Awesome (Mostly) Whole Wheat Tortillas

I started making tortillas after finding Gemma’ of ‘s recipe on her Bigger Bolder Baking food blog that used a mix of whole wheat tempered with some white flour. They are, as she says, a bit “rustic,” and I can never get them to be quite as flexible as I would like (but that’s just me) but the flavor….oh my.

You can find her recipe here: Whole Wheat Tortillas Recipe – Gemma’s Bigger Bolder Baking

After playing around, I came up with my go-to recipe for whole wheat tortillas that are flavorful but also, are less rustic and more forgiving as to cooking time as to maintaining flexibilty. Here it is, but first:

If you are making tortillas for the first time, I recommend viewing Gemma’s video, especially the part about resting the dough and rolling it out. Just go to her recipe, linked above, and “Jump” to the video. The “rest and roll” part starts at around 4:55 into the video.

Mostly Whole Wheat Tortillas

• 1 cup (14 g) whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cups (213g) whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 cup (142g) all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup vegetable or other oil
• 1 1/4 cup warm water, separated

Mix the flours, baking powder, and salt together with a fork or whisk in a big bowl.

Drizzle the oil into the flour mix and, with your hands, rub to oil into the flour until you have a crumbly mixture that looks like butter cut into flour.

Slowly pour 3/4 cup of the water in and, again with your hands, mix and knead until the water is incorporated in and the dough is smooth. You will most likely need to add some or all of the remaining 1/2 cup of water to acheive a smoot ball of dough. If you add all the water and it makes the dough too wet, add a bit of flour until the dough does not stick to the bowl and has a very slight spring to it when you poke it with your finger.

Cut the dough into six pieces for 10″ tortillas, eight pieces for 8″ tortillas, and ten pieces for 6″ tortillas.

Note: The diameter measurements are approximate, especially if you measure versus weigh the flour.

Form each piece into a ball, cover them all with a dish towel, and let rest for 15-20 minutes.
You can use this time to clean up, prep the rolling/cooking area, and heat the pan.

About 10 minutes into the resting period, put your cast iron, thick-bottomed stainless steel, or nonstick frying pan on medium to medium/high heat so it will be hot once you are ready to roll and cook the tortillas.

Once the pan is hot (drops of water will sizzle) start the process of rolling out a ball of dough one at a time, each as the previous one is cooking.

Roll a ball of dough, moving it around, to the desired diameter and carefully place it into the hot pan. Lete it cook for a minute or more until you see some puffing on the top and the bottom side is turning a golden brown.

Flip the tortilla with tongs or a spatula and continue cooking until the second side is getting browned. Lift it out of the pan and place in a pile on a towel folded to also cover so they all steam a bit after cooking.

Be sure to start rolling the next tortilla once you have one in the pan or you will be there twice as long!

Once all are done, either keep them warm for immediate use, or cool on racks and store in a plastic bag at room temperature for a day or two or just put in a freezer bag and keep frozen until using. 30 seconds in the microwave will be enough to defrost at least two at a time, or place on at a time in a warm pan to defrost and soften.