Four-Ingredient Flour Tortillas

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

Soft, puffy, blistered flour tortillas from just flour, fat, salt and hot water. The secret is a 30-minute rest that relaxes the gluten so the dough rolls paper-thin without fighting back, then a bone-dry skillet cranked hot enough to blister the surface in under a minute a side. Once you taste one straight off the pan, the bagged ones are finished.

Ingredients

• 3 cup all-purpose flour (about 390 g), plus more for rolling
• 1 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
• 1/3 cup lard, or vegetable shortening, or unsalted butter (about 70 g)
• 1 cup very hot tap water (about 120–130°F), plus up to 2 tbsp more

Instructions

1. Whisk the flour and salt together in a large bowl. Add the lard (or shortening or softened butter) and rub it into the flour with your fingertips for 1–2 minutes until no lumps larger than a pea remain and the flour looks faintly sandy.
2. Pour in 1 cup very hot water all at once and stir with a fork or wooden spoon until a shaggy, sticky mass forms. If dry flour remains in the bottom of the bowl, add hot water 1 tablespoon at a time — up to 2 more. The dough should feel tacky but not gluey.
3. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured counter and knead 3–4 minutes, pressing with the heel of your hand and folding it over, until it is smooth, soft and springs back slowly when poked. Resist adding much extra flour; a slightly sticky dough makes tender tortillas.
4. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces (about 55 g each) and roll each into a tight ball on the counter, cupping your palm around it. Set the balls on a plate, cover with a damp kitchen towel or plastic wrap, and rest at room temperature 30 minutes (up to 2 hours). This rest is not optional — it relaxes the gluten so the dough rolls thin and stays thin.
5. About 5 minutes before rolling, set a cast-iron skillet, comal or heavy nonstick pan over medium-high heat with no oil at all. Let it preheat fully: a droplet of water flicked on the surface should dance and vanish in 1–2 seconds. Have a clean towel or tortilla warmer ready.
6. Lightly flour the counter. Flatten one dough ball with your palm, then roll from the center outward, giving the disc a quarter turn every couple of strokes, until it is 8–9 inches across and thin enough to see the counter faintly through it. Don't chase a perfect circle — thin matters more than round.
7. Lay the tortilla in the dry hot skillet. Cook 30–45 seconds, until the top looks dry and small bubbles rise. Flip with your fingers or a thin spatula and cook 30–60 seconds more, until puffed and speckled with light brown blisters. If it browns in under 20 seconds, lower the heat slightly; if it takes over a minute per side and stays pale, raise it.
8. Immediately stack the cooked tortilla inside the folded towel or tortilla warmer — the trapped steam is what makes them pliable and soft. Roll the next ball while the previous tortilla cooks, and continue with the rest.
9. Serve warm. Wipe out any scorched flour from the pan between batches with a dry paper towel (carefully) if it starts to smoke.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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