Learn how to make sourdough tortillas with five basic ingredients: sourdough starter, flour, water, oil, and salt. They are perfect for a quick summer wrap or your favorite tacos.
After sharing “What We Eat in a Week” videos with healthy meal ideas for breakfast and dinner, I had soooo many requests for healthy lunch ideas.
Truth is, since we are all together as a family for lunch, I usually just make more of the same. It’s something along the lines of meat and veggies, eggs, salmon, avocados, and sauerkraut.
Last week was a craaazy week, with the magazine crew here for four out of five days. I sent my husband and kids out of the house a lot, and had to think of something to send with them to eat on-the-go.
It made me think of the sourdough tortillas I used to make all the time. After whipping up a couple batches, I wondered why I ever forgot about them.
They are so easy and convenient!
We had cilantro chicken wraps with purple cabbage and honey mustard for lunch today, and I just got some more dough going tonight.
I already have a bunch of leftover chicken in the fridge, so tomorrow’s lunch is going to be as simple as rolling out a couple tortillas and packing them with meat, veggies, and herbs.
Sourdough tortillas may be vying for the top spot in my favorite sourdough creations. Right next to English muffins…or pancakes, maybe pizza crusts.
Ok, I really love all things sourdough, but these tortillas are going to be a staple in lunches this summer. Quick. Easy. Not hot. They make the best sourdough wraps.
Who wants hot meals on a 90 degree summer day?!
Why I Love This Recipe:
These can be made with any wheat flour: all purpose, whole grain, or freshly milled. I often use hard white wheat berries that I grind fresh in my Mockmill.
Long fermentation is the traditional way to prepare grains. The bacteria present in the sourdough starter pre-digest the grains and make them easier for the body to process.
Many people who are very sensitive to gluten have told me that they can actually tolerate it when fermented for 24 hours or more!
Isn’t that amazing?!
It makes sense why so many people can’t have gluten today. Grains are no longer prepared traditionally. Also, many species of wheat have been hybridized and modified, so that they are no longer in a form that our body is prepared to handle.
If you are super sensitive to wheat, I suggest letting your sourdough goodies ferment for at least 24 hours before cooking/baking. Also, it’s better to use ancient einkorn wheat flour, which hasn’t been hybridized. You can find my einkorn tortillas recipe here.
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Tips For Making Sourdough Tortillas:
- To make cooking super fast and easy, I love getting four cast iron skillets going at one time. This makes this process so much easier. A serious game changer rather than sitting in front of one skillet flipping tortillas one at a time.
- All-purpose and whole wheat flour will work well for this recipe. For lighter and fluffier tortillas, use unbleached all-purpose.
- You can use active sourdough starter or discard.
- No need for a tortilla press, you can easily just roll these out with a rolling pin.
Tools you may need:
Measuring cups and spoons
Rolling pin
I use the professional Kitchenaid Stand Mixer, because it has dough hooks that do the kneading for me. If you plan to make a lot of sourdough bread and tortillas, this thing just makes life so much easier.
You can turn on the kneading hooks and walk away to tend to the children who are pulling blueberries out of the freezer and dumping your good Castile soap down the drain. Anyone else have a two year old?
I also like that it holds a higher quantity than the original KitchenAid. It can knead more loaves of bread at one time. #largefamilymom
Ingredients
- Unbleached all-purpose flour or whole grain – Both will work, but all-purpose flour makes these tortillas lighter.
- Sourdough starter – You will want to use sourdough starter that is active. It should be fed 4-12 hours before starting the recipe, and be nice and bubbly.
- Water
- Extra virgin olive oil – you can also substitute another healthy oil like avocado oil or melted coconut oil.
- Salt – I love Himalayan salt.
How To Make Sourdough Tortillas
Add the sourdough starter, water, oil, salt, and flour to a mixer with a dough hook.
Knead for 2-3 minutes in a mixer, or 5 minutes by hand. The ingredients should be fully incorporated, and the dough slightly elastic.
Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover with a tea towel, and allow to sit at room temperature for 12-24 hours. (If you are gluten intolerant, 24 hours is better.)
The next day, divide the dough into 12 equal parts.
On a lightly floured work surface, roll each ball of dough out to about a 1/4 inch thickness. Get them as thin as you can, without them falling apart.
Cook them in a preheated cast iron skillet in a little coconut oil. One minute on each side is sufficient.
FAQ:
Is sourdough bread better for you?
For sure. Due to the fermentation process, not only is sourdough easier to digest, but also the nutrients that are naturally occurring in the grains are more bioavailable for your body to absorb; thus sourdough is a better choice than typical grain products.
How do you heat up sourdough tortillas?
If you want to heat up a bunch at one time you can set your oven to 350 degrees. While the oven is heating up add your tortillas for about 5 minutes. Remove from oven and they should be perfectly heated up without being hard.
Microwave: place them on a microwave safe dish, and add a damp towel. Heat for 30 seconds to one minute until warm.
Can you freeze sourdough tortillas?
Yes! Freeze the tortillas on a cookie sheet without overlapping the tortillas. Once frozen, you can stack them and then place them in an air-tight container. Or freeze with parchment paper between each tortilla so they don’t stick together, and place in an air-tight container.
What can you use sourdough starter for?
Sourdough starter can be used to make so many recipes. From pizza, to muffins, to biscuits, pancakes and so much more. Check out my sourdough page to see all my favorite recipes.
What is the best flour for sourdough?
Really any flour will work for sourdough since the starter needs a starch to feed on. All-purpose, einkorn, spelt, whole wheat will all work.
I have multiple times changed up the flour I’ve used to feed my starter.
If you are gluten free, you can create a gluten free sourdough starter. Find the recipe here.
Check out my other sourdough recipes:
- Sourdough English Muffins
- How to Make a Sourdough Starter from Scratch
- Sourdough Pizza Crust
- Our Favorite Sourdough Pancake Recipe
- Healthy One Pot Meal- Sourdough Skillet
- Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls
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Sourdough Tortillas
Video
Ingredients
- 1 cup sourdough starter, 210 g
- 3/4 cup water, 160 g
- 1/4 cup olive oil, extra virgin (60 g)
- 1.5 tsp salt, 11 g
- 3 cups unbleached all-purpose or whole wheat, 420 g
Instructions
- Add the sourdough starter, water, oil, salt, and flour to a mixer with a dough hook.
- Knead for 2-3 minutes in a mixer, or 5 minutes by hand. The ingredients should be fully incorporated, and the dough slightly elastic.
- Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover with a tea towel or plastic wrap, and allow to sit at room temperature for 12-24 hours. (If you are gluten intolerant, 24 hours is better.)
- The next day, divide the dough into 12 equal parts.
- On a lightly floured work surface, roll each ball of dough out to about a 1/4 inch thickness. Get them as thin as you can, without them falling apart.
- Cook them in a preheated cast iron skillet in a little coconut oil. One minute on each side is sufficient.
Notes
- To make cooking super fast and easy, I love getting four cast iron skillets going at one time. This makes this process so much easier.
- All-purpose and whole wheat flour will work well for this recipe. For lighter and fluffier tortillas, use unbleached all-purpose.
- You can use active sourdough starter or discard.
- No need for a tortilla press, you can easily just roll these out with a rolling pin.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Do not use whole wheat. Completely unworkable dough, had to throw out and waste a batch because the recipe said whole wheat or all purpose. I have made this recipe several times with all purpose with great success. I had to use whole wheat this last time, as I was out of all purpose and decided to try something different. Never again will I use whole wheat flour in this recipe.
I’m sorry you had troubles with the recipe. Whole wheat does absorb more water, so you have to tinker with the hydration levels to get everything right!
These were so easy to make and taste incredible!
Great!
Can I use butter instead of oil in this recipe or would that not work? Thanks
That should work just fine.
Wonderful recipe, worked out and rolled out perfectly. Will be making frequently to replace all my store bought tortillas.
Great to hear! Glad you enjoyed them.
Lisa, how big are these tortillas? I would like to make 12” tortillas for burritos, how many would I get out of this recipe?
These are a bit smaller, around 8-10″. You can make them bigger though and only sacrifice one-two tortillas in the end.
Thank you for adding the grams! Love this recipe!
I’m not sure what happened. I let this ferment on the counter for about 20 hours. They’re awful. The smell and taste like playdough. And they’re sooooo sticky. I’m using a tortilla press and they just stick to the parchment paper. It’s impossible. I ended up throwing the whole batch out. The ones I could cook turned into a puck. I’m not new to sourdough but this recipe did not work for me. Any advice you have would be appreciated.
It sounds like the batch was over fermented! When that happens it becomes a very sticky mess. Next time I would only ferment for about half the time.
MY dough has been resting for about 5 hours, it hasn’t risen and seems dry. I used 2 cups while wheat 1 white. Should I knead some additional water in?
It may not rise all that much and at only 5 hours it may take longer to rise. If it is really dry, you could just try wetting your hands and kneading it in. Or just wait until it is time to roll out.
Any chance these can be frozen?
For sure. I would freeze them in a single layer on parchment lined sheet pan, then stack them and transfer for a freezer bag.
Is the nutritional information based on unbleached flour or whole wheat? I did a 1/2 and 1/2 mix. They turned out fantastic! I was very surprised to see the dough almost double in size.
Glad you enjoyed the recipe. It is based on all-purpose flour.
Hey Lisa, the recipe calls for 3 cups flour but 420 grams. From my understanding 3 cups flour is 360 grams. Just wanted to verify as not to get the measurements off. Thank you!
Thanks! Here’s my conversion chart for how I measure in grams.
Should we follow the grams listed here or on your chart? The weights for the starter, water, and salt don’t align between this recipe and your conversion chart. Thanks!
I would go with this recipe!