Homemade flour tortillas – frugal and way more delicious than store-bought tortillas.

Homemade Flour Tortillas

One day, Mr. Gracious was gone, and I was frantically trying to get dinner on the table in time, tacos as fate would have it, with three kids hanging on my legs whining about how they were nearing starvation.  And then, I realized I didn’t have any tortillas…. which makes for a pretty crummy taco dinner…. So now I had 2 choices.  I could try to pack all three of my starving children into their car seats for one package of tortillas, or I could try to come up with something using what I already had.

Dreading the prospect of trying to wrangle the rugrats into the car, I chose to figure something else out, which is when I came across this amazing recipe for homemade flour tortillas from Chris at The Cafe Sucre Farine.  And to her I owe my undying gratitude because not only were these homemade flour tortillas deliciously amazing, she also saved me from dragging my lovely, but kind of crazy, children to the grocery store in pursuit of the store-bought kind of tortillas.  So thank you, Chris!

The recipe is delightfully simple.  The hardest part for me was trying to roll these into circles, which I really don’t do well.  (You may have noticed my Chicken Pot Pie recipe is in a rectangle dish…)  I found it was easiest to flatten the dough with my hands as much as possible before using the rolling pin. And even if you’re like me and most of your tortillas come out kind of oblong or misshapen, that’s okay. The shape takes away nothing from the delicious-ness.

I was a little disheartened at first as I didn’t have a stand mixer, and the directions call for one with the dough hook attached.  BUT! If you have a hand mixer you probably havedough hooks too! They’re those little swirly pieces with hooks at the end, so this recipe works for hand mixers too!

Chris also notes that these are freeze-able and you can head on over there for freezer instructions if you’d like to try it! 

 Homemade Flour Tortillas Recipe

4.0 from 1 reviews

Homemade Flour Tortillas

Prep time

30 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

1 hour

Author: The Gracious Wife

Serves: 16

Ingredients

• 3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ⅓ cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup warm water

Instructions

1. Add flour, salt and baking powder to a large mixing bowl.
2. With dough hook attachment on your mixer, begin mixing on medium and slowly add water and oil.
3. When water and oil are added, continue mixing on low for an additional minute, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.
4. Your dough should now form into a ball. Transfer your dough ball onto a floured surface. Cut the dough into quarters (Cut in half and then cut each half of the dough in half again.)
5. Form the quarters into balls and cut into quarters again, using the same method as above. You should now have 16 small balls of dough.
6. Cover the dough balls (with foil, plastic wrap, or a clean towel) and allow the dough to rest for 15-20 minutes.
7. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.
8. Meanwhile, begin rolling out your dough balls into approximate circles. I found that it's easiest to flatten as much as possible using your hands then finish the job with a rolling pin. Be sure to keep the rolling pin and work surface lightly floured.
9. When the skillet is hot, place an uncooked tortilla into the skillet. Allow to cook for 1 minute on each side. Tortillas are done when they are opaque and you can see a few golden brown spots on each side. Repeat this process for each tortilla.
10. These can be served warm or cool. To reheat, place in the microwave covered with a damp paper towel and microwave for 10-15 seconds.