I originally posted the recipe for Bacon Fat Flour Tortillas in 2019. You can find that first post HERE. At the time, I didn’t know it would become our most popular recipe on the blog. I truly love that you guys love it. Over the years, it has proven to be the recipe I make the most. And while I can practically make this recipe in my sleep, I’ve always known there were improvements just waiting to be made.
Upgrading the Original Bacon Fat Flour Tortilla Recipe
There are a few details about this recipe I have been wanting to go back and tweak. The most important one being that I really wanted to convert the dry ingredients to grams. I think more and more home cooks/bakers are getting on board with measuring their flour by weight rather than volume. The benefits are vast.
- The results are more consistent from bake to bake. The first time you follow a recipe, it’s natural to be ultra careful measuring out the dry ingredients. The aim is to achieve just the right lightness and loft spooning out the flour. The next time, you might be a little heavy-handed. And the time after that? Who knows. What may result is more flour in the recipe yielding a denser, heavier finish than desired. What’s the answer? Weigh out the dry ingredients. This ensures consistency regardless of whatever outside factors are at play.
- The results are more consistent from “baker” to “baker”. I was shocked when I recently put myself to the test. Surely I can measure out a semi accurate cup of flour. I bake a lot. Nope, not so. My average cup of flour weighed in at 142 grams. And while, Alison Roman (one of my favorite chefs) and Epicurious list this as accurate for a cup of flour. Others, such as King Arthur Flour’s website and much of the internet list a cup of flour as 125 grams. That is a pretty vast difference. So when I list a cup of flour as part of recipe, my cup may not be the same as your cup. Using a scale rather than a measuring cup fixes that.
- There’s so much less clean up. Weighing the dry ingredients reduces the cups and tools, as everything is weighed out on the scale using only one or two bowls. I’m all for that. In fact, I should have led with it.
In a nutshell, weighing out the dry (if not all) ingredients is more accurate and more efficient. If you haven’t switched over yet, I highly recommend it. Get an inexpensive scale and you’ll soon become a convert.
Troubleshooting the Bacon Fat Flour Tortilla Recipe
Over the years, I’ve had many people tell me they have made this recipe with great success. But I have had a few folks share with me, that they did not have good results. I’ve really tried to think through the process and identify where something might go awry. Here are my thoughts:
- Don’t skip the rest period. The recipe calls for letting the dough rest on the counter for one hour. This ensures that it is relaxed and pliable. It will be easier to roll out and will have less of a tendency to snap back. If you are wrestling with the dough and it does not seem to want to hold its shape or size, let it sit for another 15 minutes and give it another try after that.
- Make sure the griddle/comal is very hot. Do your tortillas sometimes turn out hard and cracker-like? Too much flour can certainly have a hand in this. However, most likely the comal is not hot enough. When my burners are turned to medium, they put out a very high flame. You may need to crank yours to medium-high to get the comal to the right temp. The total cook time is about a minute…roughly 30-seconds per side. If it is taking longer than 1 minute to fully cook your tortilla, the heat is definitely not high enough. And the longer it sits over mid-level heat it will slowly overcook and become brittle. If the comal is hot enough, it will immediately start evaporate the moisture inside the dough causing the tortillas to quickly bubble and puff up. A sure sign that everything is cooking at the right temp.
- Preheat the griddle/comal at least 4 or 5 minutes. Find the right flame and let the comal heat for a few minutes while you roll out a few tortillas. I roll out about half of what I’m cooking then I can be sure the comal is hot and ready to go. Like Chappel Roan says…”H-O-T-T-O-G-O! Snap and clap and touch your toes! Raise your hands, now body roll! Dance it out, you’re hot to go!” That one is stuck in my head. And I’m not mad at it.
- Brush off any excess flour. A good amount of flour is necessary to roll the tortillas out. This keeps them from sticking to the counter and the rolling pin. I try to brush off any of this excess flour either gently with my hand or a small pastry brush. If some of this dry, loose flour hits the comal, it will start to scorch and sometimes it will smoke. Yes, I have set off the smoke alarms during a particularly frantic tortilla making session before. Don’t judge me.
Bacon Fat Flour Tortillas
Equipment
- comal or griddle
- scale (optional)
Ingredients
- 425 grams or 3 1/3 cups all purpose flour
- 10 grams or 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 10 grams or 2 teaspoons Morton's kosher salt
- 300 grams or 1 1/4 cups whole milk
- 29 grams or 2 tablespoons bacon fat
- 32 grams or 2 tablespoon plus 1/2 teaspoon neutral oil (I use canola)
Instructions
- Add flour, baking powder and salt to a medium bowl. Whisk to combine.
- Add 1/2 of the milk (I just eyeball it), the oil and bacon fat to a small pan. Stir to combine. Heat over low heat just until the the bacon grease has melted and small bubbles begin to form around the edge of the pan. Do not boil.
- Simultaneously add the warm milk mixture and the remaining cold milk into the dry ingredients. Stir until most of the dry ingredients have been incorporated.
- Dump dough onto a clean work surface (it will be dry and crumbly). Knead by hand for approximately 4-minutes. At the end of 4-minutes you should have a smooth round ball.
- Wrap the ball of dough in plastic wrap and let it rest on the counter for 1 hour.
- Divide the dough into 16 equal pieces. Form each piece into a smooth, round ball. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside.
- Heat a cast iron skillet or comal over medium to medium high heat for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, lightly flour the work surface and rolling pin. Roll each disc into a 6″ round. To maintain round tortillas, roll in an upward motion once and then rotate the dough a quarter turn. Continue this pattern until the tortilla is round and the desired size.
- Brush off excess flour and set aside until you have about 6 or 8 tortillas rolled out and ready to cook. Place a tortilla in the hot skillet. When it begins to form bubbles on top, flip the tortilla and cook on the other side. This should only take about a 1 minute in total to cook both sides. Stack cooked tortillas and cover with a kitchen towel until ready to eat.
Notes
- For smaller, street taco size tortillas, divide dough into 24 pieces. For larger, burrito size tortillas, divide dough into 8 pieces.
Make Bacon Fat Flour Tortillas Often! Serve with Everything!
These only take a couple of hours to make and an hour of that is just letting the dough rest. That means these Bacon Fat Flour Tortillas come together fairly easily. I make these by myself, but if you have an extra pair of hands in the kitchen willing to help, that’s even better. Put them to work rolling out the dough and you’ll have these on the table in no time. Plus, they taste so good, folks will practically line up to help.
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