Have you ever tried authentic Mexican flour tortillas? They’re so good and a far cry from the preservative-laden kind on the grocery store shelves. Although many people consider corn tortillas to be Mexican and flour ones to be more Tex-Mex, that’s incorrect, and flour tortillas are popular in Mexico. In some parts, they’re more popular than their corn-based cousins.
Pork lard is the traditional option for making traditional flour tortillas and Mexican abuelas, or grandmothers, like to roll them wafer-thin so they’re almost see-through! Homemade tortillas with melted butter offers such a fantastic snack.
They’re worth making from scratch and pair well with anything from homemade picadillo to a nice bowl of hot chili. Be warned though: once you try these you’ll never want to settle for the grocery store kind again! You can either make these delicious flour tortillas or look for some freshly made ones at your local Latin market.
Why You’ll Love the Recipe:
Knowing how to make authentic Mexican flour tortillas is worth it because these are just so much nicer than the grocery store kind. They aren’t hard to make at all but don’t be discouraged if your first ones don’t come out perfect. There is a learning curve.
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How to Serve Them:
These authentic flour tortillas are delicious served hot with melted butter. You can also pair them with any kind of Mexican meal.
Can You Make Them Ahead?
Yes you can, as they keep for a few days.
Storage Instructions:
Leftovers will keep for up to 3 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Heat them up in a dry skillet or in the microwave.
Variations and Substitutions:
You can take your pick from pork lard or vegetable shortening. Regular white all-purpose flour works well for these tortillas but you can try other kinds, perhaps gluten-free flour if you need a gluten-free result.
Tortillas de Harina
Ingredients
- 10½ ounces white all-purpose flour
- 4½ ounces pork lard or vegetable shortening
- ½ cup hot water
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl.
- Rub in the lard or shortening with your hands until combined.
- Add the hot water, bit by bit, mixing with a fork until you achieve a dough.
- Continue to mix the dough using your hands and knead until smooth. This will take around 10 minutes.
- Shape the dough into a ball, grease it with lard or shortening and put it in a covered bowl.
- Leave it for an hour.
- Knead the dough again and divide it into 12 equal sized balls.
- Put them back in the covered bowl and leave for 30 minutes.
- Heat a frying pan over a moderate heat.
- Put one dough ball on a lightly floured surface and roll thinly with a floured rolling pin, stretching it with your hands until round.
- Fry for a few seconds and then flip it over, doing this a few times.
- It’s fine if it puffs up in places but don’t let it burn.
- Wrap the cooked tortilla in a tea towel and repeat with the remaining dough balls until you have cooked all 12 tortillas.
