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I’ve made tortillas a couple of times this week. With the cost of absolutely everything in life going up, I decided to calculate the price of this little venture.
First of all, tortillas are ridiculously easy to make. I won’t pretend to have any authenticity in this area being mostly German, I’m afraid, but my family tells me that my tortillas are definitely better than anything store bought. Good enough for me!
Because my tortilla recipe has exactly 4 ingredients that are all easy to pronounce and already staples on my Master Grocery List, I thought I would check out the competition.
Just a quick glance at Mission Flour Tortillas revealed about 12 ingredients and more than one of those are not foods/additives that we regularly stock or could easily get even if we wanted them. A quick calculation revealed that you will pay approximately .26c per tortilla for the Mission Flour Tortillas. Mine cost about .10c per tortilla. That’s a roughly 60% savings over store-bought and it’s a healthier product for sure.
Although these are pretty quick and easy to throw together, if you have a griddle to cook them on, it will go a lot faster. I cook them one at a time on my cast iron pan and sixteen tortillas takes me about 45mins to make from mix to ready to eat. If you can do about 2-3 at a time on a griddle, you could easily do this in about 15-20 minutes. These keep really well in the refrigerator, too.
Let’s get started!
Here’s the recipe:
3 Cups of Unbleached Flour
5 Tablespoons of Coconut Oil
1 Teaspoon of Sea Salt
1 Cup of Lukewarm Water
Combine the salt and flour thoroughly then add in the coconut oil. Mix until the flour and oil mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the water. Stir the mixture together to form a ball. You really don’t want to overwork this because you will be rolling the dough out and that will also be working your dough. If it’s overworked it’s harder to handle and results in a tougher product.
Prep a board or countertop for rolling the dough and separate the dough in about 16 equal sized balls. Note: You can make as much or as few of these as you would like. Determine what size you’re looking for and divide your dough accordingly. This should make about 16 5-inch tortillas.
Flatten the ball and roll the dough thinly. Warm a skillet or griddle on medium heat and brush with a thin layer of olive oil. Lay the dough on to the hot pan and stretch it if needed. Fry on each side until golden. This really only takes a few minutes for each side.
If you don’t like the “rustic” shape of the tortilla, you can lay a plate over a rolled-out dough ball and run your knife along the side of rolled out, uncooked dough to create a perfect circle. Although I’ve done this before, I can tell you that the trimmings are basically unusable after that so there will be some waste. The rustically shaped ones still work really well and, in my view, add visual character to the dish. And this coming from a perfectionist!
Last night I turned a batch of these into cheesy turkey enchiladas made with some leftovers from a rather large tom we grew here on the Farm! We have made street tacos, quesadillas and burritos as well. Always when I’m making them my youngest son will come in and wait patiently until I tell him that he can have the first one so they never all make it into the dish I’m making!
This is the first in a series of posts that I am doing that will show you the cost of a product that you can make yourself for much cheaper than you can buy in the store. Most of these mixes or recipes will be easily and quickly done and be healthier for your family anyway reducing preservatives, food additives and chemicals from your family’s home.
Rising prices are hitting us all so let’s see what we can learn together. Drop a comment telling me about your favorite cost busting recipe or homemade products. I would love to learn more from you!
And check out my No-Fail Bread Recipe for bread you can make for about $1.75 per loaf.