Handmade Flour Tortillas

I’m going to say right up front here that I’m not the genius behind these tortillas. They were adapted from this recipe, and Lucio is the tortilla master. All the gorgeous gluten related things in our household come from him. I will take credit for all of the photos in this post though.

If you’re anything like me, nothing beats warm tortillas, beans and rice. But dang man, flour tortillas at the store get expensive, especially when you can hoover down a few a day. It may seem intimidating to make your own flour tortillas, but it’s actually a very easy process. The dough kneading and rolling out of tortillas is time consuming, but completely worth it. They really do taste better than store bought, and are a lot of fun to make. You don’t need fancy cooking stuff like a tortilla press or other tortilla heating contraption – we use a wooden rolling pin, and cook the tortillas in a simple cast iron skillet.

Go get your gluten on!

Ingredients:

• 3 cups of unbleached flour (we’ve used regular ole white flour and a “best bread” white flour – both with great results)
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 4-6 tbsp. vegan butter/margarine
• About 1 1/4 cup warm water

Instructions:

Mix all of your dry ingredients in a bowl.

Add the butter.

Use a fork or a pastry cutter to cut in the butter or just do it the old fashioned way and use your hands.

Make a little well in the center of your mixture. Add a little bit of warm water at first. Start with about 1/2 cup. Use warm, not hot water.

Gently dump out your dough onto a clean workspace. Knead the dough for a few minutes. Pause occasionally, and add water a tablespoon at a time. You are going for dough that is soft and not sticky. *When you add water, you might worry that you’ve gotten the dough too wet, but just knead for a minute and the dough should absorb the water and get the texture you’re looking for.*

Once your dough is soft and not sticky, form it into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and let it rest for 10 minutes.

After your dough has had its cat nap, shape the dough into a thick log.

Cut the dough into 12 equal sized pieces.

Pre-heat your skillet to medium while you roll out the dough balls. Flour your work surface (and dough balls) a bit, and roll them out until they’re thin and circular. If they’re not perfectly round, who cares? They’ll still taste delicious.

Have a clean towel on standby. Once you’ve got a few tortillas rolled out, place one in your skillet. When it begins to bubble, flip over with tongs or your fingers (just don’t burn yourself!). Cook until lightly browned in spots, but don’t overcook or it will have the consistency of a cracker.

As a tortilla comes off of the skillet, place inside your waiting towel to keep warm. Repeat with remaining tortillas!

Dig in and enjoy! These don’t have a long shelf life, so enlist some friends and loved ones and have a tortilla fiesta. Bon apetite!