How to Make Flour Tortillas

Filling a homemade tortilla.
Flour tortillas are a staple in my household. Without them, I think my picky eater would starve. Knowing that tortillas are "peasant food," I knew they couldn't be too difficult to make from scratch, so I finally tried my hand at them. I was right! They are easy to make, and cost just pennies.

It turns out it's a myth that you must have a tortilla press to make descent tortillas. I had no trouble at all without one. The resulting tortillas were thin and soft - although I did have to dust off the excess flour when I was done.

I should also note that initially I tried rolling the tortillas between two pieces of flour-dusted wax paper. In the end, though, I found it considerably easier to roll them out on the counter.

From start to finish (and stopping to take photos along the way), this recipe took me about 10 minutes.


What You Need:

2 cups+ of flour (I used all purpose, which results in the softest tortilla. If desired, you could use 1 cup whole wheat flour and 1 cup all purpose flour)
1 teaspoon of salt
2 ½ tablespoons melted butter (you could also use olive oil, melted coconut oil, or traditional lard)
About ¾ cup of water
Cooking oil

Rolling pin
Pot lid (optional)
Knife (optional)
Skillet (I used a cast iron skillet, but any skillet will do)
Spatula

How to Do It:

1. Place the skillet on the stove over medium heat.

2. In a bowl, mix together the flour, salt, and melted butter. (Traditionally this is done by hand.) Add water, a little bit at a time. Add just enough water to keep the dough from being dry, but enough to keep it sticky. 3/4 cup total is about right.



3. Grab a handful of dough and shape it into a ball of about 2 inches around. Initially, I started out with larger dough-balls, as you can see below. These were a bit too big.
 
4. Flour the counter-top (or other work surface), place the dough-ball on the counter, and flatten slightly with your hand. Dust the top of the dough-disc and roll out with a rolling pin. Make the tortilla thin (but not see through), and roll from the center out, going in different directions, to get a basic circle-shape.
 5. If you want a perfect circle, roll the tortilla out larger than desired and use a pot lid as a template for cutting the tortilla out with a knife.
6. Spray the skillet with cooking spray, then gently lift the tortilla off the counter and transfer to the skillet. Don't worry if the tortilla doesn't end up perfectly flat in the skillet. Carefully use your fingers (or tongs) to remove any wrinkles in the tortilla.

7. Cook the tortilla for up to one minute, pressing down a little with a spatula. If it takes longer than this, your skillet isn't hot enough.

8. When the bottom of the tortilla is golden, turn over and cook 1 minute more.

9. Transfer the tortilla to a plate or a clean dishtowel, covering to keep warm. Repeat steps 4 through 8 until all the dough is used up.
I got about 5 tortillas from this recipe. If desired, you may place extra tortillas in a large, seal-able bag and store int he refrigerator, but because they don't contain a lot of preservatives, they are best eaten fresh.

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