Soft & Chewy Flour Tortilla recipe, perfect for your burritos tacos and chicken quesadillas!
I've made this recipe for years now and is one of the best and easiest ones that I've done. It took me a while to perfect it, a LOT of hard cookie type tortillas where made that no one would eat before I could crack the code. Now that I know how to avoid those mistakes, let me share them with you. On the steps you will find my main tip on how to make sure your dough is always soft, to nail that tortilla chewy consistency, even if they are cold.
TIP: You can use your mixer if you have one, it will save you some effort. We use a Kitchenaid Mixer with the spiral hook.
As I mentioned above, you could use your mixer with the hook and it will save you some effort, however it is important that as you start practicing, you understand the feel and texture of the dough before you put it in a mixer. I suggest that you start by hand in your first batches until you nail down the consistency. After that you will be able to tell quicker when it is ready.
Flour Tortillas Recipe
Ingredients
Ingredients are very simple:
3 cups all purpose
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup lard or shortening
1 full cup of warm/hot water
Directions
Directions should always be short and to the point.
In a bowl, mix all dry ingredients first. Dump flour, baking powder and salt. Mix well until they all integrate.
Add in your lard or shortening in the dry mix and start disintegrating it with your hands and mixing it with the flour mix. Do this for about 5 mins making sure all the flour is getting some lard or shortening.
Finally, start pouring in the hot water as you knead with your hands. Note: water needs to be hot, however, make sure it's a temperature your hands can tolerate. We don't want any burned hands!
Once you have incorporated all the water. Start building small balls of about 80 to -90 grams depending on how big you want your tortilla.
Set them aside, and let them rest for about 1 hr. Then press them into round tortillas.
Preheat your cast iron skillet or regular pan at medium heat or a bit lower than that. Temperature is key! so make sure it is not too high. Give them about 30-40 seconds on each side or until you start seeing nice bubbles coming up on the surface, then flip.
TIP: Depending on where you live, if it's dry weather like it is in Las Vegas, adding slightly more water than the 1 full cup will give you a softer dough and this will avoid your tortillas to go hard. I always suggest that when you're done pouring the 1 cup measurement, to add slightly more that the water measurement and continue kneading. It might feel sticky at first, and you might want to add more flour but don't. Instead keep kneading until everything integrates. Video below shows final consistency, it almost needs to feel as melted cheese as you break it apart. This means your tortilla will have good elasticity, here's an example:
That is it! please let me know if you have any questions or let me know on the comments below how did it go. I am more than happy to answer any questions you might have. Until next time.
