Easy 3 Ingredient Tortilla Recipe (Homemade Flour Tortillas)
Learning to make this 3 ingredient tortilla recipe will take your taco night to the next level. Store bought tortillas just can't compare! These simple ingredients come together to form tortillas that are soft, pillowy, and become a star, rather than a supporting side in your next meal. Not to mention, they are as easy as they are delicious!
Ingredients
- 2 Cups Flour - I use unbleached all-purpose flour.
- 3 TBSP Fat - I use avocado oil but have also used olive oil, lard, and coconut oil successfully.
- 3/4 tsp Salt - I use pink Himalayan salt. Use what you have. A fine salt or sea salt is best.
- 3/4 Cup Warm Water
Instructions
- Combine salt and flour. Stir the dry ingredients.
- Add oil and warm water. Stir to combine.
- Knead the ball of dough a couple of times until it comes together and is smooth. I usually knead about 15 times.
- Rest - allow the tortilla dough to rest for 10 minutes.
- Cut the dough into 8 equal pieces on a lightly floured work surface.
- Roll the 8 equal pieces into balls of dough.
- Rest the 8 balls of dough for an additional 20-30 minutes to allow the gluten to relax. Allowing the dough balls to rest will make rolling them out easier. Without a rest, the tortillas will spring back instead of being easily rolled out.
- Preheat your cast iron over medium heat to medium-high heat.
- Roll out your tortillas using a rolling pin or a tortilla press. I shoot for about 8-inch rounds.
- Oil your hot pan lightly with lard or avocado oil before putting in your tortillas to cook.
- Cook the tortillas once your oil begins to smoke slightly for 1-2 minutes per side. Pay close attention to the doneness of the tortillas. They will puff up a bit with air bubbles just before being ready to flip. Once flipped, there should be beautiful brown spots where the tortilla was fried in the oil.
- Cover the fresh tortilla with a clean kitchen towel to keep warm and moist while the rest of the tortillas are cooking. This will ensure that you have soft tortillas when it's time to eat.
- Serve & Enjoy!
Notes
A stand mixer can be used in place of a bowl, spoon, and your hands. However, do not over mix.
Substitutions
- Flour: I only have tested this recipe with an all-purpose flour, however, with some tweaking it could be made with something like whole wheat flour. Whole wheat flour tends to absorb more liquid, so you'd just need to add a little water at a time until the texture softens.
- Salt: Any salt should work as long as it has a finer texture. A course sea salt won't distribute as evenly. However, the warm water will help it dissolve a bit, so it could be used in a pinch.
- Fat: if you don't have the oils I listed above in the ingredients section, you could technically substitute for vegetable oil. I personally don't use vegetable oil in my kitchen, but if that is what you have, don't skip out on making this recipe for that reason alone!
- Water: it is not absolutely necessary to use warm water, but it does help things come together best. At the very least, be sure to use room temperature water and not cold water for this recipe.