Whole Wheat Sourdough Tortillas

Whole Wheat Tortillas fresh off the griddle

Born and raised in Southern California, much of the cuisine in this region is influenced by Mexican dishes. I lived on California burritos when I was in high school and now that I make my tortillas from scratch - and with my sourdough discard - I am one step closer to achieving autonomy over my food. This recipe combines unsalted butter and flour (similar to how you’d start a pie crust) with a pinch of salt and the right amount of water.

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 1 minute per tortilla

Total time: <1 hour

Yield: 12 - 8-inch tortillas

Ingredients

• 210 grams whole wheat flour (or flour of your choice - I use a flour that contains 14% protein from Central Milling)

• 75 grams unsalted butter (cubed and room temperature)

• 100 grams water

• 100 grams ripe sourdough starter (100% hydration)

• pinch of salt

Process

Add flour and butter to a medium size bowl. Use your fingers or a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour. I use my fingers and pinch the butter and flour together until I start to see pea sized pieces throughout the mixture. Add salt, ripe sourdough starter, and 80 grams of water. Reserve 20 grams of water only adding if necessary. Knead all the ingredients until it starts to come together into a dough ball, about 5 minutes. If the mixture is still too dry, conservatively drizzle some of the reserve water and continue kneading until dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. If the dough is too sticky knead in a light sprinkle of flour.

Cover the bowl and allow the dough to rest at room temperature for an hour, or place in the refrigerator up to 12 hours.

Using a bench knife, divide the dough and form 12 dough balls approximately 38 grams each. Cover the dough balls and let rest for 15 minutes.

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Preheat a skillet. While the skillet heats, lightly flour the work bench. Using a rolling pin, roll out each dough ball into a thin circle, rotating the tortilla quarter turns to get a round shape as you roll it out. It is important for these tortillas to be very thin and the skillet to be very hot! This allows the dough to puff up and form nice air bubbles. Working alongside the skillet, you can place the tortilla on the skillet to cook while rolling out the next dough ball.

Place the tortilla on the hot skillet and watch for bubbles to start to form, about 1 to 2 minutes. Once you see bubbling on the surface, carefully turn the tortilla over and cook the other side, an additional 30 seconds to 1 minute. Transfer the cooked tortilla to a towel lined bowl and cover to keep warm. Continue this process until all tortillas are cooked. Serve immediately.

Although the tortillas are best eaten the same day, cooked tortillas can be stored in an airtight container or Ziplock bag in the refrigerator for 1 day. Reheat in the skillet with a spritz of water to add moisture to the tortilla.