Homemade Soft Flour Tortillas

An easy high altitude tested recipe for homemade soft flour tortillas. These homemade tortillas are delicious with any kind of taco filling, from eggs, sausage and hash brown breakfast tacos, to Tuesday taco night.

You might also love these recipes for homemade crispy pan pizza dough, soft brioche buns for burgers and hot dogs, and the best soft pretzels.

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Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Just 5 Ingredients. You only need five simple ingredients (including water) to make homemade flour tortillas. No preservatives or weird ingredients included when you make them yourself instead of buying packaged tortillas.

Soft for Days. You can keep your tortillas in the refrigerator for days after cooking them, and just warm them up whenever you need a soft tortilla. Or, tuck them away in the freezer for future use.

So Easy to Make. I first learned how to make homemade flour tortillas in my early 20s, when I was living and working in China. With no tortillas available in grocery stores, if my friends and I wanted taco night, we had to make the tortillas ourselves. I was a pretty inexperienced cook at the time, but this is a simple dough and process that truly anyone can master. Those were such fun and memorable evenings, with one person cooking meat and prepping taco toppings, another rolling out balls of dough with the side of a wine bottle, and another cooking the tortillas in a hot skillet. This is a great recipe that the whole family can be involved in making. And you don’t even need a tortilla press, since the dough is very easy to roll out by hand.

High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude. That said, with very little leavening to affect the recipe, these tortillas can be made at any altitude.

See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.

Ingredients

• Flour. Plain, all-purpose flour will do for today’s recipe, to give the tortillas structure and strength.
• Salt. Flavor.
• Baking Powder. Leavening agent, to help the tortillas puff just a little as they cook.
• Oil. The oil coats the flour with fat, inhibiting gluten formation. This makes the tortilla dough easier to work with and roll out. You can use either olive oil or vegetable oil, or even the more traditional lard.
• Warm Water.

Instructions

Make and Rest the Dough

• In a bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking powder. Create a well in the center, and add the oil and warm water. Stir into a shaggy dough.

• Scrape the dough out onto a floured counter, and knead by hand for 5 minutes, using a little more flour as needed to keep the dough from sticking. The dough should be smooth, soft and pliable.
• Cover the dough with a towel and let rest for 1 hour, to let the gluten relax so it’s easier to roll out the tortillas.

Shape the Dough into Balls

• Press the dough out into a thick disk, and cut the dough into 16 equal portions. This is easiest to do with a bench scraper – just cut the dough into 4ths, then 8ths, then 16ths.
• Shape each portion of dough into a smooth ball by pinching the dough on the bottom side so it’s smooth on top. Cover the balls of dough with a towel until you’re ready to roll and cook the tortillas.

Baker’s Note: You can roll out all the tortillas at once, if you prefer, but be warned that the uncooked dough tends to get very sticky as it sits. You absolutely must layer them between sheets of wax paper, but even that can stick to the dough as the tortillas absorb the flour that you used to roll them out. I find it works much better to cook them as I roll them out. You can make this a two person job, with one person rolling and one person cooking, or do it yourself and get into a rhythm of rolling out the next tortilla as one is cooking.

Roll Out the Dough

• Flour your counter, and roll out a ball of dough. Sprinkle the dough with more flour as needed to keep it from sticking to the counter or the rolling pin. Roll it out evenly and thinly, to about 6-7 inches in diameter. If you hold it up to the light, it should be translucent.
• Since you let the dough rest, it should not resist rolling out. But if you find it difficult to roll, and it tries to spring back instead of rolling out, let the dough balls rest for 15-30 minutes, then try rolling them again.

Baker’s Note: Watch the heat on your skillet; once hot, cast iron skillets maintain heat for a long time. If it gets too hot and burns your tortillas, turn it down to medium low. If it’s taking longer to cook your tortillas, turn the heat up a bit.

Cook the Tortillas

• Have ready a lidded container – this could even be another skillet with a lid – one that’s big enough to hold the cooked tortillas. As you cook each tortilla, you’ll be placing it in the container while you cook the next one. This will allow the tortillas to steam after cooking, keeping them soft and pliable.
• Heat a cast iron skillet (or heavy bottomed skillet) over medium heat for 5 minutes.
• Place the tortilla on the hot, dry skillet. Cook for about 30-60 seconds, until the tortilla starts to puff and bubble, and there are golden brown spots on the cooked side. Flip it over, using tongs, and cook the other side for another 15-30 seconds.
• Continue to cook your tortillas as you roll them out, setting each cooked tortilla in your lidded container to steam, until you’ve cooked all the tortillas.
• Enjoy the tortillas warm, with your favorite taco fillings.

Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!

Frequently Asked Questions

How should I store leftover tortillas?

Leftover tortillas can be stored in an airtight freezer bag in the refrigerator for up to 5-7 days, or in the freezer for up to 3-6 months.  Reheat in the microwave at 50% power before using.

Can I make larger tortillas for burritos?

This recipe makes 16 medium taco-sized tortillas.  For large burrito-sized tortillas, divide the dough into 8 portions, and roll the tortillas out to about 10 inches in diameter.

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