Just five simple ingredients to make the best homemade flour tortillas. This authentic flour tortillas recipe produces soft and tender tortillas that you can make to use with tacos or burritos. You can even freeze them for later!
I’m talking about warm, fluffy authentic Mexican tortilla hot off the pan. The kind that has those dark bubbles blistering up from a hot pan. If I’m at a Mexican restaurant 9 times out of 10 my answer is flour when the waiter asks if I want flour or corn tortillas. I love a good corn tortilla too. But that soft, fluffy goodness that is a flour tortilla is perfect with fish tacos, enchiladas, loaded burritos, and of course, how could I forget my migas breakfast tacos?
We celebrate Cinco de Mayo on a weekly basis in Texas! And calories don’t count! Speaking of, Cinco de Mayo is as BIG here! I mean, we like our salsa fresh, our fajitas extra flavorful, taquitos have to be extra crispy, our agua frescas are cold and refreshing, our quesadillas have to be cheesy, sometimes we throw avocados into our salsa to make it creamy, we like our street corn with extra toppings, and our flour tortillas without a doubt, have to be tender.
While traditional tortillas are made from 100% corn, mass-produced versions may be made from dehydrated corn flour, or masa harina, with some wheat flour blended into it (1, 3). Nixtamalization is an important step that helps enhance the nutritional profile of corn tortillas.
Can you store/freeze flour tortillas?
Yes! You can roll them out, freeze them in between sheets of parchment paper/ freezer paper, and then prepare them fresh right before serving. You can also cook and freeze tortillas. Again do so between sheets of wax/freezer paper so it’s easy to take them apart. Spritz with water and reheat them in a warm skillet!
You can also cook and refrigerate the tortillas up to 3 days in advance. I usually place a piece of large foil (large enough to cover all the tortillas and wrap), then place a piece of paper towel on the bottom of the stack and one on top before wrapping in foil. This keeps them fresh. Reheat the same way with a spritz of water!
Ingredients for homemade flour tortillas:
- All-purpose flour/bread flour: I tested the recipe with both types of flours, and both do work here. All-purpose flour did work slightly better, in my opinion, as bread flour develops more gluten and gives you a chewier or more elastic tortilla at the end. I haven’t tested the recipe with whole wheat flour so I’m unsure how that would go. I’d suggest starting with a 50:50 of all-purpose and whole wheat and working your way up from there if this is something you’d like to try.
- Kosher salt: helps flavor the tortillas. We’ll use 1 1/4 teaspoon salt for this recipe.
- Baking powder: is used to lighten the texture of the tortillas. The carbon dioxide released into the tortilla helps make them light and airy. Don’t worry, you won’t even be able to tell it’s there!
- Shortening or softened butter: either vegetable shortening, coconut shortening, or softened butter would work for this recipe. I tested the recipe with both and found that the butter tortillas did have a slightly better flavor, However for my dairy-free friends, shortening works perfectly! You could even use vegetable oil. But if you do, you want to keep in mind that since oil is in a liquid state, you’ll need slightly less than if you were to use butter/shortening. A lot of authentic tortillas recipes also use lard. This isn’t something we use in our home so it’s not something I’ve tested, but it should be a 1:1 swap with the butter.
- Hot water: You want to heat the water in a microwave to roughly 110ºF so that it’s warm but not hot! You want to still be able to touch and knead the dough. You can check the temperature of water by using a food thermometer I’ll explain below why we do so.
THE ONLY FLOUR TORTILLA RECIPE YOU WILL EVER NEED!!! | Tortillas de Harina
FAQ
What are Mexican flour tortillas made of?
Is tortilla flour the same as regular flour?
Are tortillas white flour?
What is the flour that corn tortillas are made from called?
What is a flour tortilla?
A flour tortilla ( / tɔːrˈtiːə /, /- jə /) or wheat tortilla is a type of soft, thin flatbread made from finely ground wheat flour. Made with flour- and water-based dough, it is pressed and cooked, similar to corn tortillas.
What is the lowest oxalate flour?
Corn flour, whole wheat flour and rye flour have a low amount of oxalate, but the one with the least is corn flour with 54mg in each 100g.
What ingredients are in flour tortillas?
The simplest recipes use only flour, water, fat, and salt, but commercially-made flour tortillas generally contain chemical leavening agents such as baking powder, and other ingredients.
What makes a good flour tortilla?
Lard: Lard, a common baking ingredient in Mexican cuisine, adds flavor and helps create the perfect flour tortilla texture. Water: Water is essential for gluten development, which is essential for structure in the tortillas. Here’s a very brief overview of what you can expect when you make this flour tortilla recipe: