Sourdough Flour Tortillas

Despite the name, sourdough discard is NOT garbage. But if you’re new to keeping a sourdough starter, you may not know what to do with it. 

I keep my sourdough culture pretty small, usually between 100 and 200 grams, depending on what I’m up to. Even though I’m baking a lot, my twice-a-day feeding regimen leaves me with a enough discard for a project every week or two. 

I recently shared the following tip on the ‘gram: You can collect your discard in the fridge until you’re ready to use it! My favorite thing to make is crackers, but lately I’ve also been living for these biscuits. We aren’t big pancake/waffle people, but that’s another classic application.  (I have my eye on this recipe!) 

Folks, here’s the real secret: You can use your discard in nearly any baked good, and you don’t need a special recipe. In general, if you are making something that calls for flour and water (or another liquid), you can subtract some of the flour and liquid and replace it with sourdough discard in equal amounts. When doing this, the starter isn’t acting as the leavening agent in the recipe, it’s just there to lend a little complexity to the flavor of the thing you’re making. (And it’s saving you flour!) How much you add depends on how much you’ve got, and how funky you want the thing to taste. In the flour tortilla recipe I share below, the discard makes up about 15 percent of the total flour, so the flavor ends up being pretty subtle. Feel free to adjust to your taste! You’re in charge. 

Go forth, and sourdough everything. 

My one caution: avoid adding discard to recipes that don’t call for liquid. A cookie, for example, will come out cakey with the addition of the water that’s in the discard. Again, I’ve had the best success just doing a straight-forward swap of discard for flour/liquid. 

Now, onto these tortillas! They’re such a treat- rich, pliable, flavorful, and hold up nicely as leftovers. I do love the snap of a freshly made corn tortilla, especially when it’s filled with lucious meat. But if I’m being honest, my heart belongs to the flour tortilla. It’s the tortilla I’d bring to a desert island. (Or, you know, quarantine. Although I did spy a bag of masa harina on the barren flour shelf the other day and snagged it. I might even add some discard to my next corn tortilla!)  

I make these tortillas all the time, and they’re in regular rotation with my Good Luck Dinner families. We most often wrap them around fajitas, and I occasionally roll them out BIG to make burritos. Another great choice is quesadillas! If you’re looking for another way to stretch leftovers, consider putting quesadillas into your quarantine cooking rotation. Cheese is mandatory, but you can also stuff them with all manner of leftover veg and protein that you need to use up. I love to scramble eggs and serve “breakfast quesadillas”.  

Before you dig in, a few notes about this recipe: This dough doesn't take long to mix or cook, but it does like a nice long rest so the dough can relax and the tortillas can roll out easily. If I’m making tortillas for dinner, I’ll mix the dough in the morning (when I’m feeding my starter) and then let them rest until I’m ready to roll. I also often mix up a batch and put them in the fridge overnight (or even a few days). Either way, give them at least an hour to rest. Another note: I use lard in my tortillas. I keep it in my pantry for tortillas and certain pastries. You can find it in the baking aisle of well-stocked grocery stores* near the shortening and oil. But! if you don’t have it or don’t eat animals, feel free to sub vegetable shortening or any neutral-tasting oil. Finally, if you don’t have sourdough discard, simply omit it and add 40 grams of flour and 40 grams of warm water. 

*stores that serve Latinx patrons are more likely to have it.

Sourdough Flour Tortillas 

Yields 12 small (6’’) tortillas, or 6 large (12’’) tortillas 

Ingredients:

• 245 flour (your choice- I usually use a mix of AP and a little whole wheat)

• 1 t baking powder

• 1 1/2 t kosher salt (or 1 t table salt)

• 80g lard, melted

• 100g warm water

• 80g sourdough discard

1. Measure the flour, salt, and into the bowl of a stand mixture and stir to combine. 

2. Melt the lard in the microwave (30 seconds to a minute) or in a small pan on the stove and let cool slightly.

3. Weigh out the warm water and sourdough discard into a liquid measuring cup and give it a stir to combine. 

4. Affix the paddle attachment to the stand mixer. With the mixer running on low speed, pour the lard into the flour and mix. Then, with the mixer still running, pour the water/starter mixture in a steady stream. When the dough comes together, increase the speed to medium and mix for a few minutes. The dough will be silky and shiny. 

5. Wrap the dough in plastic and let it rest at room temperature for a few hours. Alternatively, let the dough rest in the refrigerator overnight. (This rest is important- it relaxes the gluten so the tortillas are easy to roll out thin.) 

6. Using a bench scraper, divide the dough into 12 equal pieces. Gather the ends of each piece and pinch together, then roll into a ball. Flatten the balls slightly with your hand. Cover with a towel (or the pieces of plastic you used to rest the dough) and let rest for at least 15 minutes (they’ll rest here happily for longer if you get distracted). 

7. Heat a nicely seasoned cast iron skillet over medium heat for a few minutes. 

8. Using a rolling pin, roll each tortilla into a circle that’s about 7 inches.* It’s easiest to get an even shape by rolling from the center to the edge, rotating as you go. The edges might smear onto the work surface- just nudge them back a little before peeling the tortilla off the work surface.

*I find that I don’t need any flour to roll out the tortillas, just a smooth, clean work surface. You might find that you need a light dusting of flour to roll out your tortillas. Cooking the tortillas goes pretty fast- about 90 seconds each. You can choose to roll all the tortillas out before you cook them, or you could roll them out as cook as you go. If you roll in advance, cover them so they don’t dry out.

9. Cook the tortillas for 30 seconds to 1 minute on each side. You should see some bubbles form on the surface before you flip. 

10. Stack the tortillas on a plate, flipping the pile every so often so they stay soft and pliable.