Whole Grain Sourdough Tortilla Recipe

An easy whole grain sourdough tortilla recipe with sourdough starter.  All natural ingredients combined together to make delicious tortillas.

My family loves tortillas.  My husband and I could eat Mexican inspired meals almost everyday. It took me a long time to find a recipe my family would get behind.  The tortillas were often too chewy and thick, but these come out just right.  Homemade whole grain Sourdough tortillas are just the thing for sweet or savory when you need something quick.  This homemade whole grain sourdough tortilla recipe uses sourdough starter, whole wheat grain flour, oil, and water. I keep these tortillas on hand in the fridge.  

Whole grains make them especially healthy. A pliable tortilla great for fajitas, as chicken quesadillas or to just eat by itself. Enjoy them with peanut butter and banana, as tacos, in quesadillas, wraps  you name it they work great for just about anything.  

Is it cheaper to make your own whole grain sourdough tortillas?

This is a definite yes for me.   I find it extremely difficult to find tortillas that don’t have ingredients I don’t want.  Ordinary tortillas have things like enriched bleached flour, vegetable oil, hydrogenated soy bean oil and a few other ingredients I can’t pronounce.  I can get cheap ones for $2 for 10 but again they have stuff in them I don’t want.   I haven’t found a good alternative locally without the above ingredients.  

Even organic tortillas I found online are sold for more than $10 and had ingredients I didn’t like such as canola oil. I found my homemade whole grain sourdough tortilla recipe and never looked back. My recipe has only flour, oil, salt, water and sourdough starter, which is really only flour and water. No hidden icky stuff.  And I found out they are easy to make! Win-win.  I make about 12 (6 in sized) in my recipe.  I could probably get 16 to 20 street taco size or 6-8 large. At first I thought it wasn’t worth it, but I went without eating tortillas for 2 years, because I didn’t want the added ingredients.  I missed tacos!  Now that I’ve have found out how to make them I’ll never go back.  

What type of flour is best for tortillas?  

Almost all commercial flour tortillas are made with enriched white flour and a dough conditioner like monodiglicerides. This makes them light and pliable.  I personally use fresh ground white wheat for this recipe for the health benefits.  The whole wheat flour already ground in the stores is very dense and not great for this recipe.  If you can’t fresh mill your own white wheat get some good organic all purpose flour. I do find fresh ground hard white wheat to be my favorite grain.  Whole grain sourdough tortillas rock in my book.  

What fat should be used in tortillas?

Any good oil is great in this recipe.  Traditional tortillas use lard.  Commercial tortillas use a vegetable shortening of which I am vehemently apposed…winkey face. If you like more of a chewy homemade flatbread use olive oil and let the dough be a bit stiff.  For a more pliable tortillas cut in some lard or butter and let the dough be a bit looser.  You can get a pliable tortilla with olive oil and a looser dough.   

How to make whole grain sourdough tortillas at home.

It took me a bit to figure out how to make tortillas and for a long while it felt impossible. I bought a tortilla press, and tried a recipe I found online.  They felt difficult to do, were small and not pliable at all.  I didn’t try again for 2 years.  Don’t let this happen to you, let me give you a few pointers.  The key to making tortillas is to make sure your dough is not too stiff or too sticky.  A soft dough is so much easier to press in a tortilla press than a stiff one.  If your using a roller you don’t want it to be too sticky so its a fine balance.  If the first time you make them your dough is too stiff increase your water if its too sticky reduce your liquid.  By your 2nd or third batch you should have it really close to nailed down.  

Now lets get to making whole grain sourdough tortillas!

This homemade tortilla recipe uses sourdough and fresh ground whole grain flour. I fresh mill my grain using my Vitamix with a grain container.
Ingredients:
3 cups  fresh ground whole wheat flour I use hard white wheat most often.
1 cup sourdough starter
1/4 cup oil or lard of your choice
1 1/2 tsp salt 
1 cup water, if you choose to use all purpose flour you may need to reduce this to 3/4
Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl with a spoon, your hands or with a Danish whisk which is what I use.  I use cold water not warm water.  Knead the dough with your hands for a few minutes until it forms a loose ball. No need for a stand mixer for this.  If your using whole grains you’ll want to leave it much looser than you anticipate because the white whole wheat flour will absorb the water much slower than an all purpose flour will.  Don’t use too much flour or it will be hard to roll out or press. Cover the bowl with a wet tea towel or some cling wrap and allow the dough to sit in a warm spot for 6-8 hours or overnight.  If you need more time to get to it, put it in the fridge and pull it out 6-8 hours before your going to make it.  The fridge time will slow the fermentation.  My fridge makes my dough so cold I can’t work with it until it has sat out for at least 2 hours at room temperature, sometimes 6 depending how warm my kitchen is.  This recipe will make about 12 6 inch tortillas if you want bigger whole-grain tortillas make only 6 or double the recipe.  If your using a rolling pin roll the dough into a ball in your hand and place on a lightly floured surface and press it down.  Flip the ball over to get a bit of flour on the bottom.  Carefully roll from the center out to make it a circle. Make these as thin as you can without breaking. You’ll get better at it the more you do it.  I use a tortilla press, I find it faster than rolling. I have this one https://amzn.to/4gj8Djf. I use gallon sized freezer bags placed over each side of the press. I did not find the wax paper circles included with the press very useful, the freezer bags keep the tortillas from sticking and I wash and reuse them. I cut a slit in the bottom of one bag to push the press handle through. The great thing with a tortilla press is I can quickly take a piece of dough, roll it in a ball and let the press do the work and get them quickly into my preheated cast iron skillet left over a medium to low heat. I use 2 to 3 cast irons skillets at a time.  You’ll want your skillets hot enough to hear a sizzle when you throw a bit of water on the pan.  Don’t get the pan so hot its burning immediately or so low that its taking a long time to become golden brown. It should only take a minute or so to see the flattened dough get a bit puffy in spots and be ready to flip.  I have one burner that requires a completely different temperature setting than the other burner.  You’ll have to play with it a bit.


Now you have wonderful whole food tortillas to make your tacos, wraps or whatever sparks your fancy.  I store these in plastic bags in the fridge.  They’ll last at least a week in the fridge but they don’t last that long in mine, we use them up quickly.