Not surprisingly, the options for store-bought tortillas in France are dismal. I buy them anyways out of convenience. However, now we’re in Normandy in confinement. As a result, we’re limiting our outings to the grocery store we decided to get resourceful and make our own tortillas. This homemade butter tortilla recipe is a blend of a lot of different recipes and modified based on what we had on home. I think it’s pretty simple and foolproof, and nothing beats homemade butter tortillas!
So it’s Sunday night. I ask Romain what’s for dinner, and he says soup and salad. I don’t complain about food and I’ll eat anything, especially when I’m a guest in someone else’s house. But for me, Sunday night is for Mexican food…not soup and salad. Luckily, I brought a ton of shredded cheese from Paris so I suggested we make quesadillas.
The Ingredients
I started searching homemade tortilla recipes online and on Instagram and there were a few common denominators:
- Flour
- Oil, lard, or butter
- Salt
- Baking Powder
- Water
Seemed easy enough. Since we’re Normandy, butter was our fat of choice. I also chose butter to try to recreate Central Market’s Butter Tortillas. However, we didn’t have baking powder so we left it out.
I bought a food scale and it’s seriously been a game changer. Honestly, it makes cooking so easy. In short, we measured out the weight of everything in a bowl directly on the scale, mixed it together, let it rest, and fried the tortillas.
If you can find someone to help you for the rolling and frying process it makes the recipe even easier. I recommend being on frying duty.
What To Make with Your Homemade Butter Tortillas
You could use these tortillas for a lot of different things. For example, you could make tacos or quesadillas. Additionally, you could dip the tortillas in queso or fry them to make chips. I’ve even heard of people making pizzas with tortillas. Of course, being French, Romain put Nutella on one for dessert. To clarify, that’s a hard pass for me.
We made quesadillas so we just browned some ground beef and onion seasoned with salt and pepper, paprika, a touch of cayenne, chili powder, and cumin. We used a mixture of shredded mozzarella and cheddar cheese because that’s what I found in France.
Of course, the homemade butter tortilla recipe pairs very well with spicy margaritas.
Next time, we’ll probably make the butter tortillas earlier in the day and then do our quesadilla assembly to cut back on the time, but you better believe I’m instating Sunday Mexican food nights in Normandy!
In conclusion, this tortilla recipe is so easy and will definitely become a staple.
Homemade Butter Tortillas
Materials
- 2½ cups All-Purpose Flour (298 g) I like T-65 flour in France but have also substituted whole wheat flour.
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ cup butter, cubed (57 g) Could also use lard, shortening, or vegetable oil.
- ⅞ – 1 cup hot tap water (220 to 227 g). Start with the smaller amount and add more if necessary.
Instructions
- In a medium to large bowl, mix the salt into the flour.
- Add the butter to the mixture. With your fingers, pinch the cubes into the flour until it disappears. This will take about five minutes.
- Add the lesser amount of water the dough and quickly stir together. Add more water, little by little, if the dough isn't coming together.
- Put the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead briefly, just until it comes together in a ball. If the dough is too sticky you can add more flour.
- Put the dough in a medium bowl to rest. You can add a little bit of oil to help prevent it from sticking. Cover with a towel and let the dough rest for about 30 minutes, which makes the tortillas easier to roll out.
- When you're ready to roll out the tortillas, start preheating a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Divide the dough into eight equal sized balls. If you're using a scale, they'll weigh about 57 g each.
- On a lightly floured surface roll out the tortillas one at a time. They'll be about 8" in diameter.
- Cook each tortilla in an un-greased pan for about 30 seconds on each side. When you see bubbles forming they're ready to flip. Wrap the finished tortillas in a clean towel while you cook the rest.
Notes
- If you want to use 1 teaspoon of baking powder for a thicker tortilla you can. Add it when you’re adding the salt to the flour.
- If you don’t have time to let the tortillas rest for the full 30 minutes it’s okay – resting just makes it easier to roll them out.
- To reheat the tortillas, add a little bit of oil to a skillet and fry on each side for about 30 seconds.
- Tortillas will keep in the refrigerator for a few days, I like to store them in a plastic bag to make sure they don’t get any air and dry out.
So, if you end up making these butter tortillas, let me know what you think!
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3 comments
Thank you for the recipe. I’m an American of Mexican decent living in London, I have had a hard time finding tortillas during the lockdown so I tried your recipe. My mother would always make tortillas and these are just as good as hers. Now I can have a taste of home whenever I’m in the mood.
I’m so glad you liked them! They’ve become a staple for me in Paris. I’ve started frying them too to make nachos. I’m going to make some tonight!