A stack of flour tortillas.
Image by Jessica Rossi on Flickr. Link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/66787975@N00/2798034597

Pantry tortillas

Very inexpensive flour tortillas made on the stove top

If you have flour, oil, and a pan in the house you can make these quick 2-ingredient tortillas. Use them as a base for quesadillas or wraps, or serve them as a side with soup or chili!

Ingredients

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus a little more for dusting

  • 2/3 cup warm water

  • Pinch salt (optional)

  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (or melted margarine)

Directions

  1. Combine flour, vegetable oil and salt in a large bowl.

  2. Pour in 2/3 cup warm water, and use your hands to knead it into a rough ball of dough. You may have to add a little more flour or water until it achieves the right consistency; you want the dough to hold together in an elastic ball.

  3. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until soft and smooth, around 5 minutes. Cover with a clean dishtowel and let rest for 15 minutes more.

  4. Divide dough into 6 equal pieces, and roll them into balls on a lightly floured surface. One at a time, flatten each ball with your hands , and then use a rolling pin (or water bottle, or jar; any smooth cylindrical object) to flatten them into thin round discs.

  5. Heat a large frying pan over medium-high heat on the stove. Cook tortillas for 1-2 minutes on each side, until brown and toasted.

Tips


  • Make sure to use warm water to make the dough. Cold water will make the dough harder to work, resulting in a stiffer dough.

  • For best results, roll out the torillas as thinly as possible. See if you can get them down to 2 mm or so before cooking.

  • Cook the tortillas on a hot, unoiled pan; if the pan is oiled, the tortillas will fry! Heat the pan on the stove for at least a minute before adding the tortillas one at a time.

Variations

  • For extra flavour, try adding a pinch of garlic powder or cumin to the flour!

Storage

  • Wrap well and keep in the fridge for up to 2 days.

  • Cool completely, wrap well, and keep in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Recipe adapted from BBC Good Food

Thank you!

Food is Too Expensive! was funded by the City of Saskatoon through our Healthy Yards partnership, the Cyril Capling Trust Fund of the College of Agriculture and Bioresources, and the Department of Plant Sciences. Focus group research to inform this work was collected by CHEP. Thank you all for helping us make healthy food more accessible!