Oh, yumm… These sourdough tortillas were awesome! Chewy, soft, and pliable! The second day, I heated them up in a warm skillet, one by one, where they retained all their first day softness.
Also see the soaked version of these tortillas, which are every bit as good.
Makes 24 large or 32 small tortillas
- 6 cups whole wheat flour (preferably freshly ground)
- 1-1/2 cups pure water
- 1-1/2 cups fed starter
- 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil or melted virgin, unrefined coconut oil
- extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil for frying
In bowl of mixer, combine water, starter, salt and oil. Mix to incorporate. Keep mixing and adding flour, 1/2 cup at a time until dough cleans sides of bowl and forms ball in center of bowl. Let the machine knead the dough for 2 minutes. Remove dough. Place in a bowl that is oiled with coconut oil or extra virgin olive oil. Rotate the dough around so all sides get coated with the oil. Cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap. Let rest for twelve hours or overnight. The dough will rise, and that is normal.
After rest time is over, divide the dough into 32 parts for small tortillas or 24 parts for large tortillas. Roll each part into a ball and put the balls back in the bowl. Cover the bowl again to prevent the dough from drying out.
Heat a flat cast iron frying pan over medium heat and add a small amount of oil. Oil a clean, flat work surface, such as a countertop. With an oiled rolling pin, roll out one ball of dough into a circle that is approximately 1/8″ thick, or your desired thickness. Place rolled out tortilla in the pan. Let it cook for about 25 seconds or until there are several bubbles in the tortilla. Flip the tortilla with a spatula and cook the other side for another 15 to 25 seconds, or until the bubbles are browned*. Remove tortilla from pan and place between towels to stay warm and moist. Meanwhile, roll out the next tortilla. Repeat until all of the balls have been rolled out and cooked. Add oil to pan and/or rolling pin as needed. Store in a zipper seal freezer bag in refrigerator or freezer.
*Adjust heat or cooking times to account for your stove, pan, or thickness of tortilla.
This post is part of Pennywise Platter Thursday at The Nourishing Gourmet.
The Gallery of Soups is tomorrow! It’s not too late to share a yummy soup recipe!
© Copyright 2009 by Wardeh Harmon.
[...] Wardeh @ GNOWFGLINS – Whole Wheat Sourdough Tortillas [...]
Yum! I have my Great-Grandma Martinez’ tortilla recipe, which is our standby in my kitchen, but I am always on the lookout for more sourdough recipes so will definitely have to try this one out!
Thank you!
Best,
Sarah
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Those tortillas look beautiful! I haven’t tried a sourdough one before. These look like they would be a hit.
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Another wonderful use for sourdough! I’m glad you shared these. Wardeh, do you just have one sourdough starter or do you have multiple?
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Millie – Just the one. I’ve used it with whole wheat and spelt interchangeably.
I have a tortilla maker. I wonder how this recipe would work with it.
Mel – I’m jealous.
I want one of those! I think this recipe would work great. The dough is soft and pliable, so I can’t think why it wouldn’t press out well. Some whole grain doughs are tough; this is not. Try it and see! Be sure to let me know!
Wardeh, thanks for the recipe — made it last night and we had them this morning with some spicy black beans, fried egg and poblanos stuffed with pepperjack cheese. Very good. Your tortillas look much more tortilla like than mine–I had a few problems with pretty sticky dough and transferring them from counter to frypan. Thanks, very good
Always lookin for a another way to use my starter. These were great. I did make some after 6 hrs they were good but then today made some and they were even better. Rolled out great, nice and thin (better than my white flour counterparts). The taste was smooth. I was worried they would be to tangy and heavy but they weren’t. Yummy with butter and honey!!! Gonna make more and make chips/crackers to bake out of them. Thanks!!!!!
[...] I am not sharing my sourdough tortilla recipe today, but it’s similar in a lot of ways to this recipe. As I was sharing this with my three year old, I made it quite mild. But you could easily add a bit [...]
I have found that soft white wheat flour makes a softer more supple tortilla.
Great recipe!
Have you made these with spelt? I’m thinking one would reduce the water a little bit. I am trying to decide between trying these with spelt or the sprouted spelt tortillas.
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Rebecca – I haven’t done these with spelt, no. In general, I use less spelt than ww. But, with sourdough, it also depends on if the starter was fed with spelt or not. When I feed my starter with ww, it is thick. When I feed with spelt, it is more thin. So I end up using more spelt if only that is a factor. But if the thickness of the starter is not a factor, then usually, less spelt is required (though the dough seems stickier). Have I totally confused you? You’re a great cook, so I know you can “feel” whether you’ve got a good tortilla dough. If you do spelt, they are going to be more fragile and definitely need a warm-up the second day, or actually, anytime after they’ve cooled. They get harder with spelt. I’ve done regular spelt tortillas and sprouted spelt tortillas, and that’s how those behave.
I tried this recipe last week and it was phenomenal!!! Is it OK to let it rise longer – say closer to 24 hours? Does that make it more sour?
Susanna – Yes, you can let it go 24 hours. The taste will be more sour. When I make these, I let them rest 24 hours so 100% of the phytic acid will be reduced. They are not too sour for us. I’m glad you enjoyed them!
I let them soak/rise for 20 hours and they turned out great – still not too sour for us. I just have to say this is an amazing dough to work with – so easy to roll out! I do use flour for the rolling process (instead of oil) because it works better for me. I multiplied the recipe 1.5x and then used my large cast iron griddle to cook two tortillas at a time, so now we’re set for a couple weeks. (I just freeze them.) Thanks again for posting this recipe!