tastiness of homemade tortillas justifies the effort it takes to make them. Up until now almost all the recipes I have posted have been easy to make, but I must admit that this one is definitely an exception to the rule. I will also say that I actually tried a couple of different methods for making tortillas and this is the easy (easier) version. Please trust me when I tell you…it is worth it!
Once the dough has been made it takes me about 30 minutes to roll out and cook a dozen of these tortillas. Everyone in my family (including me) practically scarfs them down as soon as I make them, and if used as wraps they can add some variety to your lunch over typical sandwich bread. My 3-year-old’s favorite combination (which she lovingly calls a “roll up”) is to have hummus and cheese wrapped up in her tortilla. I actually love a “roll up” myself although I usually add diced tomatoes, cucumbers, or spinach to mine. My kids also just like to snack on plain tortillas too and if you have time to make a big batch then you can freeze some for later!
Print This Recipe
Whole-Wheat Flour Tortillas
Yield: 12 tortillas
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour (I used King Arthur’s white whole-wheat flour)
- 1/2 cup oil (I used avocado oil)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup warm water (heat in the microwave for 1 min)
Directions
- In the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer set with a dough hook, pour in the flour, oil and salt. Beat with the paddle until crumbly, about 3 to 5 minutes. Scrape the sides as needed. If your hand-held mixer comes with dough hooks those can be used as well.
- With the mixer running, gradually add the warm water and continue mixing until the dough is smooth, about 3 minutes.
- Take out the dough and divide it into 12 equal sized pieces. I do this by making the dough into a big log shape that is about 8 – 10 inches long. Then I cut it in the middle. Then I cut each of those pieces in the middle and so on until you have 12 pieces.
- Using the palms of your hand roll each piece into a round ball and flatten it out on a baking tray or board. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for at least 15 minutes or up to one hour.
- Heat a cast iron skillet, griddle or 12-inch skillet over med-high heat. The pan should be fairly hot before you begin cooking the tortillas.
- On a lightly floured board or counter top, use a rolling pin to turn each ball into a 8 to 10 inch flat circle (measure against your recipe if printed on a 8.5X11 sheet of paper). Be careful not to use more than a teaspoon or two of flour when rolling out each ball into a tortilla because too much excess flour will burn in the pan.
- Grease the pan with a touch of oil (or ghee) and then carefully transfer each tortilla, one at a time, to the pan and cook until puffy and slightly brown, about 30 to 45 seconds per side. Set aside on a plate to cool slightly. Eat within an hour, refrigerate or freeze.
[...] 2) Homemade Wheat Tortillas [...]
[...] 2) Homemade Wheat Tortillas [...]
[...] I think I am going to attempt to make these whole wheat tortillas this weekend. The problem is that I don’t have a heavy duty mixer with a dough hook. This [...]
I use this recipe all the time, and I don’t have a stand mixer. I use a silicone spatula to mix everything, and pouring all the water in at the same time seems to work best.
I found this recipe via Pinterest and have made it twice… SO delicious and worth the extra work. I never want to eat store bought tortillas again! I have a question… can you make the dough ahead of time and freeze it? Thanks for sharing your wonderful recipes! I’ve also made the muffins which are delicious, too!
So glad the recipes are a hit. I’ve put finished tortillas in the freezer before, but I have not tried the dough….you could try it though!
Two questions:
1. Can you use coconut oil for these? I can’t seem to find avocado oil anywhere!
2. I’m confused on step 4 and step 6. Do I roll them out before they rest?
EV Olive oil works and they are DELICIOUS!
Yes, you can use coconut oil. Also the dough “rests” before they are rolled out into flat tortillas. I updated the recipe to make it more clear.
How long do they keep in the fridge?
About a week.
With EVOO they keep for at least a day don’t seem dry, I haven’t tried longer yet.
[...] other thing that we made and loved was whole wheat tortillas. I sent them to school for my daughters pre-school class snack and the teacher said the kids loved [...]
[...] enjoy making our own whole wheat tortillas at home. We like to use the recipe at the 100 Days of Real Food website. I like this recipe because it uses all whole wheat flour and only has 3 other ingredients (water, [...]
Can I make the dough the night before, and keep it in the fridge until it’s time to cook them?
I do that everytime. I use EVOO
I have not tried that, but I think it would work. Just let the dough get back to room temp before you roll them out.
[...] Whodda Thunk It? Making your own tortillas is actually quite easy. I am not exactly sure what possessed me to give it a shot, but the power of the Unprocessed Food bug has really taken over my life. After reviewing several recipes I went with the one on 100daysofrealfood.com. [...]
Is there a way these can be made minus the oil?
If you want tortillas without oil then try the corn ones: http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/04/26/recipe-easy-whole-grain-corn-tortillas/
these are amazing!!! and, they are so easy. i am only sorry that i waited so long to attempt the recipe. if you are questioning your ability to make these – don’t! just go for it!!!!! trust me it is so worth it.
These came out great! I made guacamole with a can of organic fire roasted
tomatoes with green chiles, garlic, sea salt, and cayenne
pepper spread on top of the tortilla and cut like a pizza!
Delicious!!!!
I’ve been making these with coconut oil and whole wheat flour from Wegmans. They are addicting! I’m lucky if I can get them to last two days before I eat them all!
These tortillas were amazing! And I loved making them! My kids and husband gobbled them up, I made quesadillas with them. Wonderful recipe, thank you, no more store bought ones for us!
These tortillas are SO good! I thought I’d have some left to freeze, but we ate them all! Oops!
Can you add spices or seasoning of some kind to the dough and if so, what would you recommend? My ex-husband complains that my cooking has no flavor. I want to make something he will actually like.
I have never tried that, but if you want to experiment either cumin or chili powder might be good!
do you ever add baking powder?
Just a quick ( and probably stupid:) question. You say to use the hook on your mixer, but then you say to beat with a paddle. What do you mean by this? Sorry for a silly question! Can’t wait to try these:)
I guess I was calling the dough hook a paddle…sorry for the confusion!
To answer several questions:
1-.In Mexico, we use unfortunately, shortening, and a lot of stores here will sell those with lard. YES, you can make them without oil, shortening or grease of ANY kind. My tortillas have three ingredients. Whole wheat flour, warm water and salt. That’s it.
2.- I have frozen the individual balls for tortillas before, you just need to let them thaw and get to room temperature before trying to extend them. I do prefer to freeze them once they are ready though.
3-.I have added spinach juice (that I make in the juicer) and substitute for some of the water. I also put some garlic powder and I have some yummy spinach garlic tortillas for wraps.
4.- You do NOT need a mixer to kneed this dough, but it helps because you want to kneed it for a while, to make the dough soft, then the individual balls must rest tightly covered before being made.
I hope that helps!
I have been wanting to make this recip for a while now and last night I finally did. YUMMM!
I made these and while they didn’t come out pretty, they are tasty! It was hard not to burn them though. I can’t find ghee anywhere close to me and I had to use Pam spray, do you have any other suggestions to keep it from burning?
You can actually make ghee (or clarified butter) at home pretty easily if you’d like. Just check Deliciouslyorganic.net for the recipe.
Hi Lisa! Just wanted to let you know that I love your blog and all of the tasty recipes that you post. I have cooked a few of them (whole wheat honey bread and a few others) and they have all turned out amazing! Thanks for inspiring me and my family to eat better for our health.
I just had a question about this recipe- are you only supposed to cook each side of the tortilla for 30 seconds? When I made the first tortilla I think I overcooked it, because it was hard and dry. I didn’t realize that you only cooked it for one minute. I will try again soon…thanks!
Yes, 30 seconds each side…it’s important to get the temperature right because if it’s in the pan for too long before it can “cook” (i.e. temp is too low) it will become stiff.
I attempted to make these tonight and ended up with a cake batter consistancy dough…I had to dump it and use another recipe….but I wasn’t sure if whole wheat flour would matter in the other recipe so I mixed white n wheat…..no idea what I did wrong …also made the refried beans they were ok.
Anytime you change the recipe it’s questionable what you’ll end up with…
[...] night, we had planned to make fajitas using homemade whole-wheat tortillas. Having never made tortillas before, I was mildly concerned that thing would go awry, but was [...]
We loved these! My husband is 1/2 Hispanic and we quickly passed this recipe onto his parents for them to try, too, and they liked them as well!!!! =D
We put this in our food processor and it worked just wonderfully
[...] by 100 days of real food…made some minor [...]
[...] spinach in it. There’s another quesadilla with some peaches and another with the recipe for homemade tortillas. I decided to put all of this together and make one fancy [...]
[...] work quite as well has I had hoped. I cooked up some bacon & scrambled eggs. I used this recipe to make my tortillas, and rolled them out nice and thin, trying to make them 9 to 10 in [...]
I made these again last night, but used our pancake electric griddle. I liked that because I could make more than one at a time. Also, my 4 yr old son likes to roll them out and with the griddle, it doesn’t matter if they are round. Win win! He ate them with pp&j instead of pizza last night.
Love the griddle idea, did them tonight for the first time one at a time and would like to speed up the process. I hope it is as nonstick though because I didn’t have to use any oil while cooking in my pan.
I just now finished making these and they are incredible! Growing up my dad would make flour tortillas and give them to us with butter, salt and pepper rolled up in them. I tried that with these and it brought back so many childhood memories. Thanks for the recipe!
I just made these for the first time and they are AMAZING! Is it possible to actually GAIN weight from eating real food, lol? I feel like I have been eating SO much since I switched my family over to real food…it’s like a whole new world of exciting recipes has opened up and I can’t wait to try them all! Thanks for all the encouragement you provide…now, if I can just stop eating these tortillas!
Well eating in moderation is key….just remember to stop eating when you feel full and you’ll be just fine!
Yep, to quote Michael Pollan again… “eat food, mostly plants, not too much” his entire wisdom summed up in a sentence!
How do you reheat these after they’ve been refrigerated or frozen? I avoid the microwave…
You can wrap a stack of them in foil and heat them in the oven.
[...] Tortillas (I used homemade whole-wheat tortillas from 100 Days of Real Food) [...]
How many calories are these? Fat? Carbs? Protein? Sodium?
Dee – We don’t count any of those things…not really part of fully being on a “real food” diet. Michael Pollan covers this in his book In Defense of Food.
If you are concerned about those values there is an app you can download on your phone or prob can look it up online as well called my fitness pal. You can scan barcodes with your phone and then you can enter all of your ingredients to your recipe and put in the number of servings it makes ans it will give you the nutritional value of each serving. It even tells you things like potassium calcium iron content. I love it! I’m still having trouble not knowing these things
also still having some trouble with all the fats! But I have ended up back at my goal weight which I haven’t been at in several years even with trying to eat lowfat and lower dairy and less carbs. Seems that eating this way is making me thin 
now if I would incorporate some exercise in my routine I would be doing great!
[...] Next up were the tortillas. I have to learn not to cook when I’m in a hurry. Here’s the link to the original recipe on 100 days of real food. http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2010/05/26/recipe-whole-wheat-tortillas/ [...]
[...] got this recipe from 100 Days of Real Food and I recommend it [...]
[...] got this recipe from 100 Days of Real Food and I recommend it [...]
Thanks for sharing! I modified your recipe and technique just a bit, based on a white flour tortilla recipe I’ve used for years. I mix the dry ingredients with a whisk or fork, then mix in the oil (I chose to use about 4 tbs of softened butter, in place of the shortening called for in the white flour recipe), and lastly the water with a spoon and then my hands. Takes just a few minutes to work it into a ball of dough. Let it rest as you direct. Then by hand I quickly roll the dough into 12 balls (more or fewer depending on size). Slightly flatten and cook on tortilla maker(kind of like a tortilla press, but it’s electric and presses and cooks tortillas at the same time. Super easy! My son and I both enjoyed the 100% whole wheat recipe, and husband said it was “ok” compared to white
[...] option. So I found a recipe for whole wheat flour tortillas on a blog that I love called 100 days of Real Food. I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m hoping it’s all that I want in a [...]
I made these last night and they were so good – a huge hit! My only concern is that they seemed really oily. I followed the recipe exactly, so maybe that’s just what they’re supposed to be like. But I thought I’d ask. They literally leave oil on my hands after eating them. I did spray the pan every time before putting in a new tortilla to bake, so maybe that’s why. Anyway, just thought I’d ask. And thanks for the recipe! I’m starting to get hooked on your blog, which is especially fun since I’m in the Charlotte area too.
I am sorry to hear that they were too oily. I would try reducing the spray before cooking each one…or only spray before every other one.
Joanna, I had the same oily problem. Not sure what I did wrong.
I don’t oil the pan at all and I’ve never had a problem with them sticking and they always turn out great. I just made them for the third time.
[...] original recipe is here. Every single recipe we have tried from her site has had glowing reviews from my family, but this [...]
I made these yesterday with olive oil and used them in the Chicken Enchilada recipe this evening as i wasnt able to make the corn tortillas also. They are absolutely delicious and worked great in the Enchilada recipe! Although they take a little time to make they are SO worth it. There is absolutely no going back to store bought tortillas now. Give them a try – you will not be disappointed!
I just found your site. I have made tortillas before. But all the recipes I have tried use baking powder. Maybe I’ll try them without. Also, I added chia seeds and flax seed (ground) and they were great. I will keep coming back. Thanks
Hi, these look great, and not difficult at all. I am wondering if anyone has made them using fresh ground wheat. If so, are there any modifications recommended?
Thanks!
I actually use a different recipe with my fresh ground wheat…it calls for lard though instead of the avocado oil. It’s on the bottom half of this page: http://www.ggfarm.com/chipotle-roasted-pork-with-homemade-tortillas/
I’m not sure exactly what you mean by fresh wheat, but I’ve made them with local wheat, spelt and many other wheats. Just make them and if you have trouble, add a bit of water or flour. They should work fine.
I tried making these tonight and my dough was very sticky. Is all of the water supposed to go in or do I add it just until the dough is right? They turned out pretty good anyway butwere very hard to work with
If the dough is sticky then you need either more flour or less water…it should not be stuck to your fingers when you are working with it. Glad they were good anyway.
Thanks lisa…I love your site and your recipes
yes they turned out just fine, I actually made little mini pizzas out of them and my kids gobbled them up! I’m going to make your crockpot fajitas tomorrow so we can use the rest of the tortillas.
I find that the amount a flour needed depends on the type and humidity etc. We always add more during the rolling part until it feels “right”. We make them with local wheat, Trader Joes wheat, spelt etc. They turn out great. We like making them on the griddle since we don’t need to spray it and my son can roll them out and the griddle doesn’t care if they are round.