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Kitchen Stewardship

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Recipe Connection: 100% Whole Grain Homemade Tortillas

October 21st, 2009 · 110 Comments · Do It Yourself, Upgraded Nutrition, recipes

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Making your own tortillas might sound like a whole lot of hassle when you can just buy a bag of them at any grocery store.  I’ve decided it’s worth it for me.

Before you go thinking you can’t do this, you should probably know: I don’t make my own bread.  I still buy packaged cereal occasionally.  I am not a supermom.  Here are the reasons I feel making my own tortillas is worth it for me:

  1. I can get them 100% whole grain. That’s hard to find in stores, and when you do, you get charged big money.
  2. It saves significant money.  I make a batch for under $0.75 easily, and compared to similar nutrition in a packaged version, I’m saving $2-3 (more?) every time I do it.
  3. It’s so hard to find tortillas without hydrogenated oils AND without paying an arm and a leg. Once I did and they had parabens in them, a chemical I’m trying to avoid in my soap!
  4. Because I can soak the dough to reduce the phytates, the health benefits of my tortillas are beyond what I could buy in your average store.  You would have to purchase sprouted grain tortillas, which would run about $4 for a small package of 6.  Yikes!  (Here is an explanation of soaking grains.)
  5. It’s another way to get healthy butter or coconut oil into my family (more on that in 2 weeks!).
  6. Sometimes I have a lot of whey around.  I can use it up great with this recipe!

October Fest CarnivalYour needs and amount of time and energy may be very different from mine. Very few of my reasons may resonate with you.  If so, try making something else from scratch this week by checking out the October Fest Carnival of Super Foods: Un-Processed Foods Edition.  If you’re ready for some super-healthy tortillas, read on!

Someone said this was their favorite recipe already three weeks ago when I hinted that it was coming!  I hope it lives up.  I have a QUADruple batch of tortillas soaking right now to make tomorrow, as I’ll use them twice this week and want to share them with my mother-in-law for her post-heart-surgery diet.  They come out of the freezer excellently for her.

I’ll start with the basic recipe, from the More With Less Cookbook, then move on to a few different levels of healthy upgrades.

Homemade Tortillas

Mix together:

2 c. flour
1 t. salt

Cut in with pastry blender or two knives:

¼ c. butter (slightly softened)

When it looks like crumbs, add gradually:

½ c. room temperature water

Toss with a fork to make stiff dough.  Knead thoroughly until smooth and flecked with air bubbles.  (Just a few minutes.)  Refrigerate 4-24 hours and allow to come to room temperature before rolling out.

Divide dough into 8-11 balls, depending on how big you want your tortillas.  Roll as thin as possible on a lightly floured surface.  Heat an ungreased griddle or cast iron pan very hot (400 degrees) and drop tortillas on it.

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Cook about 20 seconds, until lightly flecked with brown on one side, then flip until brown spots appear on the other side.

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I poke holes in them on purpose, just so everyone knows they're homemade. Really. If you make square-ish tortillas, people will know they're homemade, too.

Serve immediately or refrigerate (or freeze) in airtight container.

Homemade w/Whole Grain Tortillas

Healthy Upgrade

Half whole grain flour is better than all white flour, I figure.  If you use traditional whole wheat flour, the tortillas are going to be more dense than you’re used to in the store, and they’re not all that easy to roll out.

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This is an old photo of the 1/2 and 1/2 tortillas. The wheat version (left) is rather thick, and "easily pliable" aren't words you'd use to describe the corn. See how it's suspended in midair over the edge of the plate? :) Tasty, but lacking.

Mix together:

1 c. white flour
1 c. whole wheat flour or cornmeal
1 t. salt
(good results with 1 c. whole wheat, 1/2 c. cornmeal and 1/2 c. white flour; half whole wheat/half corn is OK but crumbly; do NOT try even 3/4 cornmeal — way too difficult to maneuver, lots of frustration and a late dinner will result!)

Cut in with pastry blender or two knives:

¼ c. coconut oil or butter or lard (slightly softened)

When it looks like crumbs, add gradually:

½ c. room temperature water

Follow directions above to cook.  For a copy-and-print version of this recipe, click here.

100% Whole Wheat Homemade Tortillas

HealthiER Upgrade

If you get them rolled out thin enough, they might even bubble up!

If you get them rolled out thin enough, they might even bubble up!

I tried a new kind of whole wheat flour with GREAT results! I am so excited!  There was no screaming or frustration while rolling these babies out!  Regular whole wheat is pretty tough to get thin.  Try “hard white whole wheat” which is sold in grocery stores under King Arthur’s brand as “white whole wheat flour”.  It is unbleached and unbromated.  It’s my new standby (only flour I’ll use) for tortillas…AND King Arthur will give you a bag if you’re a winner at KS!  (See below for details.)

Mix together:

2 c. white whole wheat flour
1 tsp. salt

cut in: 1/4 cup coconut oil or butter or lard

Add 1/2 cup water and knead well.

Follow directions above to finish.

Soaked 100% Whole Grain Homemade Tortillas

HealthiEST Upgrade

Soak the grains

Include a Tbs. whey or lemon juice or yogurt in the water, mix with flour(s) and leave out at room temperature overnight.  You can also use whey entirely in place of the water (you may need up to 1/4 cup extra), if you happen to have too much whey on your hands.  (UPDATE:  Where do you get whey?  See here – how to make yogurt cheese and whey.)

Start with: 2 cups white whole wheat flour
Cut in: 1/4 cup lard or coconut oil or butter
Fork in: 1/2 cup water w/1 Tbs whey or just 1/2 cup whey

After a 12-24 hour soak at room temperature, sprinkle the 1 tsp salt on and knead into dough.

Follow directions above to finish.

UPDATE:  My mom tried half white whole wheat, half corn flour with good success!  If you cook them crispy, they’re almost like tortilla chips or hard taco shells.  My dad liked them, and he’s not a Mexican food fan.

UPDATE: Get caught up with a handy list of all the soaking grains information.

Cook’s Notes
  • It takes about 10 minutes to make the dough and between 10-15 minutes to roll it out and cook the tortillas, once you get your rhythm down.  Not too bad to save $3-5.
  • If you don’t have an electric griddle, you can still make them one at a time in a frying pan.
  • Do roll as thin as possible.  The tortillas are still tasty if they’re not really thin, but they start to remind you of pitas!

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Find a Rhythm

Roll a few out to begin with, and then start putting them one by one on the griddle.  (YES to using plenty of flour to prevent sticking!)  I’ve found that when I get moving quickly, I can roll out one tortilla in the time it takes to brown one side, so my rhythm is like this:  Put tort on griddle, roll out, flip tort no. 1 and add tort no. 2, roll some more, remove tort no. 1 and flip tort no. 2…and so on.

A few FAQs:

  • Is it normal for the soaked dough to look like it’s “risen”?  Yes.
  • Is it okay to have little chunks of coconut oil that don’t seem to blend in?  You bet.
  • What’s the best kind of rolling pin for tortillas?  I learned this from a darling Mexican grandmother who visited my classroom to make us tortillas – cut an old broom handle to make about an 8-inch rolling pin.  It’s perfect for turning around the little tortillas without knocking down everything on your counter.  (I really need to make myself one of these; my kitchen is so small!)
  • How do you roll out the dough?  I smash the little ball flat with my hand, then go from the center to the outside a few times, then flip the whole tortilla over and repeat.  I also use a cutting board to roll out so I can rotate the whole cutting board to get different angles.  Center to outside, center to outside, turning as you go.  I get a lot of square tortillas, so I shouldn’t go into any more detail!  ;)
  • A tip from Laurie at Common Sense Homesteading:  “If you put your tortillas in a closed container (I’ve got a big old Rubbermaid bowl with a lid) while you’re cooking up the rest of the batch, the steam will soften them up and make them easier to roll.”
  • UPDATE:  I tried freezing the tortilla dough in little balls, and it worked great!  I thawed them overnight in the fridge and then let them come to room temperature throughout the afternoon on the counter.  You can also freeze the cooked tortillas with good results.

Other Yummy Parts of the Mexican Meal:

King Arthur’s White Whole Wheat Flour – WIN IT!

white whole wheat flourI absolutely cannot laud the praises of the white whole wheat flour enough for these tortillas.  The ease of rolling out is like night and day, and the flavor is great – really light and not at all nutty or grainy like some whole grain products.  It’s still whole wheat flour, but it comes from a different variety of wheat berry. Traditional whole wheat is called “Hard Red Spring Wheat” whereas this kind is “Hard White Spring Wheat”.  It’s lower in gluten (the element that causes bread to rise) than traditional whole wheat.  (If you care, pastry flour is from “Soft White Wheat” berries.)

I haven’t used the white whole wheat much for yeast bread baking, but I’ve been very pleased with it in quick breads and crackers.  UPDATE:  I actually tried this in place of bread flour with a roll recipe that was half whole wheat, half white flour, and it was very good!

King Arthur Flour is willing to give one of my readers a bag of their white whole wheat flour so you can try something new without having to buy something new.  If you’d like to win, here’s a simple giveaway for you:

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED.  WINNER ANNOUNCED SOON!

This giveaway ended Wednesday, October 28th at 11:59 EST.  The winner has been announced.

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If you missed the last Monday Mission, click here.

Kitchen Stewardship is dedicated to balancing God’s gifts of time, health, earth and money.  If you feel called to such a mission, read more at Mission, Method, and Mary and Martha Moments.

Disclaimer:  King Arthur provided me with the free flour to give to you, but nothing else, monetary or otherwise, to recommend their product.

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