sourdough tortillas.

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.