I'm working on sourdough tortillas. To reduce calories I like the idea of sourdough to soften the tortilla instead of lots of oil.
So far I'm experimenting, just measuring salt and baking soda, and eyeballing/guessing the rest.
l did remember to weigh the total resulting dough today, about 120 grams, and that was enough for 3 tortillas about 8 to 8.5" in diameter each.
So far I have... per 120 grams of total dough (3 tortillas):
- 1/8 tsp baking soda. (Previously tried 1/4 tsp, which was too much. will try 1/8 next time.)
- 1/8 tsp salt.
- 3/8 tsp regular olive oil.
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My starter was only about 3 days old, and was kept in the fridge, taken out, not warmed up first. It's 100% hydration, in the past has always been fed with Bob's Red Mill All Purpose flour. I did not plan on adding any water, but I added too much flour (same BRM AP), and so I had to add a few drops to get a soft dough.
I mixed the salt and baking soda in with the flour first, to ensure even distribution, before working the flour into the starter.
At 1/4 tsp baking soda (per 120 g total dough) I could taste the baking soda. I'm using baking soda instead of baking powder because the sourdough starter is already acidic.
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So... some of the "rise" or leavening action comes from the fermenting sourdough, as long as you leave it to ferment a bit, and some supposely comes from the heat/baking soda/acidic starter.
Today I cooked the tortillas soon after mixing the dough, and so the baking soda was enough to leaven it. On a previous attempt, I gave the dough some time to ferment before cooking, and got a softer and more airy tortilla. Sorry, I forgot the timing already.
I found that you do need at least some oil for a soft tortilla. So far my oil-free tortillas are not flexible enough to use as wraps.
Also, don't cook the tortilla too long or it will stiffen and the skin gets too hard.
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I cooked it on a fry pan/griddle at medium-low heat, 4 out of 10 on the electric burner, until there were brown spots on both sides.
I let the tortillas sit covered a while after cooking so that the internal moisture would soften the outer skin. A "tortilla keeper" would be good for that. You do that with oil/lard based tortillas anyway.
The sitting/softening process is important, or else the tortillas are too stiff to fold.
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Interesting concept to throw sourdough at. There is just no substitute when lard is required. Do you use a press or rolling pin? One of the my cherished souvenirs of my time working in a fish camp in Mexico was a tortilla press. They were made fresh for every meal and sometimes used as a substitute for silverware with the daily breakfast of scrambled eggs and black beans.
Rolling pin, of the center-bulge type, not a straight cylinder. I never mastered the press.