Recipes for Grain free and Gluten free Homemade Tortillas

Update:  If you’re looking for step by step instructions with photos on how to make grain-free almond flour tortillas, click here to see my photo tutorial of my grain-free tortillas.

Nothing beats homemade, especially when it comes to tortillas.  I’ve made corn tortillas and they were simply nothing like the ones you buy in the store.  I also decided to venture into the art of making gluten free tortillas and experienced the same thing – homemade is simply yummier.  I really don’t mind the Food for Life brand of Brown Rice Tortillas – they are great in a pinch.  But if you can, plan some extra time to try to make your own sometime.

The brown rice tortillas I used to make are based on Bette Hagman’s recipe from The Gluten Free Gourmet Cooks Comfort Food.  I really love them.  However, since I last made them, I started soaking my flours first over night.  Without retesting this recipe, I wouldn’t know how to adapt it.  I am also grain free now which takes on a whole new meaning.  However, here is the original recipe I used to use:

(See pictures here!)

Here is the recipe:

Brown Rice Gluten-free Homemade Tortillas
Servings:  4-6
Prep and cook time:  35-50  minutes

Ingredients:
2 cups GF mix*
1 ½ teaspoons xanthan gum
2 tsp real maple syrup or honey
1 tsp salt
2 tsp almond meal
1 cup warm water

*GF Mix:  2 parts brown rice flour
2/3 part potato starch
1/3 part tapioca flour

Steps:
1.  In the bowl of your electric mixer, whisk together the flour mix, xanthan gum, salt and almond meal.  Add the water and sweetener and beat on medium for 1 minute.

2.  Remove the dough from the mixer and shape into a ball; divide into 6 pieces and, working on plastic wrap dusted with arrowroot powder, roll each piece into a thin 12” round.  As you roll each tortilla out, separate it from the plastic wrap gently and place it over your hand and forearm.  Flip it into the pan to cook.

3.  Cook each tortilla on a medium-hot non-greased griddle for about 1 minute per side.  I rolled each tortilla as each one was cooking the griddle.  But you can also roll them all out and then cook them one by one.  Makes 6 large tortilla wraps.

Grain-free option:

Now that I am grain-free, it doesn’t leave a lot of options for tortillas, but last week I decided to give it a shot with blanched almond flour.  They turned out much better than I expected, and as a wrap for burrito fixings, they were really quite wonderful.  I would like to work on the recipe a bit more to try to make them a bit more flexible.  But they are really great as is.  I started with Bette’s recipe but ended up with something different:

Grain free Almond Flour Homemade Tortillas:
Servings:  6-8
Prep and cook time:  35-50 minutes

Ingredients:
3 cups blanched almond flour
1 tsp sea salt
2 tsp ground flax seeds
2 tsp honey
1 egg
1/4 -1/3 cup water

Steps:
1.  You don’t need a mixer for this.  Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl.  Beat the egg in a separate bowl and add the water – use less to start.  Combine mixtures until it forms a firm dough that isn’t too sticky to handle.  If it is sticky, add more flour.  (Be very conservative with the water at the beginning for this reason – that is why I ended up using 3 cups!

2.  These were harder to roll out compared to the brown rice tortillas because I couldn’t use arrowroot.  I did roll each little ball on a piece of plastic wrap with a rolling pin.  I oiled the rolling pin a little bit to prevent sticking and tearing.

Note:  Don’t expect perfection – these are not going to be your ordinary completely round tortillas like you buy in the store.  (Neither are the brown rice tortillas).  Each one of these tortillas has a personality and uniqueness – they will have jagged edges, and some little holes here and there but that’s okay!  Mine usually turn our oval for some reason.

3.  Oil a cast iron skillet with olive oil and then heat skillet to medium heat. Heat it well before you add the first one.  When hot, gently put your hand underneath the tortilla.  Then quickly flip it into the skillet, trying to make it land flat in the middle of the pan.  If there are folds, try to even them out, or just mush them down.

4. Cook for about 1 minute on each side, or until they are golden brown.  Cook each one, one at a time.  (Or two if they are small).  The skillet gets hotter as you use it so you may need to turn it down to prevent burning.  Also, while I didn’t use oil for the brown rice tortillas, I used them for almost every one of the almond flour ones.  This was because I felt they would stick otherwise and I think they would have.  You could also use coconut oil for this.

One more note:  I made the first one without the flax seeds and they fell apart a little bit.  I added the flax seeds and I believe they held together better.  But you can try it both ways to see if it makes a difference.

Click here for pictures!