I never knew how easy it was to make gluten free tortillas at home until a couple of months ago. I’ve been hooked on them ever since! I always thought they would be technical or expensive to make, but it’s actually a 4-ingredient recipe and works out much cheaper in the long run.
After being gifted a beautiful cast iron tortilla press and naturally gluten free masa harina flour by the lovely team at Sous Chef (check them out if you are UK-based, their web shop is a foodie’s dream), I had everything I needed to make gluten free tortillas at home. If don’t have a tortilla press you could use a flat-bottomed saucepan for the tortilla squashing.
The press is surprisingly good value though and very easy to use. I worked out that in the long run, buying the tortilla press and the flour is actually cheaper than buying the premade gluten free tortillas. This is not sponsored by the way! I am simply a huge fan of saving money and think this is a very sensible way to make tortillas. Especially if you have hungry kids who eat loads of them! You can buy a cast iron press on Amazon for about £20.00 and the masa harina flour is £4.25 per 1 kg bag on Sous Chef.
Masa harina is the special flour you need for tortilla making, but it is readily available online. It’s naturally gluten free and is made from cooked corn kernals.
When it came to actually make the tortillas, I have to thank the wonderful Naomi Devlin for her excellent tips. She started me off on my tortilla-making journey and she has tonnes of other wonderful recipes you may wish to check out. Go and follow her on Instagram if you don’t already. She really is an expert with gluten free flours and breads, always making such delicious recipes.
As time went by I added a couple of extras (oil and salt) to Naomi’s authentic recipe. I found this yielded a bit more flavour and pliability for me personally. As you gain confidence making gluten free tortillas, I am sure you will be the same in adapting this recipe to meet your preferences. Tortilla making will be second-nature to you before you know it!
Below you’ll find the recipe for making these gluten free tortillas, but first here’s a little video showing you the steps of how to make these tortillas. I thought a little visual guide might be helpful, then you can cook along while watching it at home.
If you enjoyed my little video, please do go and follow me on my new YouTube channel! I’ll be uploading two recipes videos each week (Thursday and Sunday) and plan on covering quite a variety of gluten free meals and bakes.
Gluten Free Tortillas (Makes 9)
Corn Tortillas
Ingredients
- 160g (5.6oz) masa harina
- 220ml (7.5fl oz) hand-hot water (i.e hot but you can touch it without burning your hand)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- Add the masa harina flour to a large bowl with the pinch of salt and olive oil. Stir to combine.
- Now pour in the hot water and stir with a wooden spoon until the ingredients are loosely combined. Then you’ll need to get your hands in there to knead and work the dough to combine everything fully. Knead for a minute or so until it’s a nice pliable dough. If your dough is still crumbly, add water 1 tbsp at a time until it is pliable and smooth.
- Use some weighing scales to divide the dough into 9 portions (approx 45g (1.5oz) each). Roll each portion into a nice round ball with the palms of your hand and set the balls aside until ready to press.
- Line your tortilla press with greaseproof paper (I simply take a long rectangle and fold it in half – see photos below or video). Pop a ball of tortilla dough in between the two layers of paper, then press. Give it a good squish and then open and carefully peel your tortilla off the paper. Repeat with all the balls until you have 9 tortillas ready to be cooked.
- Take a small frying pan and place over a medium-high heat. Dry fry (no oil) the tortillas one at a time. Use your fingertips or a spatula to move them gently in the pan and flip every 30 seconds or so. Once the tortilla is starting to colour on both sides, press lightly with a clean, damp cloth. The tortilla should puff up slightly. When it puffs and you see some steam being released from the tortilla, it is cooked. You can then slide it out on the pan and onto a wooden board.
- Repeat this process for all of the tortillas, until you have a lovely batch of fresh gluten free tortillas ready for eating!
Either use straight away or pop into the freezer and save for a later date. You can find a few serving suggestions by scrolling down past these recipe photos. You’ll find links to two yummy taco recipes and a quesadilla that all use gluten free tortillas as the base.
I hope you have fun making these gluten free tortillas! I really enjoy making these tortillas and have been completely converted, making these whenever I have time.
Now that you’ve made the tortillas, you need something to fill them with. Why not try one of these yummy gluten free tortilla-based recipes:
Enjoy! x
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