Sourdough Discard Green Tortillas

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Sourdough discard green tortillas are a great way to add some extra veggies into the diet, especially for children! Full of iron, vitamin C, and vitamin b6, spinach is a superfood that we could all stand to have a little more of in our lives. I’ve been making green tortillas for years and my kids eat them really well. Recently I decided to develop a version that uses sourdough discard! This adds a bit of a tangy taste and depth to the flavors. Surprisingly quick to mix up, these tortillas are a great way to use excess spinach from your fridge or garden.

Kids (and even adults!) might not feel like eating a bunch of lettuce with a burrito or quesadilla. With these tortillas you can rest easy knowing you are getting an extra serving of greens into your meal.

What You Will Love About this Recipe

Spinach is nutritious – chock full of iron, vitamin C, vitamin b6, and magnesium.

These tortillas are a great way to use up sourdough discard. If you’re familiar with sourdough baking, discard is the portion of the starter that you remove when feeding the starter to keep it active. Discard is inactive starter that can last in the fridge for around 1 to 2 weeks and be used in recipes that often have another type of leaven, like baking powder. In my house we like to let the discard pile up in a jar over several days until it is enough to make sourdough pizza crust, muffins, or these yummy green tortillas.

Green tortillas are versatile – delicious for quesadillas, burrito night, fajitas, or even warm out of the pan by themselves if you’re like my youngsters.

I’ve found that recipes like this help reduce food waste in my house. It can be easy to let greens or even sourdough discard get neglected in the fridge. Instead, toss it all into a recipe like this and you have a nutritious base for a lunch or dinner.

Want to try other greens besides spinach?

I’ve substituted kale and even nettles for the spinach with success. You will probably want to use less because they are much stronger tasting greens.

Rolling out the tortillas might feel hard at first, but soon you’ll be a pro rolling them out faster than they cook. Some people who make tortillas use a tortilla press. I was given one for my wedding, but I broke it on the first try. Oops! With just a bit of practice, it is quite easy to do with just a rolling pin, and you won’t need an extra single-use tool in your cupboard.

Ingredients for Sourdough Discard Green Tortillas:

Fresh Spinach – I’ve always used fresh as it has the most nutrients, and it is the way I prefer to purchase greens. But feel free to try frozen and just make sure to pay attention to the weight.

Sourdough Starter Discard – Active or discard sourdough starter can be used for this recipe. There is no other leaven in this recipe.

Coconut Oil or Avocado Oil: I typically use avocado oil for most things, but I actually really like coconut oil for homemade tortillas! Something about it makes such a smooth texture and they are easy to roll out. I don’t notice the flavor, but if you’re sensitive to the taste of coconut oil you might prefer avocado oil.

All-purpose flour – All-purpose flour works the best for these spinach tortillas. Homemade tortillas are one bread product that I’ve found to work extremely well with 100% whole wheat flour. But for these spinach tortillas, they really need the extra binding power of the white flour to make them soft and pliable. You can make them with whole wheat, but you will have to adjust the ratio a little.

Salt – brings all the flavors together.

Tools you may need:

Rolling Pin

Stand Mixer or mixing bowl

A food processor or blender

How to Make Sourdough Discard Green Tortillas:

Rinse the spinach and place it in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Cover and steam for a few minutes until wilted and soft, stirring occasionally.

While the spinach is steaming, start preparing the rest of the tortilla ingredients.

Add the flour, sourdough discard, salt, and oil into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.

When the spinach is soft, remove it from the pan along with any remaining water, and place it in a food processor or blender. Pulse/blend for a few seconds until smooth, scraping down the sides if needed.

You can also just finely chop it with a chef’s knife on a cutting board.

Next, add the spinach into the flour mixture, along with any remaining water/juices.

With the dough hook and a low-medium setting (setting number 4 on my mixer), knead the dough for 3 minutes until smooth. While it is kneading, sprinkle in small amounts of flour as needed to keep the dough from sticking to the sides.

Alternatively, you can knead these 5 minutes by hand on a smooth surface. I made tortillas by hand for years and there is something so therapeutic about kneading by hand.

You can now let your dough rest, covered, for 30 minutes to 2 hours. Or if you are in a hurry, you can also roll out the tortillas right away.

How to Cook the Green Tortillas:

When you are ready to cook your tortillas, cut the dough into 12 equal pieces. (This makes medium-sized tortillas, so if you want smaller or larger then cut a different amount.) Shape each piece into a ball and roll out as thin as you can into a circle, dusting with flour as needed to keep the dough from sticking. It can be hard to make a perfect circle, so just do your best and know that it gets easier with practice.

Lightly grease a cast iron skillet with avocado oil and preheat it on medium-low. Cook each tortilla for 30 seconds to 1 minute on each side, until light bubbles form. Transfer it to a platter, and cover with aluminum or a towel to keep warm and continue cooking the rest of the tortillas the same way.

These sourdough green tortillas are delicious served warm with burrito or fajita fixings.

Looking for more yummy recipes to make with sourdough discard? Try my Sourdough Discard Triple Ginger Scones

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