I Made Tortillas Because I Could and Yeah, That's Homesteading

 

My husband asks me to make tortillas every week.

He eats them instead of sandwiches, which is especially funny because he is a white boy, although he was raised in California, so apparently tortillas became part of the operating system somewhere along the way.

And I understand why he asks.

Homemade tortillas are ridiculously good.

They are also ridiculously easy once you’ve made them a few times.

This is not a recipe site, and I have no intention of turning Hobo Homesteading into one. But part of this whole experiment is learning how many things we can make ourselves without turning our lives into an episode of Little House on the Prairie.

Tortillas happen to be one of those things.

I made tortillas


Why make them when you can buy them?

You absolutely can buy tortillas.

I am not interested in making every single thing from scratch just so I can say I did it.

But there is something satisfying about looking at a handful of ordinary ingredients and realizing:

Oh. I can make that.

Flour. Lard. Water. Salt. Baking soda.

That’s it.

And when they come off the cast iron skillet warm and soft and slightly blistered, they are so much better than the ones in the plastic package that you've now created a problem for yourself.

Because your family knows.

Which brings me to the recipe.

Homemade Flour Tortillas

You’ll need:

  • 4 cups regular flour
  • 1/2 cup lard, cut into little pieces
  • 1 1/2 cups boiling water
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda

The boiling water matters.

You can mix everything by hand until you have a shaggy dough, or do what I usually do and dump everything into the stand mixer and let it bring the dough together.

Knead it until it becomes smooth.

Then shape the dough into roughly 2-inch balls. You should end up with about 10 to 12 tortillas.

Cover the dough balls with a moist towel and let them rest for about 30 minutes.

Do not skip this part.

The resting time lets the gluten relax, which makes the tortillas much easier to roll out.

This is usually when I clean up the mixer, clear the counter, get out my rolling mat and rolling pin, and heat up the cast iron skillet.

Then comes the fun part

Roll each ball into a tortilla about 10 inches across.

Keep the rolled tortillas underneath the towel while you're working so they don't dry out.

When you're new at this, it is easiest to roll them all first and then cook them.

Once you've made enough of them, though, you get into a rhythm.

Tortilla in the skillet.

Roll the next one.

Watch for the bubbles.

Flip.

Roll some more.

The bubbles are your signal that it's time to turn the tortilla over.

The second side cooks quickly, so this is not the moment to wander off and check Facebook.

Put each finished tortilla onto a plate and keep them covered with a towel while the rest cook. The steam keeps them soft.

Once they've cooled, put them in a plastic bag and keep them in the refrigerator.

Assuming there are any left.

This is the part of homesteading I love

Making tortillas isn't going to make us self-sufficient.

That isn't really the point.

But every time I learn how to make something I previously thought I had to buy, I have another option.

I can make bread.

I can preserve fruit.

I can make soap.

I can grow something.

I can repair something.

And now I can turn five ordinary ingredients into warm tortillas in my own kitchen.

That little bit of knowledge feels like abundance to me.

It isn't about doing everything yourself.

It's about knowing you can do more than you thought you could.

Use what you've got. Grow what you can. Make a life you love.

And one final warning:

Unless you intend to make homemade tortillas every week for the rest of your life, do not let your family know you can make these.

ready to take on the world

Apparently Making Tortillas Is How It Starts

One day you learn how to make tortillas.

The next thing you know, you're looking around the house thinking, What else can I make instead of buying?

That's pretty much how Hobo Homesteading works.

And if you're almost ready to take on the world, but would prefer to have coffee first, I made you a mug.

Visit the Hobo Homesteading General Store → shop.hobohomesteading.com

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