Homemade Flour Tortillas

Just five simple ingredients to make the best homemade flour tortillas. These authentic flour tortillas are soft and so tender, and you can even make and freeze them for later!

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour (or bread flour, see post)
1 ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ cup vegetable shortening or softened butter (see notes)
1 cup hot water (110ºF)

Instructions

MIX: Whisk together the dry ingredients with your hands or with a whisk. Add in the shortening using a pastry cutter, or you can rub the shortening into the flour using your fingertips. Just work the fat into the flour until it resembles a coarse meal. Add the hot water and combine with your hands. When the dough is shaggy and somewhat combined, dump it out onto a clean surface. Bring it together to form a ball. Then, set a timer for 10 minutes and knead the dough until it’s soft and supple. It’ll feel like it’s not soft right away, but once you hit around 4-5 minutes of kneading, you’ll notice the dough softens and much easier to work with.
REST: Cover the dough with a bowl or with wrap in plastic wrap and allow the dough to rest for 20 minutes before proceeding.
ROLL: On a clean work surface, dusted very lightly with flour, divide the dough into 14 equal portions. Roll the dough into smooth balls, place under a wet paper towel, or just cover with a tea towel. Grab the first one you rolled and roll it out into a tortilla using a rolling pin. Ideally, you want it to be ⅛ - ¼ inch in thickness depending on preference. But not thicker than that. Heat a cast-iron skillet over medium heat.
COOK: Add the tortilla to the hot skillet and allow for it to start forming bubbles on the surface, this takes about 1 - 1 ½ minute. Once you see the bubbles getting larger, flip the tortilla over and allow for it to cook for an additional 20-30 seconds or until it’s done. You may need to turn the heat down once you’ve made a few tortillas as it gets really hot. Alternately, you can move the skillet off the heat for a few minutes and allow it to cool before proceeding.

Notes