My mother taught me how to make this dish while I was growing up in Mexico, but nobody (not even my mother) seems to know exactly how much of each ingredient should be used, so I had to experiment to come up with a recipe that was both tasty and low in fat. This is enjoyable at any time and a fantastic weekend activity for youngsters!
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 mins |
| Additional Time: | 1 hr 20 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 36 mins |
| Servings: | 18 |
| Yield: | 18 tortillas |
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 4 cups whole wheat bread flour
- ½ cup shortening
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 ½ cups boiling water
- all-purpose flour for rolling
Instructions
- In a large bowl, stir together 1 cup all-purpose flour, the whole wheat flour, and salt. Rub in the shortening by hand until the mixture is the texture of oatmeal. Make a well in the center, and pour in the boiling water. Mix with a fork until all of the water is evenly incorporated. Sprinkle with a bit of additional flour, and knead until the dough does not stick to your fingers. The dough should be smooth.
- Make balls the size of golf balls, about 2 ounces each. Place them on a tray, and cover with a cloth. Let stand for at least 1 hour, or up to 8 hours.
- Heat a griddle or large frying pan over high heat. On a lightly floured surface, roll out a tortilla to your preferred thinness. Fry one at a time. Place on the griddle for 10 seconds, as soon as you see a bubble on the top, flip the tortilla over. Let it cook for about 30 seconds, then flip and cook the other side for another 30 seconds. Roll out the next tortilla while you wait for that one to cook. Repeat until all of the balls have been cooked. Tortillas can be refrigerated or frozen.
- For white Mexican Flour Tortillas, use the same amounts of flour, but using white flour only. Another variation is to use 3/4, 1 cup, or 1 1/4 of vegetable shortening or lard. All these amounts work; I have tried them, but I like to keep things light. I must say the best tasting recipe is the one with all white flour, and 1 1/4 cup lard…of course!
Reviews
Tortilla came out really bad. I don’t know what I did wrong.
Like bricks. Too much gluten with no leavening agent.
Incredibly dry and when rolling it out the ends just crumble and split. The center was so elastic it just kept bouncing back. I let the dough sit for 1 hour with a towel and in a grocery bag and it still formed a hard crust that I couldn’t knead back in easily. I even added more shortening and water then what was called for. Had to throw it out. I’ll stick to a 1/2 and 1/2 ratio of wheat and white.
Only change I made was the serving – from 18 to 9 – Best I ever had
used olive oil as some suggested, used mixer with dough hook and rested, turned out amazing!
Very easy and tasty! I had never made them before and am surprised at how easy they are to make. I used butter instead of shortening. The picky kids gobbled them up!
I made these with ghee. Other than that, made exactly as written. Very good. A bit bland, but pretty much what I expect for a whole wheat tortilla!
Really good. They taste WAY better than store bought! I will be making these again and again.
Great recipe! Have made them a couple times now, and both times very easy. The only change I make is to sub coconut oil for the shortening. I also put the cooked tortillas in a ziploc bag as soon as I take them out of the frying pan (I use a non-stick pan and the burner set on “2”). This helps keep them moist and pliable. Very comparable to bought ones without all the chemicals.
I’m not sure what happened. I followed it exactly and got HARD unusable dough. It was not elastic the way tortilla dough should be. I’ve made tortillas several times very successfully and couldn’t believe I had to throw it all out. I just can’t imagine what went wrong. I think next time I’ll try oil instead.
This recipe makes very good tortillas. I used about 1/3 cup olive oil as a shortening and less salt. You could roll out this dough very thin without tearing, the taste is wonderful too.
Excellent recipe! I had NEVER even attempted tortillas before. My first try resulted in a good tasting flat bread, but it wasn’t a tortilla. My second try was great though! I LOVE these tortillas. I see no reason to ever buy from a store again, my husband helps me whip these up and we divide them up and freeze some so they last us quite a while.
These are so easy and so good!!! I used a cup of lard (and added a pinch of baking soda per reviewers recommendations), everything else according to the recipe. Rubbing the lard into the flour mixture took me a little while, but it was nice and relaxing and felt good to my fingers. When kneading, I didn’t need to add any flour at all–no sticking whatsoever! I just kept kneading until the dough was nice and pliable and smooth. Rolling them out took exactly the right amount of time for the tortilla in the pan to be ready to flip, then I counted 30 seconds, it was done, and on we went. Thank you so much for posting this INCLUDING your notes at the end!
I used unrefined coconut oil for recipe. They are that much better than store bought (in fact I ate one plain which I would NEVER do with a store bought) but a lot of work for rolling out. My edges were really crinkly- not sure if that was due to type of shortening or….? Would try next time with olive oil maybe.
I used olive oil instead of the shortening and added 1/2 tsp baking soda. Perfect! They roll out so easily.
Made these using oil. My husband liked them, I thought they were oily. Will try again using lard.
Easy recipe, I followed the directions exactly and they mixed up perfect! The only reason I didn’t give it a 5 star recipe is because of the salt taste (which I’ll adjust next time) and the fact that they just didn’t have as good of a taste as I was hoping for. I’ll make them again with the adjustment to the salt and if that fixed the taste then I’ll change it to a 5 star rating! As a side note for those who experience problems with the rolling part, I’ll offer a couple of suggestions. First, look up what a French rolling pin is and get one of those and throw out your traditional rolling pin because you’ll never go back! I also roll them out between sheets of waxed paper and was able to get them nice and thin without them sticking to anything!
Have never liked the flavor of store bought tortillas, and was excited to find this wonderful recipe for homemade ones! The recipe was easy to follow, using olive oil instead of shortening and, after letting them “rest” awhile, easily rolled them out and cooked them up in a very hot fry pan (no oil), not too long (about 30 seconds each side) so they were nice and soft. The flavor is fabulous and so much better than store bought!
Great recipe. I followed as directed and the dough came out soft and the tortillas where easy to roll. Thanks for this wonderful and healthier alternative to a household favorite. A KEEPER!!!
Really great. The only thing was that I needed substantially more water than the recipe called for – I probably added another 1/2 – 3/4 cup extra. After that though – really delicious. I was able to roll them out really thin, which was great. I used an olive oil spray to spray the frying pan, and it was perfect.
I really like this recipe. Like other reviewers, I substituted olive oil for shortening and used all wheat flour. Also covered with moist paper towel while dough was resting. My hesitation in making these is that I LOVE the uncooked Tortilla Land tortillas that you can buy at Sam’s Club and Costco because I love being able to make them fresh when I’m ready to eat them. So, when I made these I set several dough balls aside and did not cook them. I rolled them out, laid them on top of each other, placed them flat in a gallon size ziplock bag, and stored them in the refrigerator. Then when I wanted to use a tortilla I cooked it at that point. I’m happy to report that it worked perfectly…just like Tortilla Land. The rolled out tortilla dough was easy to pull apart and cooked great. I used them within a couple days, so I don’t know how long they will keep, but I’m thrilled! Next time I make these, I think I’ll try putting herbs in the dough. Thanks for the recipe!