The Easiest Sourdough Discard Tortillas
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Sourdough tortillas are one of the best things you'll ever eat, apart from sourdough bread of course. They really are pretty simple to make, a little time consuming to roll them all out, so we reserve these for days when we have a little more time to prepare our family meals, but they are totally worth it!
Making sourdough tortillas is a fantastic way to use up our sourdough discard and if there are any tortillas left they make delicious quesadillas for lunch the next day.
Why You'll Love This Recipe!
Waste Reduction - By transforming your sourdough discard into tasty tortillas, you're not only reducing food waste but also maximizing the use of every precious resource in your kitchen.
Flavorful Twist - Sourdough discard adds a unique tanginess to the tortillas, enhancing their flavor profile and imparting a subtle sourdough essence that sets them apart from store-bought counterparts.
Versatility - These homemade tortillas are incredibly versatile and can be used in a variety of dishes, from classic tacos and burritos to innovative wraps and quesadillas, allowing you to unleash your culinary creativity!
Where Do Tortillas Come From?
Tortillas have a rich history that traces back thousands of years to the Aztecs and Mayans. They were traditionally made from maize, or corn, which was ground into flour and then transformed into flatbreads cooked on hot stones.
Today, tortillas are an integral part of Mexican and Latin American cuisine, enjoyed in various forms and dishes across the globe. From street food vendors to fine dining establishments, tortillas continue to hold a cherished place in culinary traditions, serving as the foundation for countless delicious meals.
Making your own tortillas at home, especially with sourdough discard, is a wonderful way to honor this ancient culinary heritage while adding your own creative twist to the timeless tradition of tortilla-making.
Sourdough Discard or Sourdough Starter?
The great thing about this recipe is that you can use either active sourdough starter or sourdough starter discard. While the dough for these sourdough tortillas does need to rise, it doesn't need the same kind of rise that you do when you make sourdough bread. Even if the dough hasn't doubled when you divide the dough up into smaller portions to roll out, the sourdough tortillas will still puff up in a hot pan.
Using Discard - using discard is perfectly fine for this recipe. Depending on how old your discard is, the rise can take quite a while, so it's a good idea to mix the dough first thing in the morning if you're wanting to make them for dinner. Discard gives you a stronger sourdough flavor than using active starter.
Using Active Starter - using active starter is great for this recipe. It will make the rise much faster and gives you a more bubbly tortilla.
How To Make Sourdough Discard Tortillas
These sourdough discard tortillas really are a labor of love. The process is not inherently difficult, but there is a lot of hands on dough time as you need to roll them out one by one.
It's best to use a rolling pin to shape the sourdough tortillas. Tortilla presses don't work for flour tortillas as the dough will keep springing back and shrinking. Save the tortilla press for corn tortillas.
Let's get mixing!
Measure out all of your ingredients into a large mixing bowl. You don't have to pre mix, you can just add them all in on top of one another. This dough is extremely forgiving.
Gently combine all the ingredients so it forms a shaggy dough. Let the dough sit covered for around 30 minutes.
Once the dough is hydrated, it's time to knead it. You can do this by hand or you can use a stand mixer, it's completely up to you. I find a stand mixer is the easiest. It takes around 5 minutes to achieve a smooth, elastic dough in a stand mixer.
You'll need to knead the dough by hand until the texture of the dough is smooth and silky.
This usually takes around 10 minutes, depending on how hard you knead it. If you are going to use a stand mixer you can find some tips on this in the recipe card below.
Once the sourdough tortilla dough is sufficiently kneaded, cover with plastic wrap or a damp tea towel and leave to rise until it has risen around 30%.
This may take several hours, depending on the temperature of your kitchen. Watch the dough and it will show you when it's ready, rather than going by a set amount of time. You'll notice the dough will be puffy and have bubbles forming on the surface, even if it doesn't seem like it's risen.
Once the dough is ready, separate the dough into smaller balls so they are ready to be rolled out. I find around 80g to be the perfect size dough ball.
Leave the balls on your counter top, covered with a tea towel, for around 30 minutes to allow the gluten to relax. If you don't let the gluten relax, it will be really hard to roll them out.
Once the dough has relaxed you can easily roll them out into rounds using a rolling pin. You want them to be quite thin, but you don't want them to tear when you pick them up.
I find when I roll them out, I squash the ball into a round, then use my rolling pin to roll it flat. Leave it while I do this to another one, then come back and roll out again.
When you go to throw them in the pan, you can gently stretch them out a bit more with your fingers. Have some flour handy to use if you're using a rolling pin so the dough doesn't become sticky. The olive oil in the dough will make it quite elastic though.
When you're ready to cook, heat a frying pan, skillet or bbq plate until it's HOT! I've used a crepe pan because it's easy to flip them over.
These sourdough tortillas need a hot, fast cook (but they don't need a lid so a flat pan is perfect).
Gently use your hands to stretch out each tortilla before you drop it in the pan. They will only need around 1 minute each side (and no need to oil the pan). They will bubble up and brown very quickly. Once it bubbles, flip to the other side to brown and then remove.
If you aren't eating them straight away, keep the tortillas stacked and wrapped in a dish towel to ensure they stay nice and soft and pliable. If they've puffed up while cooking, they will flatten down when wrapped).
How To Use Sourdough Tortillas
Mexican cuisine is mighty popular in our house, it's one thing I can cook that everybody enjoys in one shape or form.
These tortillas really are so versatile - you can use them to make "taco chips" for nachos or Mexican dip. You can use them for soft tacos stuffed with delicious chicken and black beans, guacamole and cheese. They make perfect lunch wraps, bacon & egg brekkie rolls or even quesadillas. Honestly, they really are wonderful.
You can even use them as mini pizza bases (my kids love to do this).
How To Store + Freeze
These sourdough discard tortillas are so soft and pliable and if you store leftovers the right way, they will stay like this for at least 48 hours.
If I'm making these for dinner, I just wrap them in a cotton flour sack towel or cotton dish towel. The warmth keeps them soft and supple and they are perfect for dinner (they will last like this for a good few hours, so a good idea if you're transporting them too).
Once we've eaten, I store leftovers wrapped back up in a cotton towel and under a glass cloche for up to 24 hours. If storing for longer, I transfer to a ziploc bag. Remember these have no preservatives, so they will mold if you don't use them within around 3 days (especially if storing them in plastic).
If I freeze these, I layer them between sheets of parchment paper and store in a ziploc bag. They freeze well for up to 3 months.
Sourdough Discard Tortillas
Equipment
- Stand Mixer (optional)
- Rolling Pin or Tortilla Press
- Cast Iron Skillet (or frying pan)
Ingredients
- 500 g Bread Flour
- 280 g Water
- 200 g Sourdough Starter (or sourdough discard)
- 15 g Olive Oil
- 15 g Salt
Instructions
- Measure out all of your ingredients into a large mixing bowl. You don't have to pre mix, you can just add them all in on top of one another. This dough is extremely forgiving.Gently combine all the ingredients so it forms a shaggy dough. Let the dough sit covered for around 30 minutes.
- Once the dough is hydrated, it's time to knead it. You can do this by hand or you can use a stand mixer, it's completely up to you. You'll need to knead the dough by hand until the texture of the dough is smooth and silky. This usually takes around 10 minutes, depending on how hard you knead it.If you are going to use a stand mixer you can find some tips on this in the recipe notes below.
- Once the sourdough tortilla dough is sufficiently kneaded, cover with plastic wrap or a damp tea towel and leave to rise until it has risen around 30%. This may take several hours, depending on the temperature of your kitchen. Watch the dough and it will show you when it's ready, rather than going by a set amount of time. You'll notice the dough will be puffy and have bubbles forming on the surface, even if it doesn't seem like it's risen.
- Once the dough is ready, separate the dough into smaller balls so they are ready to be rolled out. I find around 80g to be the perfect size. The easiest way to do this is to flip the dough onto your counter, making sure the sticky side is facing up. Use a metal dough scraper to gently cut chunks of the dough away. Gently form into loose balls.Leave the balls on your counter top, covered with a tea towel, for around 30 minutes to allow the gluten to relax (see notes for more info).
- Once the dough has relaxed you can easily roll them out into rounds using a rolling pin. You want them to be quite thin, but you don't want them to tear when you pick them up. I find when I roll them out, I squash the ball into a round, then use my rolling pin to roll it flat. Leave it while I do this to another one, then come back and roll out again. When you go to throw them in the pan, you can gently stretch them out a bit more with your fingers.Have some flour handy to use if you're using a rolling pin so the dough doesn't become sticky. The olive oil in the dough will make it quite elastic though.
- When you're ready to cook, heat a frying pan, skillet or bbq plate until it's HOT! These sourdough tortillas need a hot, fast cook. Gently use your hands to stretch out each tortilla before you drop it in the pan. They will only need around 1 minute each side. They will bubble up and brown very quickly. Once it bubbles, flip to the other side to brown and then remove.
- If you aren't eating them straight away, keep the tortillas stacked and wrapped in a dish towel to ensure they stay nice and soft and pliable.
Notes
If your dough is still sticky, sprinkle a little extra flour and knead for a further minute or two until it becomes silky smooth. You'll know it's ready when you can hear it slapping the sides of the bowl. Generally it takes 4-6 minutes of kneading but the time will depend on your dough as well as the strength of your machine.
Notes on Bulk Fermentation
This recipe uses 200g of sourdough starter, which means that your dough will ferment fairly quickly. For more information on how the amount of starter affects fermentation time, go here. Using discard will give you a slower rise, but the dough will rise none the less.
Nutrition
