Everything tastes better in a tortilla! These sourdough tortillas are the perfect makeup of delicious flavor, smooth & thin texture with a strong & flexible build to hold a variety of ingredients in a seriously good burrito!
For years I refused to buy tortillas at the store because every brand I would try would always disappoint in some way. They were often too dry, too thick, and lacked the strength to hold in food without breaking to pieces.
Finally I found an Armenian-inspired flatbread called Lavash at Trader Joe’s one day that was pretty encouraging as a contender…but a few months later they stopped stocking them at my local store. I was still making my garlic hummus weekly and needed a tortilla to be its perfect match. It dawned on me I would need to make my own tortillas to get the job done.
Que these sourdough tortillas: a spin off of the traditional Armenian Lavash bread I had learned to love with the added benefits of using my sourdough starter. The dough is allowed to sit and ferment, helping with digestion, flavor, and the overall strength and flexibility of the final product.
Ingredients
Sourdough Starter
Plain Whole Milk Yogurt
Filtered Water
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Organic Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
High Quality Salt
Instructions
Roughly two (2) hours before you want to eat your tortillas, create the dough.
#1:
In a medium or large bowl, mix together sourdough starter, yogurt, and water.
#2:
Add in flour, salt, and olive oil.
#3:
Mix all ingredients together with a wooden spoon until a shaggy dough mass forms. Then use your hand to fold and knead the dough a few times to form more of a ball.
#4:
Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel and place it on your counter to ferment for about 2 hours.
#5:
After 2 hours, prepare a cutting board or counter surface to section and roll out the individual tortillas with a rolling pin.
#6:
Remove dough from the bowl and place on a heavily floured surface. Begin pulling out chunks of dough and roll them into roughly 2″ balls.
A smaller ball will produce a smaller tortilla but more in number so it just depends on what you need it for. 2″ balls produce a good size for a small burrito but I sometimes make them larger to create an even larger burrito.
#7:
Use the tips of your fingers to initially flatten out each ball, then roll out the disk with a floured rolling pin until the tortilla is about 4-5″ in diameter.
Note: I like to hang each uncooked tortilla around the rim of my mixing bowl while I’m working on rolling the rest of them out. This frees up my cutting board/counter space for the rolling process.
#8:
Heat cast iron or stainless steel skillet on medium heat on the stove top. Do not add any oil to pan.
#9:
Using both hands and gravity, gently hold each tortilla up and begin slightly stretching the dough out while quickly rotating it around until it becomes almost paper thin and see-through in most areas.
Careful not to stretch it too far as it can tear a hole in it. If you do tear a hole, no problem, either just cook it that way and don’t use for a burrito or mash the dough back into a ball and roll and stretch out again.
#10:
Immediately place stretched tortilla onto your heated skillet. Cook until you notice a few air bubbles emerging on the surface of the tortilla. This should only take about 30-60 seconds depending on how hot your pan is.
#11:
Flip the tortilla over in the skillet and quickly (2-3 seconds) remove/transfer to a plate with your dampened tea towel placed halfway on top.
Use the other half of the towel to fold over the cooked tortillas to keep them warm and moist while you are cooking the rest and for room-temperature storage.
The first side that was cooked should have some brown spots throughout.
This particular recipe yields approximately 18-20 sourdough tortillas.
Store on your counter top inside of a gallon-sized ziplock bag for 2-3 days, your fridge for about a week, and in your freezer for several months.
Enjoy & Shalom!
Perfect Sourdough Tortillas
Nothing like a homemade tortilla! These perfectly textured tortillas are delicious, flexible, and strong. The best vehicle for a dipping sauce or the contents of a seriously good burrito!
Servings: 20 Tortillas
Equipment
- Cast iron/stainless steel skillet
- Spatula
- Rolling Pin
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp Sourdough Starter *Active/fed (works best) or inactive/unfed
- 1 1/2 Cup Plain Whole Milk Yogurt *Grass-fed dairy
- 1/2 Cup Filtered Water
- 1/4 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 4 Cups Organic Unbleached All-purpose Flour
- 1 Tsp High Quality Salt *Himalayan/Sea Salt/etc.
Instructions
- Roughly two (2) hours before you want to eat your tortillas, create the dough. In a medium or large bowl, mix together sourdough starter, yogurt, and water.
- Add in flour, salt, and olive oil.
- Mix all ingredients together with a wooden spoon until a shaggy dough mass forms. Then use your hand to fold and knead the dough a few times to form more of a ball.
- Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel and place it on your counter to ferment for about 2 hours.
- After 2 hours, prepare a cutting board or counter surface to section and roll out the individual tortillas with a rolling pin.
- Remove dough from the bowl and place on a heavily floured surface. Begin pulling out chunks of dough and roll them into roughly 2" balls. A smaller ball will produce a smaller tortilla but more in number so it just depends on what you need it for. 2" balls produce a good size for a small burrito but I sometimes make them larger to create an even larger burrito.
- Use the tips of your fingers to initially flatten out each ball, then roll out the disk with a floured rolling pin until the tortilla is about 4-5" in diameter.
- Heat cast iron or stainless steel skillet on medium heat on the stove top. Do not add any oil to pan.
- Using both hands and gravity, gently hold each tortilla up and begin slightly stretching the dough out while quickly rotating it around until it becomes almost paper thin and see-through in most areas. Careful not to stretch it too far as it can tear a hole in it. If you do tear a hole, no problem, either just cook it that way and don't use for a burrito or mash the dough back into a ball and roll and stretch out again.
- Immediately place stretched tortilla onto your heated skillet. Cook until you notice a few air bubbles emerging on the surface of the tortilla. This should only take about 30-60 seconds depending on how hot your pan is.
- Flip the tortilla over in the skillet and quickly (2-3 seconds) remove/transfer to a plate with your dampened tea towel placed halfway on top. Use the other half of the towel to fold over the cooked tortillas to keep them warm and moist while you are cooking the rest and for room-temperature storage.The first side that was cooked should have some brown spots throughout.
Crissy says
The best tortillas I’ve ever had!