Homemade Tortillas

 

When it comes to making homemade alternatives, I find there can be several different reasons for why I find a recipe is a good choice.   If a recipe is quick and easy to make, if it saves money, or if it has superior taste or quality, then I’ll find myself making it over and over again.

BUT – if a recipe is time consuming, doesn’t taste much better or doesn’t work as well, AND if the store bought version is not that expensive anyway, then chances are I probably won’t stick with it.

Case in point – Homemade Tortillas.

They were kind of interesting to make and tasted pretty good, but I don’t know if I would spend the time and effort to do it again.

Even in spite of this, I like to keep a recipe like this around – just in case.  Because maybe one day I’ll get a hankering for some tacos –

. . . .and I’ll have everything in the house to make tacos except some tortillas –

. . . .and it will be during a horrendous blizzard –

. . . .and I won’t have to leave the house to buy some tortillas because –

I know how to Make My Own!

So this recipe will stay in my stash, but I might not be making homemade tortillas any time again soon.  But I’m ready.  Just in case.

Learn how to make homemade tortillas with this easy recipe

Homemade Tortillas

Recipe from Taste of Home

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups flour

  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

  • 3/4 cup water

  • 3 tablespoons olive oil

Combine the flour and salt in a mixing bowl.  Then stir in the water and the oil.  Turn out onto a floured surface and knead 10 to 12 times, adding a little more flour or water as needed to get a good dough consistency.

(I was happy with my dough consistency and did not add any more flour or water.)

Let dough rest for 10 minutes.

Next, divide the dough into eight pieces.  On a lightly floured surface, roll each piece into a circle about 7″ across.   Or as close as you can get to a circle anyway.

Learn how to make homemade tortillas with this easy recipe

Using a skillet, griddle, or electric fry pan, spray the surface with nonstick spray, and then cook tortillas using medium heat.  The original recipe said only 1 minute per side was needed, but I needed almost 5 minutes per side before I was satisfied the tortillas no longer had any spots with uncooked dough and also finally had a few toasty brown spots.

We used our homemade tortillas to make tacos (click here to learn how to make homemade taco seasoning)  and Hungry Son declared these tortillas more “real” and “authentic” than the usual store brand of tortillas that I buy for tacos.

 

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4 Comments

  1. BTW, only roll out one tortilla at a time; rolling one out as the previous one is cooking.

    And if you MUST use store-bought tortillas, always cook them to take away that under cooked store-bought taste!

  2. My grandmother and aunts could turn out 3 dozen flour tortillas in 30 min. and while they never measured (it was a palm full of this, etc.), my aunt once took the time to measure things out for me (though I tend to measure things out as they did).

    Here is how my family has always made tortillas…

    4C flour
    1 tea salt
    2 tea baking powder
    1/2C shortening
    1-1/3C WARM water

    Mix the dry ingredients and then add the shortening and mix (with your hands!) ’til nice and crumbly.

    Add the warm water a little at a time and knead until you get a nice elastic dough.

    Pinch off golf ball size rounds; kneading them in your fingers into little balls and placing them back into the bowl as you go.

    Using a wooden dowel about 2″ in dia; roll them out real thin; turning and flipping them to get a nice round tortilla.

    Have your griddle med hot and pick up your tortilla; flipping it back and forth in your hands (this will shrink it a bit) and place on griddle for 3-5 seconds. Flip to other side and cook for about 30 seconds until lightly browned. Flip and cook other side until also browned.

    Don’t oil the griddle. Your tortilla should puff up as it cooks… just tap it with your dowel to pop it.

    1. I should clarify… when I say “turning and flipping them to get a nice round tortilla”, I don’t mean flip it over, but to flip up against your roller and hand to make it easier to turn as you roll… sorry!