Homemade tortillas
The title should really be “Homemade tortillas (slash flatbread slash naan slash crispy pizza base!)” but that’s not super catchy.
Just a few ingredients, and BOOM. You have your own tortillas for those delicious cauliflower tacos I made last week. OR! You can use them to make flatbread (put whatever you want on them and have a gorgeous lunch), naan or they make for a lovely, thin and crispy pizza base.
Ah man, I love bread.
Okay, my stomach is actually rumbling - let’s do it.
During lockdown I bought a 16kg bag of flour.
I wasn’t one of those doomsday people, honestly. It was the only flour I could get my hands on. But you know what? It came in handy. Now I might just continue to buy huge bags of it because it’s always good to have (and you can save a lot of money)! And diving in to that big brown bag of flour makes me feel like a real baker. (By the way, my friend told me he got French flour during lockdown and it changed his bread game forever - so I am going to have to try that next! Have you used it?)
When I couldn’t get a hold of tortillas either, but had my big ol’ bag of flour - I started making my own! And now I’m never going back. These can take a bit of time to get just right, make sure you roll them out reeeeally thin for tortillas (if you’re making flatbread, naan or pizza base, you don’t have to make them as thin) and make sure you don’t cook them at too high a temperature.
Homemade tortillas
Serves 2 (with a bit extra - check the options below!)
3 cups all-purpose/plain flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
⅓ cup olive oil (or other neutral flavoured oil)
1 cup warm water
Combine flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl and mix well.
Make a little dip in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the oil and water. Stir well, until the dough begins to come together and form a ball.
Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for a couple of minutes until the dough is nice and smooth. Cut into 16 equal pieces. Turn each piece to coat with flour. Form every piece into a ball and flatten with the palm of your hand. Cover the flattened balls of dough with a clean kitchen towel and let them rest for at least 15 minutes before proceeding.
After the rest period, heat a large pan over medium heat. Roll each dough piece thinly into a rough circle, about 6-7 inches in diameter, keep work surface and rolling pin lightly floured. Don’t stack uncooked tortillas on top of each other or they will stick together! You can start cooking your first one and roll out the next one while it cooks - but keep a close eye on the one that’s cooking!
When the pan is hot, place the thinly rolled out dough into a large non-stick pan (no oil necessary!) and cook for about 45 seconds to 1 minute or until the bottom surface has a few pale brown spots and the uncooked surface is bubbly. If it’s browning too fast, you need to reduce the heat a bit. If it’s taking longer than a minute to see a few pale golden brown spots on the underside of tortillas, then you need to increase the heat. Flip to the other side and cook for another 15-20 seconds. The tortillas should be nice and soft, but have a few small brown spots on the surface. Remove from pan with tongs and stack in a covered container to keep the tortillas soft. Serve warm or allow to cool for later use.
And… uh.. yeah - that’s kind of all there is to it! But wait, there’s more fun to be had:
Listen, I know I said 16 pieces of dough. Obviously 16 tortillas for 2 people (as the recipe states) is a bit much - you might want 3 each for dinner, give or take. But hey, I’m the leftover queen! You can make as many as you need for your meal and leave the rest of the dough for after.
Let’s say you have 10 balls of dough left. Here are some options:
Store the uncooked dough in an airtight container or zippered bag at room temperature for 24 hours or refrigerate for up to 1 week. To freeze, roll the pieces out (you don’t have to do them super thin, you can do that later when you actually cook them) and separate them with baking paper and place in a bag in the freezer.
Roll out the remaining balls of dough (either immediately or after you’ve stored them) and store the cooked bread at room temperature for the next few days, amazing to break up and have as a snack with hummus!
Put 2 and 2 pieces together and roll out for slightly thicker bread (either immediately or after you’ve stored them) and cook in the same way in the pan, but now, BOOM!, you’ve got naan (you can even mix in different spices or a bit of garlic, almonds etc in each naan, everyone in the family can get their own version!) OR you have a nice flatbread for a lovely lunch - top with whatever you want!
Put 2 and 2 balls together and roll out for slightly thicker bread (either immediately or after you’ve stored them) and top with your favourite pizza toppings - and now you’ve got small, individual pizzas - again, everyone in the family can get their own version! (The pizzas you cook in the oven though, not in a pan!)
I’d love to hear and see how you got on, share how you used the tortillas/flatbread/naan/pizza base with me on Instagram and tag @TheFromScratchBody and hashtag #TheFromScratchBody so I don’t miss it!
