GF Black Bean Tortillas
These tortillas and the Hippie Chick Bread are from Nerissa Oden’s book, Bread-Free Bread. Make sure to read the Author’s Tips before making the recipe as she has many tips for success.
Excerpted with permission of publisher. Bread-Free Bread: Amazingly Healthy Gluten-Free, Grain-Free Breads, Muffins, Cookies & More, by Nerissa Oden. Published by Countryman Press, 2014.
The healthy international black bean is central to this tortilla. It’s simple ingredients promote versatility. Breakfast tacos, TexMex burritos, Thai wraps, crunchy tacos & salad bowls, enchiladas…
- 1½ cups cooked black beans, or 1 (15-ounce) can, drained and rinsed
- ½ cup water
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ cup chia seed meal
- 2½ teaspoons unflavored gelatin
- In a blender, blend the beans, water, and salt thoroughly, breaking down all bean skin.
- Transfer to a medium bowl. Whisk in the chia seed meal until the mixture becomes doughlike.
- Place in a container with a lid and refrigerate for 4 hours, or overnight.
- Place the chilled dough in a large bowl and fold in the gelatin with your preferred utensil. I use a fork.
- Preheat the oven to 325°F.
- Form half of the dough into five tortillas. (See Tips below)
- Place the Pan Lining Paper containing the five tortillas on a 12 x 17-inch cookie sheet.
- Bake for 12 to 15 minutes.
- Place the cookie sheet on a hot pad while you turn each tortilla over by carefully lifting it from the parchment before turning it over and placing it back down.
- Bake for another 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and place the tortillas on a cooling rack.
- Bake and cool the remaining five tortillas as above.
- Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator.
Author’s Tips: Introduction to Tortillas
Your tortillas will bake evenly if their thickness is level from edge to edge: the middle not too fat and the edges not too thin. Easier said than done.
Also, note that my recipe yields are for 6-inch tortillas. If you want to make larger tortillas, increase the ingredient amounts proportionally.
How to Form Bread-Free Bread Tortillas
Tear off enough Pan Lining Paper to cover a 12 x 17-inch cookie sheet. Next, tear off a short strip to make a 7 x 15-inch strip. Then cut that strip in two, creating two fat rectangles.
Scoop the “dough” with an ice-cream scoop until you’ve made the number of scoops specified in the recipe instructions. Or cut into pieces equal in volume, based on your recipe. Place the scooped or cut pieces equal distance apart on the Pan Lining Paper, parchment side up. Take one of your fat rectangles and with its foil side down, facing the dough, press down on the first dough ball.
Now your job is to form the largest tortilla possible without the dough flowing outside the paper. Use your hands, or a rolling pin, or combination as I do. After the dough is shaped, slowly peel away the top paper. Repeat.
After all the tortillas are formed, use a rubber spatula to gently push in any edges that are thinner than the body. The edges need to stay plump to prevent overbaking.
After a few attempts at forming a tortilla by hand or rolling pin, you will pick up a few tricks. One trick is that the edges can be built up while you are molding the tortillas under the paper. Just press and drag the edges back toward the center with your fingers.
Feel free to use a tortilla press. If you do, make sure to cut squares of Pan Lining Paper to form a barrier between the dough and the plates of the press. To make tortillas level when using a press, flip the tortillas after the first pressing, then gently press again. This is because the first press creates a tortilla thicker on one side than on the other, so flipping and making a second, gentle press levels the thickness out.
No comments yet.