Homemade Flour Tortillas: My Take on It

It's not that expensive to buy a 10-pack of premade whole wheat flour tortillas. Generally, I can get good quality tortillas for about $3.00 a bag. But when every dollar counts, and you really want to be sure you know what you're feeding your family, it's best to make your own. Making flour tortillas is easy, believe it or not. It requires only a few ingredients and less than 30 minutes of your time. You can make your tortillas while your filling is cooking and by the time it's ready, your tortillas will be done as well.

Lots of home cooks make flour tortillas, and they all have slightly different methods. Here's the method that works best for me. It uses ingredients I'm okay using and it's never failed me.

Flour Tortillas (Half White / Half Wheat)
Makes 14 to 16 fajita-size tortillas

What You Need:

• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 5 Tbsp butter, chilled, cut into small cubes
• about 1 1/2 cups cool water (maybe slightly more, maybe slightly less)

How it's Done:

1. Combine flours, salt, and baking powder.
2. Cut in the butter using a pastry blender, two knives, or your fingertips. Once the butter pieces are smaller than peas, add the water. Stir to combine.
3. Knead the dough a few times, until it is a smooth ball. Let it rest a few minutes.
4. Divide the dough into 14 to 16 even portions. Roll each out on a lightly floured surface.
5. Heat a dry skillet over medium to medium high heat (medium if using stainless steel skillet). Drop a tortilla in, cooking it 30 seconds or so on each side.
6. Move tortillas to a plate and cover them with a clean towel while you finish cooking them. Store them tightly covered to keep them soft.