No More Naked Burritoes: Gluten Free Flour Tortillas
Apr 22nd, 2008 by Mary Frances
I’ve been sitting here for ages trying to figure out what to say about these tortillas. If you’ve been gluten free for long, you can understand why I’m speechless. The wonder of it all . . . to have tortillas that bend without breaking; that are big enough to actually wrap around something; that taste like flour tortillas.
And again, if you’ve been gluten free for long I’ve probably already said enough to convince you to try these. They are inspired by a recipe of Bette Hagman’s, but I’ve changed up the flour mix to add nutritional value (gotta love the iron and fiber in the bean flours) and made the recipe casein free.
If you’d like an idea for something to put into these incredible tortillas, try my recipe for “Last of the Sweet Potatoes Soft Tacos” and stop back by on Friday for a tutorial on rolling tortillas.
Gluten Free Flour Tortillas
(makes 8 tortillas that are gluten free and casein free)
2 c. Gluten Free All-Purpose Flour Mix
1 1/2 tsp. xanthan gum
2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 c. warm water
1. Add the dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl and mix the ingredients thoroughly. (I do this with my hand)
2. Add the cup of warm water to the bowl and mix the dry goods into the water with your hand. Just squish it all up until all of the dry ingredients are no longer dry. And then keep mixing a minute longer because it’s fun and we should all be pretend we’re kids once in a blue moon. =)
3. Separate the dough into 8 pieces and roll each piece into a ball. Place all but one of the dough balls back into the bowl and cover with plastic wrap until you’re ready to work with them.
4. Sprinkle a clean, flat surface with a bit of rice flour and then roll you dough ball into a roughly circular shape. Get is as thin as possible. (If you need some practice on rolling out dough, check back here Friday for a tortilla rolling tutorial)
5. Throw the tortilla onto a hot griddle (I use a cast iron griddle on medium heat with just a smidge of shortening or oil) and let it cook approximately 1 minute - or until it has started puffing up and the bottom side is developing those lovely brown spots. Flip the tortilla and cook the other side until is toasty as well.
6. Slide the cooked tortilla onto a waiting plate and repeat from step 4 until you’ve cooked all 8 tortillas. I generally roll one tortilla out while another is cooking, so that there’s is always a tortilla on the gridle.
Cook’s Notes: If you’re allergic to soy, I have substituted Fava/Garbanzo flour for the soy flour with success. If you’re allergic to corn, try tapioca starch instead of the corn starch and almond meal instead of the masa harina.
: Nov 24th - Dec 1st.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I’ve really been wanting to find a recipe for tortillas that taste like flour tortillas.
Mary Frances-
BOY - have you been missed!
Welcome back from the paper work.. and GREAT call on the tortillas. ‘Tis the season. I think I’ll have to make our yummy shrimp tacos with your tortilla recipe.
A little Celebrate-the-return-of-MaryFrances dinner!
Hi, I just wanted to let you know that I tried this recipe last night for supper and they turned out great! My DH and I really enjoyed them, but the kids didn’t like the sandy texture from rolling them out with the rice flour. What would you recommed for something different. They were very pliable and didn’t tear apart and they looked alot like yours. I would also like to try them with the alternate flours that you suggested. By the way, we had fajitas. YUM! Thanks so much!
Dillygirl,
I’m so glad the tortillas turned out well for you. I try to brush the rice flour off of the tortillas as much as possible before I cook them, but there’s only so much you can do. You might try using corn starch or a bean flour for you rolling board; they should be less noticeable. Thanks for the feedback=)
Welcome back! You should be in Hawaii or something, but here you are posting marvelous things. The thought had crossed my mind that making these might be possible, and here they are. I look forward to trying them.
[...] dishwasher was probably equally unsuccessful) and John gave up after one tortilla. I decided this gluten free flour tortillas recipe was going to need an accompanying [...]
Gotta try these!!! Thanks for the recipe! I’ve been looking for a flour tortilla that bends, this one sounds like a winner…
Can these be stored? I am just curious as only one of my children has to be gluten free, and I can’t afford to let them all four have the good stuff. (They ALL beg for your bread by the way, as soon as it comes out of the bread machine they all want some of “Anna’s Bread.” (My gluten free daughter is Anna…) Anyway, I know Anna wouldn’t eat all of these at once, so I am trying to figure out if they would freeze or refrigerate without drying out. Guess I will just have to try it.
Amy
Amy, I bet these can be frozen but I haven’t tried it yet. We are still so obsessed with them that they haven’t even lasted till the next day yet. I love that your kids love the bread so much. That’s awesome! Thanks for letting me know.
Hello Mary Frances : ) I found your blog the other day trolling for gluten free sandwich bread recipes. My son has been recently diagnosed with Autism and we are now aboard the good ship Food Intolerance. We are doing a “Free-ing” diet or at least that is what I am telling myself. Sans Gluten, Casein, Eggs, Glutimate and its many forms, preservatives and all things artificial out the window as well as going organic.
I just wanted you to know that I finally got around to making these for my family tonight and they were Scrum-dilly-umptious! I made burritos with homemade black beans, tomato salad, poached chicken, scallions with roasted butternut squash bits all rolled into your amazing tortillas. FABULOUS. These are definately going on the list, I can see lots of nut butter & gooey rollups involving said tortillas in my near future. If it resembles a sandwich there is a good chance that my son will eat it. Thanks Loads!!
~Fruitey_girl or now that I am older I may have graduated to Fruitey_mom lol.
Fruitey_girl, That filling sounds delicious. We’ll definitely have to try it since we think black beans + anything sweet (the roasted butternut in this case) is yummy.
[...] 2 medium sweet potatoes, diced and boiled 1/2 onion, diced 1 jalepeno, diced 1 can black beans, drained 1/2 Gala Apple, diced 1 packet Guacamole seasoning* Romaine lettuce, chopped 4 gluten free flour tortillas [...]
My prayers have been answered! Woohoo! I made these today to make quesadillas and they turned out beautifully with this recipe. I did use my own gluten free all purpose since i already had it on hand.
Thanks so much! since both my husband and 3 year old were diagnosed with celiac disease a few months ago the whole family has gone gluten free and the only thing i really missed until now was a soft flour tortilla
You have a new subscriber!
@Rachel: Thanks for subcribing! And for your comment. That’s just what this site is supposed to be: an answer to prayer.
[...] Thursday: Last of the Sweet Potatoes Soft Tacos with Flour Tortillas [...]
Hi Mary-Francis
I’m confused. You recommend substitons for ingredients I don’t see in the main receipe; are they in the basic flour mix?
Can’t wait to try these. I’m in New Mexico and I would love to put as much masa as possible in it, as we aren’t corn allergic. Is that possible?
Here are the substutions that confused me:
If you’re allergic to corn, try tapioca starch instead of the corn starch and almond meal instead of the masa harina.
M-F; I can’t bless you enough for the great service you are giving us.
Sometimes when there is nothing else my husband can eat, one of your creative ideas gets on the table and makes him happy even when he can’t eat much.
First off, thank you for your site! I tried your tortilla recipe and although the final product came out VERY delicious, I had a real problem making the darn things.
I used regular all purpose flour on the rolling board and sprinkled some on top of the tortilla before I rolled it out, but I still had a very difficult time getting them not to stick to everything. Is there a magic trick to this? Do I just need to totally saturate everything with the flour to prevent it to stick? I’m an amateur with this, so any cooking advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@Todd: The tortillas are TOUGH to roll out. It requires a lot of flour on the board and on the rolling pin and frequent flipping of the dough. If any of the dough gets stuck on your pin or on the board, be sure to scrape it off before proceeding as it will only continue to gather more dough to it. Good Luck!
Ok, so really the only trick is to oversaturate the board and the dough with the flour so it doesn’t stick to anything. Next time I won’t be so conservative with it, lol. Thanks again!
Thanks Mary Frances. I appreciate this recipe.
These GF tortillas are wonderful! I live on a small island in the Bahamas where most people have never heard of Gluten Free anything, so I have to make my own bread-type foods. I’ve been craving tortillas for the past 6 months(how long I’ve been gluten-free), so this recipe was a God-send. These smell wonderful cooking and are flexible, just like you said.
I made a couple changes to accommodate the items I had on hand.
I used 1 &3/4 C of GF all-purpose flour, 1/4 C Garbanzo Flour, and 2 tbsp honey, instead of sugar. I cheated too…after rolling them out thin, I used a pan lid to cut them into uniform circles. Anyway, Thanks so much for this site…I can eat like a normal person again!
Oh, I forgot to mention that instead sprinkling rice flour out to keep things from sticking, I used very fine corn flour. YUM-O!
I am fairly new to this site…AMAZING! I tried this last night with some friends. We rolled them with a bit of the basic flour mixture we used for the tortillas. Didn’t get too grainy. They were actually amazing. So far, your recipes are simply amazing. Everyone loves what I make, they don’t know that it’s gluten-free! It’s a trick I have to play with a closed-minded family!
@Nicole: woohoo!