Tortilla Trial and Error

Latest edition: this week's sprouted soft white wheat/spelt tortillas.

Tortillas are a big dietary staple in our house. They figure into many of our favorite meals—from burritos and wraps to tacos and enchiladas to cheese crisps and quesadillas. It’s hard to imagine what our menu would look like if we had to give them up. So you might be surprised to read that that’s exactly what we’ve gradually done—at least when it comes to the store-bought varieties.

Now, I’ve been making my own corn tortillas—the smaller, sturdier kind that are best suited for tacos and enchiladas—for several years. The ingredient list couldn’t be shorter (organic masa flour, sea salt and water), and the process couldn’t be easier (with the help, of course, of a food processor and tortilla press). But even if I had to mix the ingredients by hand and roll them out with a rolling pin (a likely prospect as I look to wean my self away from my Teflon-coated tortilla press to either a stainless-steel one or none at all), the taste and texture of homemade corn tortillas is so much better that even the convenience factor of buying the ready-made kind would be no temptation.

I’ll admit, though, that I’ve struggled to come up with a suitable substitute for the prepackaged flour tortillas that, until earlier this year, had been a bit more challenging to eliminate from my grocery list. In case you’re wondering why I’ve deemed it necessary to do so, I’ll share a bit of what went into my decision. First of all, their main ingredients are definitely on the list of things I’m working so diligently to keep out of my kitchen—refined white flour, hydrogenated oils and preservatives, to name the biggest culprits. The research I’ve done (which includes reading Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon, and Real Food, by Nina Planck) has convinced me that these industrial foods have no place in a truly healthy diet. (A side note: I think it is incredibly ironic that almost every brand of flour tortillas in both my neighborhood supermarket and the nearby Whole Foods boasts—usually in large bold print—that they contain “no lard.” After what I’ve read so far about the right kinds of fats versus the industrial oils we’ve been led to believe are “healthy,” I say, “Bring back true lard—rendered animal fat—and leave out the toxic, chemically produced substances that have taken its place!”) Second, in an effort to increase the digestibility and nutritional value of the foods we eat—as well as to possibly find a way for my gluten-sensitive son to tolerate grains that contain that protein—I’ve tried to incorporate sprouted spelt and wheat into as many of our breads and baked goods as I can—including tortillas.

My first few attempts were complete failures. At that point, I was using sprouted spelt flour exclusively, and experimenting with the ratio of desirable fats—coconut oil, olive oil, palm oil—to water. No matter what I tried (more water, less oil or vice versa), I ended up with tortillas that tasted fine but were way too fragile. They fell apart during the cooking process as I flipped them over on my cast-iron griddle, and my kids were less than impressed when a few survived intact long enough to make it onto their plates—held together, no doubt, by the melted raw cheddar I sandwiched in between to create what I hoped was a reasonable facsimile of their beloved cheese crisps. (By the way, I saved all of the tortilla fragments from my failed batches in my freezer, and I’ve gradually been grinding them up to use as breadcrumbs in meatballs and other recipes that call for breading. So they haven’t gone to waste!)

Last week, I decided to experiment with sprouted soft white wheat, with just a little bit of sprouted spelt thrown in. I played some more with the oil-to-water ratio, too, and I had considerably more successful results! The tortillas cracked slightly as they cooked, but they held together much better. I was even able to roll them up around various fillings without them falling completely apart. It was a big breakthrough, but I’m still far from mastering either a recipe or a technique that will give me consistent, quality results. But given my family’s love of tortillas, I’m determined to get there! And when I do, I’ll share more of what I’ve learned along the way.

This post is part of the Tuesday Twister blog carnival hosted by www.gnowfglins.com. To link to today’s Tuesday Twister on that site, click here.

Please note: It is my goal to provide a top-quality, content-driven, ad-free blog. That said, I do occasionally include affiliate links in some of my posts. For example, if you click on the book covers above, you will link to Amazon.com, where you will have an opportunity to purchase the books—and if you do buy them after clicking through from my site, I will receive a small commission to support my work here, as well as my own book-buying habit. Seriously, though, I’d be just as happy if my recommendation inspired you to check out the titles from your local library or borrow them from a friend.