The softest, most delicious flour tortillas with clean and simple ingredients! Follow my step by step guide to make the BEST tortillas. You’ll never want store bought after these.
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I love an easy dinner night of simple tacos but always feel some type of way about feeding my kids grocery store tortillas with dough conditioners and preservatives. I tried my hardest to find the cleanest brand of store bought tortillas but short of driving 45 minutes to a whole foods, I was coming up empty. I took matters into my own hands and decided to make them from scratch and honestly – these are better than the cleanest store bought brand you can find! So soft and savory and buttery. They hold up so well when stuffed to the brim with meat and toppings and they freeze wonderfully to help keep things easy!
You don’t need a stand mixer for these, I always do these by hand. The dough may seem really sticky at first but you’ll be surprised how quickly it comes together into a nice smooth ball of dough.
Let’s talk ingredients.
Disclaimer: I don’t claim this to be an authentic recipe as Flour Tortillas originate from Northern Mexico and I don’t believe I’ve ever even been to any part of Mexico BUT this recipe is what works for me and my family and we love it!
That being said -this recipe comes together with 6 simple ingredients!
Flour (obviously), baking powder, salt, butter, hot water and heavy cream.
The heavy cream is not traditional and I only add in a little bit but I feel like it gives the tortillas this richness and makes them super soft and pliable which I LOVE. If you don’t have any on hand, you can replace it with just more hot water but it may affect the overall texture/flavor.
Instructions
- Mix together the flour, salt, and baking powder in a bowl.
- Melt your butter and add it into your flour. With your (clean) fingers, mix the butter into the flour until its a crumbly mixture.
- Pour in hot water and your heavy cream and mix until a dough forms.
- Turn the dough out on a clean surface and knead until the dough is nice and smooth. It should feel tacky but not be sticking.
- Cover the dough on the counter and let rest for 20 minutes.
- Split the dough into 4 parts and then each of those gets split into 4 parts as well for a total of 16. Form each piece of dough into a ball and cover while your pan heats.
- Heat up a pan on the stove – I use a cast iron pan here. Keep it nice and hot but make sure you’re keeping an eye on it as these can burn quick if the stove gets too hot.
- Roll out each dough ball into a thin, flat circle. You want to get these paper thin and around 10 inches in diameter. Feel free to flour your rolling pin lightly but don’t flour your surface as you need the tortillas to stick a bit to the counter to get them as thin as possible. I recommend doing this as your pan heats up – get a few rolled out and then start your cooking process as you continue to roll out the rest.
- Place the rolled tortilla onto your hot pan and let it cook for 30-45 seconds on each side. You want nice little golden brown bubbles forming on each side.
- After they’re done I like to place them in a clean tee towel or folded piece of parchment paper to keep the steam in and keep them nice and soft.
- Store them in an airtight container or bag and reheat when you want to enjoy them!
Equipment I Use
Let’s get to the recipe!
Soft Flour Tortillas
Ingredients
- 3½ cups all purpose flour 420g
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp salt
- ½ cup unsalted melted butter
- 1 cup hot water
- ¼ cup heavy cream
Instructions
- Melt your butter on the stove or in a microwave.
- Whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder while the butter melts. Pour in your butter and with clean hands, rub in the butter to the flour until its incorporated and crumbly.
- Heat water in a kettle or use the hottest tap water you can. Pour the cup of hot water and the ¼ cup of heavy cream into the flour & butter mixture. Use a spatula or your hands to mix.
- Turn out the dough onto a clean surface and knead for 5-10 minutes until nice and soft. The dough should be tacky but not sticking. You shouldn't need additional flour for kneading here its should come together into a smooth dough.
- Form into a ball and set on the counter and cover with plastic wrap for 20 minutes.
- Split the dough into 16 equal pieces. I usually don't weigh this I just split the ball into fourths and then each fourth into fourths again for a total of 16. It's okay if there's some variation in size.
- Form each piece into a ball and cover on the counter while you heat up your cast iron on the stove.
- Heat a cast iron pan on the stove on medium/high. Keep an eye on the heat, you want it nice and hot but not so much that it burns the tortillas quickly.
- Take each ball of dough and roll out with a rolling pin as thin as you can. Usually they are around 8-10 inches in diameter. You want a paper thin tortilla. Don't flour your surface as you'll need the tortilla to stick to the counter in order to get it to stretch as much as you can. Feel free to use your fingers to stretch the dough between rolling it to keep the shape circular. Prep a few before you start cooking so you're not behind on rolling as you cook.
- Peel the dough carefully up from the counter and set gently into your hot cast iron pan. Cook each piece of tortilla for 30-60 seconds on each side. You want to get nice golden bubbles forming.
- Set each cooked tortilla aside in a clean tea towel or folded piece of parchment paper to keep the steam inside to keep them nice and soft.
- Enjoy immediately or store in the fridge or freezer. Reheat before enjoying to soften them back up!
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