Tortillas are one of my favorite bread items and I use them for just about everything. Luckily, there is a fairly large Hispanic population in Louisiana so I am able to find tortillas fairly inexpensively at the grocery store. …EXCEPT burrito size tortillas (the really large kind). I can only find burrito sized in large national brands, like Mission, and they tend to be pretty pricey, comparatively speaking. …which is dumb because tortillas are about the cheapest things on the planet.
So, using this recipe from Rick Bayless, I whipped up a batch of tortillas! It was pretty quick and painless and resulted in some pretty delicious flour tortillas.
His recipe uses all white flour while I substituted about 1/3 with whole wheat. Also, I divided my dough into 8 pieces rather than 12 so that I could make larger burrito-sized tortillas. This recipe is really easy and is a very reasonable project for the weekend. The tortillas stay good in the refrigerator for up to a week (in an air-tight package).
Flour Tortillas
Flour Tortillas
Servings 8Ingredients
- 3/4 cup whole wheat flour ($0.12)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour ($0.29)
- 5 Tbsp lard ($0.22)
- 3/4 tsp salt ($0.05)
- 3/4 cup warm water ($0.00)
Instructions
- Combine the flours in a large bowl and stir until evenly mixed. Add the lard and work it in with your hands until the flour is coated in lard you have an even, crumbly mixture (looks like coarse sand).
- Dissolve the salt into the warm water. Add the salt water to the flour/lard a little at a time until a cohesive ball has formed. You may need more or less water depending on the moisture content of your flour.
- Once you have a rough ball of dough, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it for a minute or two or just until everything is evenly mixed. The dough will be fairly stiff and quite unlike regular bread dough so don’t worry if it is difficult to knead.
- Divid the dough into 8 pieces (for large tortillas) or 12 (for smaller, 6-inch tortillas). Do your best to shape them into balls and let them sit for 30 minutes, covered with a damp towel.
- After the dough has rested it will be much softer and easier to roll out. Roll each ball into a very thin circle (about the thickness of poster board). You can pile the rolled tortillas, one on top of the other until you are finished rolling.
- Heat a heavy bottomed skillet over a medium flame. Once the pan is fully preheated, place one tortilla in at a time. Wait for it to bubble up and turn slightly golden then flip and cook the second side in the same manner (about 30 seconds each side). As each tortilla comes out of the skillet, pile them on a plate and cover with a damp cloth to keep soft and warm.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!
Step By Step Photos
Add the lard to the flour in a large bowl. “Smoosh” it in with your hands until the mixture resembles coarse sand.
Dissolve the salt into the warm water. Add the salt water to the flour/lard a little at a time until a cohesive ball forms.
Turn the rough ball of dough out onto a lightly floured counter and knead it for a minute or two or just until everything is evenly mixed. The dough feels VERY different than regular bread dough so don’t worry if it’s difficult to knead.
Shape it into a ball.
Divide the dough into 8 or 12 pieces depending on how big you want the tortillas.
Shape each piece into a ball as best you can. The dough is still fairly stiff at this point so don’t worry if they’re not perfect. Cover the balls of dough with a damp cloth and let rest for 30 minutes
After the rest period, the dough will be much easier to work with. Roll each tortilla out until it is about the thickness of poster board (not quite as thin as paper but not nearly as thick as cardboard).
Stack the tortillas as you roll them out. Once they’re all finished, preheat a heavy skillet over medium heat.
Cook the tortillas one at a time in the hot skillet. Cook on each side until slightly bubbly and lightly golden brown (about 30 seconds each side).
Stack the tortillas on a plate and cover with a damp towel to keep them warm and soft until they are all cooked.
If you are a vegetarian, you can substitute vegetable shorting for the lard and get a similar result. I will be posting a low-fat tortilla recipe tomorrow (I wasn’t a fan at first but they have definitely grown on me!!)
It tasted delightful with some melted cheese and ham, I love this recipe. Easy, fast, doesn’t take too much time nor ingredients and delicious.
I didn’t have lard available to me, so I used canola oil. My dough was soft and stretchy, so the tortillas stretched while I was trying to lay the on the pan, leading to unevenly cooked tortillas. In the end I had to scrap the “make tortillas” plan and just make them into tortilla-like chips.
They were good, if a little lackluster (I’d add more salt, I think). Is my substitution of a liquid fat instead of a solid fat the reason why my recipe failed?
I subbed butter and even added too much water and these still came out amazing. I would definitely follow the photos at the end to see how the tortillas are supposed to look! I ended up cooking mine just a touch too long towards the end. Still a+
Thanks I’m about to make these and have no lard. Butter it is!
Thanks for this recipe. I can’t wait to make burritos with this.
Am I able to freeze the tortillas before I cook them but after I roll them out?
You can, however they could get soggy. A previous commenter noted, “The only problem I’ve had with freezing tortillas (my grocery store sells fresh-made ones, but in fairly big batches for one person to eat) is that when they thaw, parts tend to get soggy. But, that could just be my freezer. Next time when I thaw them, I’m going to stick a paper towel in the bag and see if that prevents sogginess.”
I’ve never attempted to make bread, of any kind, let alone tortillas. This recipe is awesome! The only item I sub’d was vegetable shortening, it was what I had on hand. I am totally impressed that something so simple can taste so dang good, mon cher!! Beth, Thank You for sharing your wholesome, fabulous and inexpensive recipes with us!! I will never buy store bought again <3
I don’t buy Tortillas because they are overpriced and lack any sort of quality/flavor.
.. but I was making fajitas last night and felt that I should serve some tortillas. Normally I make my own bread, so I decided to give this a whirl… && really, how bad could they turn out?
wow wow wow! THIS is the way of the future. they are flakey, flavorful, and just wow.
the first words out of my boyfriends mouth were “the only way that this could be better is if we were stoned.” (which was rather cheeky, for such a clean cut gentleman!)
thanks for such a great starting point!!! I look forward to using this as a base & modifying it to make flavored tortillas for wraps! :-D
Hahahah love it. Fantastic story! :D
So I’ve started making tortillas ALL the time. Homemade is soooooo much better than store-bought and totally worth the time to me. I’ve gone from using all white flour and butter because it was convenient, to using almost this exact recipe (but using a bit more equal division of whole and white flour). After making about 10 different variations, this is definitely the recipe I have settled on. They’re easy to roll, not too greasy, nice and flaky, steam well and quickly in the microwave, don’t fall apart, and have a mild taste that goes great with everything.
One thing I have found that will save you even more time is that you are able to simply plop the lard into the flour mix if you use hot enough water. I microwave my water until it is nearly boiling, and it just melts the lard right into the mix. Saves me the greasy hands of mashing it into the flour!
I’ve also found that the longer you knead the dough, the better they roll. With enough kneading, the dough becomes extremely elastic, which means that instead of having little tears in the edges from rolling the dough into shape, it bounces back a bit to help make a perfectly round tortilla. Also makes it even flakier.
As you can tell, I’ve dedicated a lot (eh, probably too much) time to honing the perfect tortilla recipe, and I’m really satisfied with the result. Thanks for another keeper!
I love the feedback! Thank you for sharing your experience! :D
Hi Beth! I’m a big fan of yours. :) I made these flour tortillas on Friday and they were soooo good. They store really well, even before you cook them. I wanted them for breakfast burritos on Saturday without getting up early to make them, so I just rolled them out and put a layer of plastic wrap between each tortilla. The whole pile went into a ziploc bag in the fridge. As we’ve needed them I pull them out and heat them up on the skillet so they are nice and fresh. I got the idea from some fresh flour tortillas in the refrigerator section of our grocery store. Yum yum! Thanks for the great recipe. “
That’s so cool! I had no idea they’d keep so well before cooking. Thanks for sharing that!!
I just saw the previous posts. I can use butter!
Can you substitute butter for lard in this recipe?
My grandmother was from Mexico and when I was young, she tried to show me how to make tortillas–which she typically made 2 to 3 times a month. Hers were always perfect. Mine were always misshapen. One was the shape of Italy. Discouraged, I told her I couldn’t make them circular like hers. She said to me, “It’s ok Mi Hija, they don’t have to roll down your throat.” After that I didn’t worry too much if they weren’t shaped perfectly.
Hahahah, I LOVE that story. Thanks for sharing :)
ok – here’s the report back.
I used more white flour and cut the wheat flour back to 1/4 cup, used coconut oil (3 TBSP instead of 5 TBSP) and added a tsp of baking powder.
I don’t think the baking powder helped too much with the rise … maybe I’ll add more next time. But lessening the wheat flour definitely helped with texture. It was softer!
Next time I think I’m going to substitute milk for water and see what happens.
Thanks for this recipe! I will definitely be making more and freezing them for future meals!
Thanks for the update – that’s good to know!
Hi Beth,
I made this recipe a few days ago and it was good and easy! I am wanting to make it again this weekend, but my question is about texture. When I made mine, they came out a bit harder than the store bought kind – is it b/c of the brown flour that is added? Any suggestions on how to get them less hard and more light and airy? Can I just use all white flour instead? Would that make a difference?
Thanks for your help!
Yes, you can definitely use all white flour and that should definitely help make them more fluffy. Other than that, I wonder if a little baking powder would help. Like, just a touch. Hmm… that might take some experimenting!
Great! Thanks for the tip! I will experiment this weekend and if it turns out more fluffy, I will let you know! Although I do like the idea of adding even a little bit of wheat flour making it healthier… :)
Emma – sometimes an extra pinch of salt goes a long towards making things taste better :) Give it a shot if you feel up to trying them again. Oh, and the round-ness takes practice ;)
I have no idea what I did.. but they were not what I wanted, all the other recipes I have made off your site have been worth it and OUTSTANDING… but these well, lacking something. I am going to try them again today to see if I was just in a mood or what… Plus mine did not turn out round, LOL
I have no idea what I did.. but they were not what I wanted, all the other recipes I have made off your site have been worth it and OUTSTANDING… but these well, lacking something. I am going to try them again today to see if I was just in a mood or what… Plus mine did not turn out round, LOL
I made these last night and they were so delicious. I will NEVER buy tortillas again.
They can definitely be made with butter, that’s what I did because it was what I had on hand.
Hi!
I just wanted to say that…
1. Instead of using lard, you can use butter :D
2. That one week in the refrigerator is a bit optimistic. They magically disappeared within 24 hours!
3. THIS IS AMAZINGLY easy and simple!
Greetings from sweden!
i am really pleased with how these came out! – slightly mis shapen but very tasty :)
Brad – I’m not sure because butter actually has a higher moisture content than lard. It will probably still work but the texture will probably be slightly different.
Can Butter be substituted for the lard?
Okay, I have to ask: how do you get them so round? I’ve made tortillas many times, and I ALWAYS have a problem shaping them, to the point that I’m considering buying a tortilla press.
I attempted to make this recipe, but completely failed. I’m not sure what I did wrong (perhaps they were too thick), but most of the tortillas didn’t cook properly. The ones that did were quite dry, and tasted just like flour. Any suggestions?
Oh, also, here is the second tortilla recipe that I made which uses vegetable oil: http://budgetbytes.blogspot.com/2011/01/flour-tortillas-v20-low-fat-044-recipe.html
Good luck!
You can purchase vegetable shortening at the store :D It is usually in the baking aisle near the other oils. If you’re in the U.S., the most common brand is Crisco. Feel free to ask any questions you have, none are dumb!!
oppps, sorry for the last question. I did not read the whole post. got my answer. but I am new to cooking. very dumb question, how do you prepare vegetable shortening?
I’m vegetarian hence can not use lard. Any substitute for lard. I also do not eat eggs. Thanks.
i’ve made these a few times with shortening instead of the lard and they are awesome! thanks!
Yep, it should produce a similar result!
Can you substitute Crisco for the lard?
Bennance, you are too too tooooo kind!! Comments like that always blow my mind :) We must just have the same taste in food! I hope I can keep cranking out some good recipes for ya!!
Beth, you are absolutely my favorite food blogger. I love what you put on your site. Your food is so creative and diverse, and the recipes are great. I made your red beans and rice twice already, am addicted to the creamed spinach quesadillas, and I can’t wait to try these tortillas. Thank you for the variety and quality of all of your recipes!
I just started making my own tortillas and it’s awesome. So cheap and delicious! I’ve used shortening, and those are okay, but my last batch I used vegetable oil (drizzling the oil in while mixing to make something crumb-like) and they were better than the shortening ones!
The only problem I’ve had with freezing tortillas (my grocery store sells fresh-made ones, but in fairly big batches for one person to eat) is that when they thaw, parts tend to get soggy. But, that could just be my freezer. Next time when I thaw them, I’m going to stick a paper towel in the bag and see if that prevents sogginess.
Yep for about a week. Put them in something air tight like a ziplock bag. I’ve heard they freeze well too although I’ve never done it (I eat them way too fast!).
Do they store well in the fridge?