Frugal Babe

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Homemade Tortillas

August 24, 2009 By Frugal Babe

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.

Filed Under: food, organic living 15 Comments

Comments

  1. Alan says

    August 24, 2009 at 6:42 pm

    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

    Reply
  2. Frugal Trenches says

    August 25, 2009 at 9:36 am

    Sounds really great! I must try these!

    Reply
  3. M says

    August 25, 2009 at 10:58 am

    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.

    Reply
  4. Alex says

    August 26, 2009 at 12:24 pm

    how much whole wheat flour did you use?

    Reply
  5. FrugalBabe says

    August 26, 2009 at 12:41 pm

    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.

    Reply
  6. FrugalBabe says

    August 26, 2009 at 12:42 pm

    M – Thanks for the heads up about roti! I will definitely be trying that soon.

    Reply
  7. Kaytee says

    August 26, 2009 at 3:56 pm

    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.

    Reply
  8. FrugalBabe says

    August 26, 2009 at 4:02 pm

    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!

    Reply
  9. joanna says

    August 26, 2009 at 4:04 pm

    wow! good thinking… hm, might try these for the fam~ might just keep them out of taco bell!

    blessings,
    joanna

    Reply
  10. Mrs. Accountability says

    August 26, 2009 at 9:55 pm

    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?

    Reply
  11. pidgeon92 says

    August 27, 2009 at 6:42 pm

    $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.

    Reply
  12. kath says

    August 29, 2009 at 10:34 am

    Thank you for a great recipe! It looks so easy, I can’t wait to try it this week.

    Reply
  13. Iris Robin says

    August 31, 2009 at 6:05 pm

    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/

    Reply
  14. hihorosie says

    September 5, 2009 at 12:39 am

    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. :)

    Reply
  15. ed hardy says

    September 19, 2009 at 10:49 pm

    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.

    Reply

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