Homemade Flour Tortillas - Retro Recipe Box (2024)

FAQs

Is butter or lard better for tortillas? ›

Although traditionally made with lard, these tortillas are equally delicious using butter, shortening, or vegetable oil as the fat. If you choose to use oil, add it with the water in step 3. The resting period improves the texture of the dough by giving the flour time to absorb the water.

Adding too much flour to knead or to roll out the tortillas will also create hard and dry tortillas.

Not only do homemade tortillas taste much better than store-bought tortillas, but they are extremely cheap to make using only three ingredients, well four, if you count water!

They also use a touch of sugar for a balanced sweetness since lard—the traditional fat used in flour tortillas—is very savory. Other tortilla-makers, however, will just use water and omit sugar.

All-vegetable shortening, such as Crisco, is the trick to making these homemade flour tortillas foolproof. The shortening yields a forgiving, easy-to-work-with dough that remains tender and fresh-tasting even after a few days stored at room temperature.

Place all of the dough in your bowl and cover with a warm, damp paper towel or place a lid on the bowl. Allow to rest for 10-15 minutes. Heat a griddle to medium heat. Lightly flour the work surface and roll out the dough balls one at a time with a rolling pin.

Baking powder: Baking powder acts as a leavener, giving the tortillas a slightly pillowy texture. Salt: Salt enhances the overall flavor of the flour tortillas. Lard: Lard, a common baking ingredient in Mexican cuisine, adds flavor and helps create the perfect flour tortilla texture.

I tested a few different variations and found that just a little bit of baking powder yielded the best texture albeit a very minor difference compared to the version without baking powder. So, if you don't have baking powder then you can omit it altogether. The tortillas will be just as good!

You can freeze both corn and flour tortillas. Freezing is an excellent way to extend tortillas' shelf life and allows you to make last-minute tacos al pastor, burritos, fajitas, quesadillas doradas, taquitos, or chicken enchiladas. To prevent freezer burn, keep tortillas tightly sealed in their packaging.

Why do my homemade tortillas fall apart? ›

If your dough is hard to manage (it falls apart) when you try to roll it into small balls or it cracks when you press it, then it's too dry. Test this by checking the edges of your pressed raw tortillas. If they're jagged and crackly, the dough lacks a bit of moisture.

Their texture, taste, and smell are incomparable. The secret is in the steam. Mexican restaurants steam hundreds of tortillas at a time in large ovens or special steamers.

And tortillas should never smell sour, although many do. That's not a sign of spoilage, but an indication that they're treated with an acid that make them shelf-stable for longer.

Most flour tortillas use lard or vegetable shortening as one of the ingredients. This recipe uses canola oil with the same great tortilla taste. A great alternative for those of you who are allergic to soy products. Add a bowl of green chili and then get ready to sop it up with a tasty tortilla.

Baking powder: Baking powder acts as a leavener, giving the tortillas a slightly pillowy texture. Salt: Salt enhances the overall flavor of the flour tortillas. Lard: Lard, a common baking ingredient in Mexican cuisine, adds flavor and helps create the perfect flour tortilla texture.

The melting point of lard is lower than butter, which means that more air and steam are released during bake times. This results in greater leavening and a flakier texture in baked goods. Lard also has larger fat crystals that leave open spaces as they melt, creating more layers than you would achieve with butter.

Butter, especially grassfed, is high in Vitamins A and E. A tablespoon of lard, in comparison, is about 115 calories, but is only about 25 percent of your daily saturated fat intake. Lard is also lower in cholesterol than butter, but doesn't contain Vitamins A and E.