homemade flour tortillas

Recipe by
Peggy Sue Ross
Springfield, VA

I have combined the best of several recipes and come up with this winning recipe. The cooking is the hardest part, so after the first time you may want to try again very soon to make your appropriate adjustments. Roll the tortillas out thin as they plump when they cook. You will not want to eat tortillas from a package again!

yield 16 Tortillas
prep time 40 Min
cook time 25 Min
method Griddle

Ingredients For homemade flour tortillas

  • 3 c
    flour
  • 2 tsp
    baking powder
  • 1 tsp
    salt
  • 4-6 Tbsp
    lard or crisco
  • 1 1/4 c
    hot water

How To Make homemade flour tortillas

  • 1
    Combine dry ingredients. Cut in lard with pastry blender, in a food processor or with a fork until the mixture resembles a coarse meal with small pea size clumps okay. Add hot water and stir until dough comes together. Scrape up all flour together as much as possible. Turn out dough onto floured surface. Knead dough approximately 30 times and form a ball/disc. Cover with a damp paper towel and let dough sit for at least 10 minutes.
  • 2
    Divide dough into 16 rolled balls and cover with a damp paper towel. Keep rolls covered while you roll out each tortilla.
  • 3
    Heat griddle or pan over medium heat while you begin to roll out tortillas. You should not need any greasing of the pan, but you can spray with Pam if needed. I use a metal pan and do not need any lubricant to keep them from sticking. Pan should be hot enough to let water sizzle. Getting the griddle temperature right is the biggest challenge. You do not want the tortillas to cook so fast that they brown before they are cooked or so slowly that they become crisp.
  • 4
    Flatten each ball with your hands into a disc and then roll on lightly floured surface into a 6-7 inch circle. Do not worry about making perfect circles. It is nearly impossible to do and you don't want them to look like they are commercially produced anyway. Roll them very thin as they plump when they cook. I personally roll them almost as thin as I can imagine and mine come out nice and doughey soft and slightly plump. Vary the thickness to your desired result.
  • 5
    As you pick up your tortilla from the rolling surface, reshape gently with your hands as you place onto the hot pan. You can adjust the shape slightly by carefully placing fingertips on the tortilla immediately after placing. Again, don't try for perfect, just go with it!
  • 6
    Let your tortillas cook between 30 seconds to one minute per side. They should begin to show bubbles and be a light golden brown prior to the first turn. Flip and cook approximately the same amont of time. Total cooking time per tortilla about one to two minutes.
  • 7
    Eat your first delicious tortilla to adjust temperature or cooking time as needed before you get too far in the process. I like mine plain, but you can butter it, spread a little Nutella on, jam or butter with cinnamon & sugar. There is no way to go wrong here!
  • 8
    Keep tortillas on a plate under a tea towel to keep them warm while rolling and cooking remaining tortillas. I roll one, place on the pan, roll the second, flip, cook then place the next one down.
  • 9
    Once tortillas are all cooked, eat or allow to cool completely before storing in a zip-lock bag in the refrigerator. They will keep for several days. You can use in your favorite recipe that calls for flour tortillas or just eat them all up and make more. They come together quickly and go almost as fast. You will find new ways to use tortillas as flat bread, roll up sandwiches, soft tacos, as an alternate to chips for queso ... but warm with a little Nutella is really the bomb!
ADVERTISEMENT