Homemade, Vista Hermosa or Bust

A love letter to the humble flour tortilla

It’s never been a competition for me. If corn and flour tortillas are on the menu, I’m 10/10 siding with the latter. Always and forever.

That’s not to say I don’t like corn tortillas - I will eat them. I had a buffalo cauliflower taco on blue corn tortillas at Jajaja earlier this week (but I will admit I did eat the fillings and leave half the tortilla on my plate). There’s just something about the chewiness of a fresh, griddled flour tortilla that provides a sensory overload that corn doesn’t grant me. Flour tortilla with protein of choice + the umami-ness of cheese + pickled red onions and slaw = perfect bite.

Back to my point…since I’ve dived into my breadmaking side quests, I have been auditing all of the other carbohydrates that I eat frequently. Focaccia, I got on lock. Rye bread - WIP. Tortillas? I’ve always purchased them from Vista Hermosa when and if I could find them at Whole Foods. But a few weekends ago, when I made a trip to my local grocery store and checked out the selection, I hated to see so many additional ingredients. One brand even added in blue food coloring to the blue corn tortillas. From that moment onward, it was either I was going to get Vista Hermosa or I was going to make my own.

I found a recipe online by Inspired Taste that I have been replicating and testing out and absolutely loving. After 3-4 batches, I found I typically do not need the entire amount of water I prepped and butter (specifically Vital Farms butter) tastes better as the fat versus using pork lard.

I’m also in the process of testing out tortilla sizes and seeing if I’m able to replicate a burrito sized tortilla at home - would be perfect for bean burritos. I have been following this Tiktok creator who I have been online stalking (appropriately!) because her wraps look incredible.

@maryelouisCheck it out - Tex-Mex Breakfast Burrito using what I have on hand. This is the type of meal you can pull together without grocery shopping, if you adhere to my lean pantry stock list. The sauce is just cashews, salsa verde from a jar, some granulated garlic, salt and water. Tofu scramble is tofu, minced onion, turmeric, granulated onion, granulated garlic, nutritional yeast and an optional splash of non-dairy milk. Thanks, Matt! The hashbrowns are TJ’s brand and I always have like 3 packs in the freezer. Same with my burrito size tortillas because, if you haven’t noticed, I eat wraps and burritos ALL THE TIME. The black beans are canned, easy enough. And that’s it - burrito time! #vegetarian #eatmoreplants #plantbased #nutrientdense #pregnancyjourney #postpartum #pantrygoals #pantryrestock #veganfood #antidiet #intuitiveeating #plantbasedrecipes #breakfast #brunch

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So far, I do think this is a very easy project and putting some time aside each Sunday has been a game changer. I’ll make a batch that will last us 1-2 weeks (depending on how many dinner tacos and breakfast meals we want out of it) and it tastes way better than store bought. We are a big fish taco household and have had this twice in the past couple of weeks. Homemade pickled red onions are also a must!

As I continue my tortilla journey, I do want to invest in a tortilla press (hint hint close friends it’s on my wedding registry).

Till next time,

Angel

PS. This next week’s project is testing out the hydration levels in focaccia. I have been doing 1:1 but now have added 40 grams more water (600 g total) versus 560 bread flour. Updates to come.