Tortillas are one of the most versatile larder staples to have. You can use them in dozens of different dishes. Turn them into tacos, make tortilla chips from them or used them as a pizza base. Or simply use them as a wrap and fill them with veggies, meat, cheese, tofu or anything else you can think of.
Tortillas are a part of the flatbread family. Like most flatbreads, they’ve been around for centuries. Tortillas originate from the Americas where they continue to be a staple food. Exactly how far their history goes back, is a bit unclear. But certainly long before the Europeans came onto the scene. Unlike the tortillas in this recipe, those original tortillas are made with cornflour. But then the Spanish arrived. With them came exiled Jews, who felt that cornflour wasn’t kosher. So they decided to make their tortillas with wheat flour instead.
So why did I not attempt to make the original corn tortillas? The reason, is the type of cornmeal you need to make them. Because you need a specific cornmeal called masa harina. Cornmeal simply consists of ground corn. To make masa harina however, the corn kernels need to be cooked and soaked in limewater before being ground into powder. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find this type of flour anywhere. Hence my decision to make wheat flour tortillas instead.
Ofcourse, it takes more time to make your own tortillas, then it takes to tear open a packet of ready-made ones. But if you have the time, you should really try this recipe. The taste and texture of home made tortillas is just so much better. Besides, these don’t contain any E-numbers. Just flour, oil and water. You can’t get much simpler then that, right?
If you like this recipe, please share it with family and friends or on any of our social media pages. You can find us on Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest. If you want to be kept up-to-date on new recipes and posts, you can also follow us on bloglovin‘ or sign up to our newsletter.
Ingredients
|
|
- Mix the oil with the flour and rub together to get a crumb-like texture.
- Add the warm water and mix well. Then knead the dough until in comes together. The dough should not be sticky, add a bit more flour if this happens.
- Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces. The easiest way to do this is to weigh them. Keep the balls that you are not working with covered with some clingfilm, to stop them from drying out.
- On a floured surface, thinly roll out the dough. The tortillas should have a diameter of 20-22 cm (about 8 inches). If you want to stack them, make sure to put plenty of flour in between each tortilla. You can also roll them out as you're baking them.
- I personally don't mind if my tortillas look a bit rustic. If you want yours to be perfectly round however, simply put a plate upside down on the tortilla and cut around it to trim off any uneven edges.
- Preheat a large skillet. Make sure it's nice and hot before putting the first tortilla in the dry pan. Cook the tortilla until the top looks "dry" and bubble have formed on the entire surface. The bottom side should then have a few brown spots. This will take about 30 seconds.
- Flip the tortilla over and cook for another 15 seconds. Both sides should now have a couple of brown spots.
- Put the cooked tortillas on a plate and cover with some aluminium foil to keep them warm.
- Serve them with whatever you prefer. Veggies, meat, cheese, tofu... You really can't go wrong!
Leave a Reply