Sourdough Flour Tortillas - Traditional Rollout Recipe
These sourdough flour tortillas have a delicious sourdough tang, and are very similar to regular homemade tortillas. They can be made with sourdough discard or active starter, and the dough can be long fermented in the refrigerator or cooked up right away.
Equipment
- 1 Stand mixer or large mixing bowl
- 1 measuring cups and spoons
- 1 Large Cast Iron Skillet (non-stick will also work)
- 1 Rolling Pin
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups water
- 1 cup fat beef tallow, butter or coconut oil
- 2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sourdough starter
- 7-8 cups flour
- 5 teaspoon baking powder
Instructions
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment, add water, starter, melted tallow and salt.
- Mix on low speed just until combined and then add the flour and baking powder.
- If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can just knead this tortilla dough by hand.
- Once the dough has formed a nice smooth ball, either put the dough in the refrigerator to long ferment until you’re ready to make the tortillas, or start cooking them right away.
To Cook:
- Preheat your cast-iron skillet over medium heat.
- Pinch off a piece of dough (how much dough will depend on how big you want your tortillas. Experiment with it, you can always take some dough away or add a little bit more)
- Roll out using a rolling pin on a floured surface. Try to keep the tortilla as round as possible, and keep the thickness even. This comes with experience. No one ever rolled out a perfect tortilla on their first try. And by the way, homemade tortillas are supposed to be a little rustic anyway.
- Cook the tortilla on the first side, and after it starts to bubble up flip the tortilla over and finish cooking it on the second side.
- Remove from skillet and place on a platter until ready to serve. Cover with a clean kitchen towel or a lid to help keep them warm and soft.
- If making ahead of time, the cooked tortillas could be warmed back up in a skillet briefly before serving.
- To freeze, place a small piece of parchment paper between each tortilla and place into a freezer bag. Stays good in the freezer for 1-3 months.
Notes
These sourdough tortillas cook best in a cast-iron skillet. I like to use a big cast iron skillet or get several heating on my stove at the same time to make cooking them faster.
You can make these tortillas with sourdough discard or active starter, either one works fine.
Sourdough discard tip: keep lots of sourdough discard in your refrigerator for these and other discard recipes like sourdough discard pizzas or sourdough pizza pockets. I usually feed my sourdough starter a lot of flour and water on purpose so that I will have lots of discard on hand.
Play around with the flavorings of these tortillas. You could easily add some freeze dried spinach powder for spinach tortillas, or some garlic and different herbs for a delightful flavored tortilla.
Always cook your flour tortillas on a dry skillet over medium heat. There’s a balance to be found between having your skillet to hot or having it to cold. You don’t want the tortillas to scorch, but you also want to cook them quickly enough so they puff up a little and stay soft.
You can use butter, coconut oil or lard in place of the beef tallow if you wish.
