March Challenge: Eating on a Tight Budget : Tortilla Factory




For this challenge, I determined I'd learn to make tortillas.  I used the recipe here.  I thought it sounded pretty easy.  I'd been wanting to try to make homemade tortillas for quite a long while but kept putting it off.  This challenge presented the perfect opportunity to try something new.

John has decided he quite likes whole wheat tortillas.  We've been buying two packs of them each pay period.  He prefers a tortilla over sliced bread most days.  The only brands I can buy all have yeast in them, for no reason I can fathom.  I knew during Passover we'd want an alternative for this bread. 

I had whole wheat flour on hand and substituted for 1/3 of the all purpose flour this recipe required.  I increased the water slightly.  Too much as it turned out.  I ended up having to add an extra cup of flour to bring the dough up to the ball stage.  It was a very soft ball stage.  And I forgot to take pictures of this step.



After the dough came up to a soft ball stage, I removed it to a floured surface and divided into 16 pieces, as the recipe describes, rolled into a ball and flattened.   I let the dough rest as suggested.  At this point I began to roll out a few of the flat dough pieces at a time. This dough was easily rolled into thin pieces.  I wish I'd been able to get the noodle dough this thin last month!

I heated a cast iron griddle to cook the tortillas on.  I didn't get the temperature as precise as suggested in the recipe, but the tortillas cooked rather nicely just the same.  I had only one get a little crispy.  The rest took a little longer than 1 minute but definitely not more than 1 1/2 minutes per side.


Notice the sort of bubbles in the upper right and lower left edges here on the side I'd just cooked .  That's what you want to happen to the dough as it cooks.

I put the tortillas on racks to cool.  I didn't want to stack them while warm. 

These tasted awesome!  John was pretty pleased when we had them the next day and I told him I'd made them myself.  He complimented me on my industry in the home.  That was the best reward I could have received!

I packed up the tortillas with waxed paper between each and froze the leftovers.  They are supposed to keep very well in the freezer.  I will be removing them next week to use, so we will see how well they do.  All in all, I'm very pleased with this recipe and with my first attempt at homemade tortillas.
One more skill to add to my money saving experience.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I made corn tortillas one day a while back, for the first time. I also had no special equipment to help me, so I squished them between a cut-open ziplock bag, using a large pot. It worked, although they were thicker than I wanted. Still, they were eaten and that masa flour I had was mostly used.

Yours look lovely. I hope they come out of the freezer well.

Wendi said...

Making tortillas has been on my to do list for a long time. Hmmm... maybe years! :) You make it sound super easy. I will plan to try making these within the next two weeks. I am interested to see if they freeze as well as they say. Please keep us posted!

Deanna said...

I made flour tortillas once or twice several years ago. I really need to do it again. We love tortillas. I also want to make corn tortillas. I've had a tortilla press on my Amazon wishlist for years - ha!

Anonymous said...

Now you have thinking of making them again. It has been years since I made them. MY very first ones turned out every shape but round but they tasted good! I will try your recipe..thanks! Sarah

Camp Mac said...

These look amazing! I too have been looking for an easy flour tortilla recipe for Mike.
I usually try to stay away from wheat for myself but these might be hard to resist! I do make an easy wheat-less wrap/tortilla/crepe using arrowroot and eggs and keep them in the freezer to use in a multitude of ways such as...
-a wheat-less crust for a quick pizza;
-As an enchilada/soft taco/fajita or sandwich wrap;
-I fry then in a bit of oil to make a tostada base;
-I use kitchen shears and cut them in noodle-like strips and add them to soup instead of noodles (they taste very much like homemade noodles!);
-I even warm them gently in a skillet and use them as crepes...filled with fresh fruit and the like.
I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir here, but you can also do all these things with the flour tortillas too!
Sorry to ramble, but I just love the versatility of these little pan "breads"!
Love,
Tracey
XoX

P.S. I also made your lentils and they were a big hit!!!

Marilyn @ MountainTopSpice said...

I came over to visit you after Wendi's recommendation, as she made your tortilla recipe, and I enjoyed your sharing about how you made them! Very thrifty and economical to make them yourself! And it is nice that they freeze well too! So you could make quite a few up in advance and freeze them. That's thrifty too ... happy to meet you today :)

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