Flour tortillas: five ingredients and a dry pan
Bought tortillas usually have a long ingredient list, often with emulsifiers and preservatives, because they have to last a long time in plastic. Homemade ones have five, take just over an hour, half of it hands-off while the dough rests, and the difference in taste is immediate. Two things need doing properly: mixing the flour with hot water, which partly gelatinises the starch and keeps the tortilla soft and pliable, and giving the dough half an hour's rest, without which it cannot be rolled thin.
Your own work in that: 42 min.
- Dough 12 min
- Resting 30 min
- Rolling 15 min
- Cooking 15 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneMix the flour with hot water
Combine the flour with the salt and baking powder, add the oil, then the hot water, and stir with a spoon until you can handle it. Hot water gelatinises some of the starch, which makes the dough pliable, stops it springing back under the pin and keeps the finished tortilla soft once cool.
Ingredients: 400 g plain flour · 240 ml water · 60 ml oil · 1½ tsp salt · 1 tsp baking powder
TipCold water works too, but the tortillas are stiffer and split more readily when rolled. It is the single simplest change that most improves the result.
Knead for eight minutes
Knead on the counter 8 minutes, until smooth, soft and slightly elastic, like modelling clay. It should not stick to your hands; if it does, add a spoon of flour, but no more — dry dough gives tough tortillas.
Smooth and soft as modelling clayDivide and rest half an hour
Divide into 10 balls of 70 g, cover with a cloth and leave 30 minutes. This is not a rise but gluten relaxation: rested, the dough rolls out paper thin; unrested, it shrinks back after every pass of the pin.
Ten balls under a cloth, thirty minutesRoll them very thin
Roll each ball into a round about 24 cm across, turning it a quarter after each pass. It should be very thin, about 1.5 mm. Stack them interleaved with paper. Rolling all ten takes about a quarter of an hour.
Very thin, turned after every passCook in a dry pan
Heat a dry pan (cast iron, or the heaviest you own) over medium-high heat. Cook a tortilla 45 seconds, until brown blisters appear and it starts to puff, turn and cook 30 seconds. No fat: a tortilla is baked, not fried. All ten take about a quarter of an hour in total.
TipToo cool a pan dries the tortilla into a cracker before it can colour. The test: a drop of water should hiss away in two seconds.
Brown blisters and a puff, after 45 secondsKeep them under a cloth
Stack the finished tortillas and cover them immediately with a cloth. Steam from the hot stack keeps them soft and pliable. Uncovered they dry out within minutes and crack when rolled. After the last one is cooked, wait about 3 more minutes before filling.
Before you start
With lard
Traditionally, in northern Mexico, flour tortillas are made with lard rather than oil. They come out softer and stay pliable longer, with a fuller flavour — though obviously not vegetarian.
Storing
Cooled, in a bag, they keep 3 days in the fridge. Before using, warm each one 15 seconds a side in a dry pan and they are as good as fresh.
Freezing
Interleave with baking paper and freeze flat. Thaw them one at a time in a pan, straight from frozen, 30 seconds a side.
What to make with them
Burritos, quesadillas, wraps, tacos. You can also cut them into triangles, oil them and bake 10 minutes at 180 °C for crisp chips better than any bought bag.
