Easy Soft Flour Tortillas

Want to make your own homemade flour tortillas? It’s easier than you think! This Easy Soft Flour Tortillas recipe results in delicious, soft, pliable tortillas – perfect for making homemade soft tacos, fajitas, burritos and more! (Makes 20-25 tortillas depending on size.)

Course Bread, Side, Side Dish

Cuisine Mexican, Tex-Mex

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 30

Total Time 45

Servings tortillas

Calories 136kcal

Author Eb Gargano

Ingredients

625 g plain flour
¼ teaspoon salt or to taste (see Note 1)
¼ teaspoon baking powder
125 g lard at room temperature, cut into small cubes (or beef dripping, or butter, or olive oil - see Note 2)
250 ml boiling water

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Place the flour, salt and baking powder into a large mixing bowl and mix together thoroughly to ensure the salt and baking powder are evenly distributed.
Pour the boiling water into a measuring jug and add the cubes of lard. Stir until the lard is completely dissolved.
Pour the water/lard mixture into the flour and stir until it all comes together in a ball. (It should be roughly the same texture as playdough. If it is too dry, add a splash more water. If it is too wet add a sprinkle more flour.)
Knead the tortilla dough for 5 minutes.
Next, divide the tortilla dough into 20 x 50g balls OR 25 x 40g balls. (50g balls will give you larger tortillas – roughly 20cm diameter. 40g balls will give you smaller tortillas – roughly 15cm diameter.)
Cover your dough balls loosely with a slightly-damp, clean tea-towel and leave to rest for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, place a large, non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and leave to heat up for 2 minutes.
Meanwhile, take one of the dough balls (leave the others covered) and roll it as thinly as possible. Keep turning the dough as you roll it out to try to keep the tortilla as round as possible.
Gently lift the tortilla and place it into the frying pan. Fry for approximately 30 seconds on each side, or until the tortilla has a few brown spots on each side. (If it goes dark too quickly, turn the heat down a little. If it doesn’t get brown spots after 30 seconds, turn the heat up a little.)
While the first tortilla is frying, roll out the second tortilla.
When the first tortilla is cooked on both sides, place in a tortillada to stay warm and pliable (See Note 3), then cook the second tortilla, while rolling out the third tortilla.
Continue doing this until all your tortillas are cooked and in the tortillada.
If using for tacos or fajitas, serve the tortillas on the table, still in the tortillada, along with your filling and all your favourite toppings.

Notes

Salt is a very personal thing. Personally, I like a bit more than this – about ½ a teaspoon. But I do like things a little bit more on the salty side. If you prefer things less salty, stick with ¼ teaspoon.
After a lot of experimentation I have concluded that lard or beef dripping are by far the best fats for making tortillas which are easy to roll out, puff when cooked and are beautifully soft and pliable. Not surprising, as lard is the traditional fat for tortillas. (Though not traditional, beef dripping is a very similar fat to lard and can be easier to find in UK supermarkets.) But if you prefer not to use lard, then you can use butter or olive oil instead.
I highly recommend buying a tortillada, which is a little round insulated bag, designed to keep tortillas warm. They are not expensive and they are absolutely perfect for the job. If you don’t have one, you can simply put the tortillas on a plate and cover with a clean, dry tea-towel.
Suitable for freezing.
Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.

Nutrition