simple recipe in it: Mexican Made Easy: Everyday Ingredients, Extraordinary Flavor by Marcela Valladolid.
Overall this is a really easy recipe. Few ingredients, easy to mix together, roll, and cook. But it’s fairly time consuming because you essentially cook just one or two at a time unless you are an octopus.
But the initial setup is very simple.
It did, however, take a couple of tries to get it right, once I rolled out each tortilla.
The griddle temperature is very important, but it only took one “bad” one for me to catch on, and I’m a novice at best, so don’t be afraid to try these, but also don’t be discouraged if the first couple look ugly and inedible.
Like this one.
They got better.
Much better.
And even the ugly one tasted good….
Before we look at the recipe, I want to talk about lard. Lard gets a bad wrap. Now, it is your prerogative to substitute other healthier oils, and I actually plan on experimenting down the road, but the real, authentic, tortilla recipes call for lard. And frankly I’d rather use that than some chemical laden, made in a lab, fake alternative.
Plus, it’s just fun to say lard and not feel guilty about it.
Also, let’s talk about all-purpose flour. The flour I buy is organic all-purpose flour. It has no other ingredient besides red wheat, but it is milled and the outer layer removed, which would not be generally considered “clean” – you’d need 100% whole wheat for that. King Arthur Flour makes an organic white whole wheat flour which is a clean alternative but I haven’t been able to find it. Ideally I want to get a grain mill and mill my own flour!
| Clean Homemade Flour Tortillas | Print
|
- 3½ cups all-purpose flour
- Extra flour for kneading and rolling
- ¾ cup lard
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 cup lukewarm water
- Blend the flour and the lard in a large bowl. You can use a spoon but clean hands are much easier.
- Mix the salt and water in a separate bowl.
- Slowly mix salt & water mixture into flour, stirring with spoon or again – clean hands.
- Once the liquid is fully mixed into the flour, knead until smooth on a lightly floured surface.
- Divide dough into 12 pieces and roll into flattened balls. If you want taco sized tortillas (say 6″, you might go 18-20, for somewhat larger 15 pieces, for burrito sized, 10-12 – it depends upon the thickness and size combination you like)
- Heat griddle (or large skillet, I used cast iron) until hot. You will have to find the sweet spot somewhere in the medium-high area for cooking the tortillas.
- Roll out a ball of dough into as close to a circle as you can (circle is totally relative, the heart shaped one I accidentally made worked just as well) and place on griddle or skillet.
- Cook on first side until the tortilla starts to bubble, then flip.
- If it didn’t brown enough on the first side, you can flip it again. It should be browned in random areas, not across the whole surface.
- Place tortillas in a bowl or tortilla keeper wrapped in a towel. They will stay warm for a long time that way.
Once you try these, you will never want to buy store-bought tortillas again. They were amazing!
For a video tutorial (with a slighty different recipe and technique) check out this article: {Video Tutorial} How to Make Flour Tortillas
Thanks for sharing this recipe! I love tortillas, but I’m also turned off by the abundance of unnatural ingredients in most store bought foods. Gross. Do you have a good recipe for corn tortillas as well? I like to mix it up whenever I can. Thanks!
This looks so good! thanks for the recipe
These look great. Sadly, my last few tortilla-making attempts were complete failures.
We love these in our house. I use coconut oil instead of lard, though.
Oh that looks AMAZING! I’ve tried making tortillas from scratch – I can’t get them to work for me. Perhaps I’ll try again.
PS: I have lard, but when I run out I don’t know what I’ll do – our store STOPPED carrying it. :(
How long do you think these would keep in the fridge?
Trying these tomorrow. I never realized how bad the ingredients in them were when they are store bought.
They look so good! I’m going to try this over the weekend :)
looks so delicious! I am going to try this recipe.
Mmmm. Homemade tortillas taste so much better than the store bought ones. Now if I could just figure out how to roll one so it’s actually round. The last batch I did looked more like the state of Texas.