Saturday, January 15, 2011

Making Your Own Tortillas - Easier Than You Think!

Way back in May 2003 Backpacker Magazine had an issue that included a recipe section on tortillas.  We've been making them ever since.  It is one great recipe.  And so simple.

You need:
3 cups white flour
1 tsp. salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup warm water

Combine the flour, salt, and oil in a large bowl and mix until crumbs form.  Add water and mix until you can form the dough into a ball.  Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead it until it is smooth.  Cover the dough with plastic wrap and set aside for at least 15 minutes.  Divide the dough into 12 pieces and roll each into a ball.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out each ball into an 8 inch circle.
Now with this batch, I experimented with using 1/2 whole wheat flour.
I found this made the dough less stretchy.
Normally when we put the dough on our tortilla maker, we just smush and it turns into nice even tortillas. 
But with the whole wheat flour we ended up with smaller tortillas.
They still tasted good though. 
Incidentally, you don't need a tortillas maker to cook these.  We've made them in a skillet many times.  Just roll out and cook for 45 seconds on each side in a nonstick skillet.
Makes 12 8 inch tortillas.
So many uses, but here's what we did with ours this time around: 

11 comments:

Unknown said...

I would love to have one of these for lunch!

Mama Goose said...

Oh man, thanks for this! I've been wanting to make my own tortillas for years but have been too lazy to learn how. Now I am motivated!

Nancy said...

Don't you love the tortilla "smasher?" I have one and it works so well. Never made them from whole wheat -- that's something I may have to try. :)

Andrea said...

First, YUM.
Second, we just had tortillas for breakfast. Double yum.
Third, I was going to ask why you were flattening your dough on a toilet seat. Oops.
Thanks for the info, maybe I'll give it a whirl!

Kritter Keeper at Farm Tails said...

that looks really simple and good! come over and cook me some, it is almost lunch time! ;)

Chatty Crone said...

Looks delish! sandie

Melissa said...

Mmmm...homemade tortillas. It doesn't get much better than that. We are trying to do away with as much store bought as possible. I'm on this!

Meredith said...

yum!! I started making my own tortillas when I lived in Romania and was starved for Tex Mex...my students loved my 'tacos' so I made them a lot!

laughwithusblog said...

Yum! I haven't made tortillas in a while!

Doris Sturm said...

I am soooooo going to try this - thank you! I once had homemade flour tortillas in Mexico City, Mexico and I never forget how delicious they tasted...I don't know what she put in them, but she made them by hand on the stove in a skillet too...thank you so much for the recipe!

Unknown said...

Tortillas just aren't tortillas unless they're HOME MADE! Thanks for sharing this recipe. I have one that I'm not totally satisfied with so I'm going to give this one a whirl :-)