Since my foray into baking bread has worked out well, I thought I’d try tortillas. I don’t know why I never thought of this before. Seriously, they are about as easy as baking powder biscuits, which I’ve been making for years. I stopped buying big name-brand tortillas years ago, because of the large number of ingredients on the label. We don’t eat tortillas all that often, but when we do, I always buy organic, preservative-free tortillas at the health food store. They are not cheap.
Yesterday, I found this recipe online, and decided to give it a try. You know me – I can’t ever follow a recipe without tweaking it a bit. So I swapped out some of the white flour for whole wheat flour, and used Smart Balance instead of lard. It took about five minutes to get everything mixed up and 12 little dough balls made. I let them sit for a while and then rolled them out with my rolling pin (first time I ever used my rolling pin! Guess my son can’t have it as a toy afterall). I cooked them for about 10 – 15 seconds per side in a hot frying pan (no oil needed), and that was all it took. They were fabulous. We may or may not have eaten all twelve of them already.
So not only will I not be buying bread anymore, I also won’t be buying tortillas. I don’t remember the exact price of the tortillas that I used to buy, but I’m thinking it was around $4 for a dozen. I’m estimating that the ingredients I used yesterday cost less than a dollar (including organic flour). The tortillas took very little time to make, and required almost no cooking skills. I can definitely do that again.
Alan says
Your article on this blog is fantastic. Well done! I’m a big fan of your blog and be sure to keep up the great work.
I plan on returning and linking to your site.
Sincerely,
Author
The Alan Haft Blog
Frugal Trenches says
Sounds really great! I must try these!
M says
Been reading this blog for a while. Glad to see that tortilla worked out well for you. Here is something I make every single day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jD4o_Lmy6bU
It is the Indian Flatbread Roti and it almost like tortilla, instead of lard we just use water and a teaspoon of oil at the end of mixing up the dough. This oil is just to give smoothness.
Roti is usually made with Whole Wheat flour.
Alex says
how much whole wheat flour did you use?
FrugalBabe says
Alex,
I used just under a cup of whole wheat flour, and just over two cups of white flour. We tend to eat whole grain everything (pasta, bread, biscuits, etc), and rarely ever use white flour. But our experience with whole grain tortillas has been that they just don’t taste all that great, which was why I was hesitant to use more whole wheat flour. Although the tortillas I made from scratch tasted WAY better than any packaged ones I’ve had in the past, so next time I’m going to try using more whole wheat flour and see how they turn out.
FrugalBabe says
M – Thanks for the heads up about roti! I will definitely be trying that soon.
Kaytee says
Have you ever tried making them with brown rice flour? I use it quite often because my husband is allergic to wheat and gluten. Actually, I tend to use a mix of brown rice flour, corn starch, masa harina and soy flour.
I’m curious if you think you could make candles in the solar oven? I have a stock of beeswax, wicks, essential oils and jars but as summer has finally hit VT I’m not so hip to heat up my stove as well.
FrugalBabe says
Kaytee,
I haven’t tried brown rice flour, but it’s on my list of things to try. I also haven’t tried making candles, but I just found this link:
http://www.endtimesreport.com/making_candles.html
Looks like making candles in the solar oven should work just fine. Really, it works for pretty much anything that needs to be heated, as long as you don’t need extreme heat. The hottest ours has gotten is about 350 degrees. But I’ve had very good luck cooking things that typically need more heat – I just leave them in longer. Good luck with the candles!
joanna says
wow! good thinking… hm, might try these for the fam~ might just keep them out of taco bell!
blessings,
joanna
Mrs. Accountability says
Frugal Babe – I have been making flour tortillas for about 30 years, using these ingredients: 4 cups whole wheat flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, hot water. Mix the first three ingredients together and pour in, to begin with, one cup of hot water. I didn’t list an amount for water, as it varies, depending on your flour. Freshly ground flour is moister than storebought. Mix, and add another 1/2 cup of water at a time until you get a pliable dough. I wonder if the wheat flour you used was more coarse as that is the only time I have not liked the texture of ww flour tortillas. I love reading about all your solar cooking. Do you know you can grill tortillas over a barbecue grill, too?
pidgeon92 says
$4 for a dozen tortillas? I prefer the corn, and I pay 33¢ for a pack of 12 made locally in Chicago… Definitely cheaper to buy these than make them.
kath says
Thank you for a great recipe! It looks so easy, I can’t wait to try it this week.
Iris Robin says
This sounds so amazing. Sometimes I can’t hang with the taste of the store bought tortillas, but this looks like it could be a life-saver. Another amazing find, thank you so much!
If you’re at all interested, you can check out an article we wrote that includes a recipe for homemade taco seasoning. Enjoy!
http://livegreatonless.com/homemade-taco-seasoning-recipe/
hihorosie says
What a cute blog you’ve got going here! Found you by way of twitter when you began following me (thanks btw). I look forward to reading more of your adventures. :)
ed hardy says
I started with a $25,000 HELOC, and is now down to $13,00. Still a lot of money but I’ve made some good progress in less than 3 yrs. I am debating whether to take out my savings and pay down my HELOC in full. I figured I could save up more on interest by paying it down, instead of the interest that I have been getting from my savings account.