Flour Tortillas
Soft, flaky and pliable, from five pantry ingredients
- Makes
- 12 tortillas (about 20 cm / 8 in)
- Hands-on
- Total
- Level
- Easy
Fresh flour tortillas are soft, slightly flaky and so much better than the packet kind that you will start making them every taco night. The dough takes ten minutes, needs no yeast and cooks in under a minute per tortilla in a dry pan.
Ingredients
- 400 gall-purpose flour (3¼ cups)plus extra for rolling
- 7 gfine sea salt (1¼ tsp)
- 4 gbaking powder (1 tsp)
- 80 glard or vegetable shortening, soft (6 tbsp)or 80 ml neutral oil; butter also works but adds milk
- 240 ghot water (about 55°C, 130°F) (1 cup)
- Diet
- Dairy-free
- Allergens
- gluten
- Origin
- Northern Mexico
Method
- Whisk the flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl. Rub in the fat with your fingertips until the mixture looks like coarse sand.
- Pour in the hot water and stir with a spoon until it comes together, then knead on the counter for 2–3 minutes until smooth and soft like an earlobe.
- Divide into 12 pieces (about 60 g) and roll each into a ball. Cover with a towel or plastic and rest 30 minutes. This relaxes the gluten so the dough rolls thin without shrinking back.
- Heat a dry cast-iron or heavy frying pan over medium-high heat. On a lightly floured counter, roll a ball into a thin 20 cm round, about 2 mm thick, turning it a quarter after every couple of strokes to keep it round.
- Lay the tortilla in the hot pan. Cook 20–30 seconds, until bubbles form and the underside has light brown spots. Flip and cook 20–30 seconds more, pressing any big bubbles gently with a spatula.
- Stack in a clean towel or tortilla warmer as you go, rolling the next tortilla while the current one cooks.
Why it works
Fat rubbed into the flour coats some of the proteins so less gluten forms, which keeps the tortillas tender and gives them faint flaky layers. Hot water also softens the dough and partly gelatinizes the starch, making it easier to roll thin. Stacking the hot tortillas in a towel lets them steam each other soft and pliable.
Common mistakes
- Skipping the rest, which makes the dough spring back and the tortillas thick.
- Cooking too long. Over a minute and they turn stiff; you want spots, not color all over.
- A pan that is too cool. They dry out before they brown.
Variations
- Whole-wheat tortillas
- Use half whole-wheat flour and add 15–20 g extra water.
- Larger burrito tortillas
- Divide into 8 pieces of 90 g and roll to 28 cm.
Make ahead and storage
Dough balls keep 2 days in the fridge, covered. Cooked tortillas keep 3 days in a bag and freeze with baking paper between them for 2 months; reheat in a dry pan for 15 seconds a side.
Notes
Hydration 60% (240 g water to 400 g flour). Lard gives the most traditional flavor and flake; shortening or oil make them vegan; butter makes them richer but no longer dairy-free.
