These Homemade Flour Tortillas taste amazing. With a few ingredients you can make fresh, warm tortillas for your favorite burritos, tacos, and enchiladas.
This is another great one to use for Our Version of Cafe Rio / Costa Vida Salad (click HERE) and Burritos (click HERE). These Homemade Flour Tortillas are also great for soft tacos. You are going to need a fairly large griddle or pan if you are going to make the huge tortillas for a salad or burrito. These tortillas taste amazing and they are so easy my husband can do it! He is actually the one making them in the picture!
Homemade Flour Tortillas
Ingredients
- 3 c. flour
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 3/4 c. shortening
- 3/4 c. very hot water
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, mix the flour, salt, and baking powder together. Cut in the shortening with your fingers or pastry cutter until the flour is crumbly. Add the water and mix until the dough comes together. Place on a lightly floured surface and knead for a few minutes until smooth and elastic. Place in bowl, cover with a slightly damp dishtowel and let sit for an hour. Divide the dough into 5-6 equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball (if you are making soft taco sized tortillas, divide it into 10-12 pieces).
- Preheat a large skillet or pan to medium-high heat. Use a well-floured rolling pin to roll a dough ball into a thin, round tortilla (if you want it perfectly round, get a large round plate or serving platter, flip it upside down over the dough and cut out the circle). Place into the hot skillet, and cook until bubbly, golden, and no appearance of doughy-ness, about 1 minute (DON'T OVERCOOK.. remember these are supposed to be soft flour tortillas, you don't want them to be crispy); flip and continue cooking until golden on the other side. Place the cooked tortilla in a tortilla warmer or on a large plate, covering with a slightly damp towel. Repeat with remaining dough.
One tip that I learned for tortillas is that you should use flour called, "La Piña". I have seen it for sale at some Walmarts but you can get it at a mexican market as well. It made a huge difference for me.
Do you know if I can substitute oil or butter for the shortening? I don't have shortening in my home.
you can use butter like shortening…or if you want a really heart healthy alternative, use coconut oil. 🙂 works better in my opinions. 🙂
Great tip, thank you!!
I did this recipe exact but they turned out dry. I wish there were more pictures shown on how thin you made them, and the coloring, etc. Anyway, more pictures of each step would have been helpful. Thanks for the recipe though. Maybe mine will turn out on another try.
True authentic tortillas are made with shortening.
Well actually.. True authentic tortillas use lard… Not shortening… But its a healthier option.
your water may not of been hot enough, i boil mine sometimes, this helps to soften the shortening
La Pina IS the best. Problem is… they don’t make it any more. I happened upon 8 bags of it last night on a clearance rack and bought them all.
What about wheat tortillas?
You could do that, just use whole wheat flour.
I want to make these for a large group. Do you know how far in advance I can make them. How long do they store for?
I would say no more than just a few days. IMO they go stale fast…
Does anybody why they no longer sell the Flore La Pina
Can I make the dough, roll it, put it in the fridge and cook it the next day? I’m Cooking for a lot of people and don’t want to spend the entire time making these
We have never tried it that way before but I am guessing it will probably be ok! Let us know how it turns out!
I use bacon grease when I make theses. Delicious.
Great idea! Thanks!
Might try this with lard. Actual Mexican tortillas always have lard…:)
If you watch the ingredients used at Cafe Rio as they make their tortillas, you will notice they add yeast. While not traditional, it definitely is there.