Homemade (Soft) Flour Tortillas

Recently, I’d been making my own little version of toasted chicken wraps for my brother and father, and within two days we’d run out of flour tortillas (yup, the chicken wraps are that good. Recipe coming soon!). I think only a food blogger can find joy when a certain food product runs out, like when my house “ran out of” animal crackers and I had eagerly decided to make a homemade version.

Because when life gives you flour, make tortillas! And take step-by-step pictures. :)

Unlike store-bought pita bread, the store-bought flour tortillas are actually pretty good when it comes to making a taco or burrito of some sort, so I wasn’t sure how these would turn out. If you have any doubts, throws them out the window, because these tortillas get 5 stars for taste and 20 stars for how easy they are! Usually when you deal with bread, you have to deal with yeast and a high-temperature oven. This wonderful creation of a bread, however, is leavened by baking powder and heated on the stove in a skillet.

Before I made these, my mom told me she was going to buy from the store whether I made them or not. After I made these, my mom told me to make another batch, double it, and to never buy from the store again. Don’t you love converting people to home-baked goodness?

Oh and bonus? Four ingredients (not including water). Yup! These are so simple and quick to make, I think these even managed to the beat the perfect pita bread!

Mix it all together and you have a beautiful piece of dough!

After you split the dough into equal-sized balls, take a ball of dough and flatten it with your rolling pin.

See how flat it is? Literally flatter than a pancake. It’ll poof up ever so slightly once you heat it up.

Place it in the preheated skillet…

Let it get all bubbly and then flip

And finally, enjoy perfection!

Homemade Flour Tortillas (loosely adapted from allrecipes.com)
Makes 12 large, thin, and soft tortillas

• 6 cups of flour (you can use whole wheat if you want to make whole-wheat tortillas)
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 3 tablespoons shortening (I used vegetable shortening)
• 2 and 1/4 cups hot water

Directions

1. Whisk the flour, salt, and baking powder together in a mixing bowl. Mix in the lard with your fingers until the flour resembles cornmeal. Add the water and mix until the dough comes together; place on a lightly floured surface and knead a few minutes until smooth and elastic. Divide the dough into 24 equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball.
2. Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Use a well-floured rolling pin to roll a dough ball into a thin, round tortilla. Place into the hot skillet, and cook until bubbly and golden; flip and continue cooking until golden on the other side.