Soft, flexible, 4-ingredient lectin free tortillas made with just cassava flour, fat, salt and water. These are exactly like the soft flour tortillas you remember.
Tortillas are staple of Mexican cuisine. Tacos, burritos, quesadillas, and fajitas are just some of the dishes that are best served with a great tortilla. But when you're on a reduced lectin diet, a great compliant tortilla seems impossible.
I've explored many grain free tortilla recipes to come up with my own perfect, and I mean perfectly perfect, LFG tortilla. I see a lot of grain-free recipes out there incorporating vinegar, baking soda and xanthan gum to try to get their dough to behave like a normal tortilla, only to fall flat.
You're overthinking it! Just four ingredients and the right ratios are all that's required for THE BEST soft flour tortillas on the planet. I'll go so far as to say, these are better than tortillas made with wheat flour. They're bubbly, light, soft, tender and have just the right chew. And they're super easy to make.
Now, for a note about fat. I prefer pastured pork lard to get the best flavor and texture. But you shouldn't eat a lot of animal fat. If you eat tortillas moderately, I recommend you use pork fat. Just don't eat a lot of animal fat on a daily basis. If you use tortillas daily, use a compliant fat like red palm fruit shortening or olive oil.
Now, for ANOTHER note about fat. A few followers have come to me with concerns about palm oil. Let's straighten this out. Red palm oil, the oil in Nutiva Superfood shortening, is not the same palm oil found in Nutella and other foods, and getting all the bad press for being harmful to our health. That bad, refined palm oil is palm "kernel" oil. It's seed oil! Red palm oil is derived from the fruit. It is virgin, unrefined and red in color. Red because it contains antioxidants like beta carotene and several others. That's why it's a superfood! Nutiva Superfood Red Palm Shortening is made from coconut and red palm fruit oils, and it's an amazing fat. I still prefer pork fat for flavor, but the Nutiva shortening is a great compromise that gives great results for tortillas.
Okay, now that we've got that straight, let's get on with making these. Once you make these tortillas, you can keep them in the fridge for up to two weeks in a plastic bag. Reheat them for a few seconds in the microwave and they're as fresh and soft as the moment you made them.
As far as special equipment goes, I do recommend a cast iron tortilla press. It will make your life so much easier. I use one I got on Amazon that I absolutely love. It‘s good looking and I display it when it’s not in use. Friends come over and see it and it becomes a conversation piece. When I tell them it’s a tortilla press, they say, “You must be some badass chef to make your own tortillas.” Okay!
Get the same cast iron tortilla press Kristine uses! Here's the link on Amazon:
The alternative to a tortilla soup press is rolling them out or pressing them with a heavy pot, which will take a bit longer. And it's much harder to get uniformly shaped tortillas that look so pretty in a stack. The press makes perfectly round tortillas with smooth edges every time.
The texture of my Lectin Free Gourmet tortillas is the talk of the town. They're just slightly crispy in the browned, bubbly spots. They're so soft and bendy and chewy on the inside. They hold your taco ingredients securely until the last bite. Best of all, they're just so damn tasty!
The Recipe
Grain-free Tortillas
3/4 Cup Cassava Flour
1/4 C Nutiva Superfood Red Palm Shortening
1/4 t Salt
1/2 - 3/4 C Ice Water
Instructions:
Step 1: Make the Dough
Heat your electric griddle or stove top griddle on highest setting. In food processor with dough blade, add cassava flour and salt. Pulse to incorporate the salt. Cut in the fat by pulsing a few times until you have large crumbs. Now add the ice water slowly until the dough comes together. I measure 3/4 cup of ice water and pour in as much of it as needed for the dough to form a ball. It's usually between 1/2 and 3/4 cup. Dough will feel wet like new play dough fresh out it the container.
Step 2: Press the Tortillas
Next, dump the dough ball on a cutting surface and form it into a circle. Cut it into 8 equal pie pieces (10 equal pieces for street tacos). Take a piece and roll into a ball. Place a dough ball in the center of the press that you've covered with a piece of parchment paper. Place a piece of plastic wrap over the ball. Press the dough, but let the press do the work. No need to put your weight into it.
Step 3: Cook the Tortillas
Slowly remove the top sheet of plastic and lift the parchment with the tortilla on it off the press. Quickly turn it onto your hot griddle. Slowly peel the piece of parchment off the tortilla. Cook tortilla about 1 minute on each side. Repeat the process until all your tortillas are made. Stack them on a plate covered with another plat or in a tortilla warmer as you cook them.
Cut them in sixths and make tortilla chips, or nachos. Reheat them in the microwave for fresh hot tortillas on demand.
ENJOY!