Make your own harina tortillas, like a Mexican chef!

Tortillas de harina (or wheat flour tortillas), are a fundamental part of Mexican cuisine. Their soft and chewy texture, as well as their delicately aromatic flavor, make them a perfect accompaniment to a variety of dishes, from tacos to burritos to enchiladas. In this article, we reveal a simple and authentic recipe to prepare your own homemade tortillas de harina. Get ready to travel to the heart of Mexico from your own kitchen!

Ingredients

1 kg of wheat flour 🌾
250 g of semi-salted butter 🧈
385 ml of water 💧
5 g of salt 🧂

Material

1 large container 🍲
1 saucepan
1 rolling pin
1 pan 🍳

Preparation

Place the flour in a large container.
Add salt and mix with your hands.
Make a hole in the center and add hot water and butter previously melted in a saucepan or in the microwave.

Step 1

Mix everything together until you obtain a smooth, malleable dough.
Make flour balls (testales in Mexico) about 5 cm in diameter and let them rest for about 20 min.

Step 2

Roll out the testales with a rolling pin, rotating the tortillas a quarter turn each time and rolling out until you get the desired size and thickness.

Step 3

Heat a frying pan and place a tortilla on it, turning it over when the first bubbles appear (about 20-30 seconds). Repeat on the other side.

flour tortillas being cooked

Enjoy your harina tortillas

Your flour tortillas are ready to receive your favorite preparations. At home, we love them for breakfast with scrambled eggs and a dose of hot salsa of course! 🔥

A bit of history 🤓📔

Mainly used in the northern regions of Mexico, notably in Monterrey, tortillas de harina are said to be a recent creation linked to the arrival of Spanish Jews fleeing the Inquisition in the 15th and 16th centuries and settling mainly in northern Mexico.

Native American populations originally prepared tortillas with corn flour long before the arrival of Europeans.

Upon their arrival, Spanish Jews are said to have introduced the adaptation of the wheat flour tortilla to Mexican cuisine, as well as other iconic recipes from northern Mexican cuisine.