Happy Civic Holiday to my Ontario readers! It’s the second last long weekend of the summer! I can’t believe summer is almost over! I don’t even want to think of The Ex (Canadian National Exhibition). So let’s not!
How many times have you heard or experienced: Necessity is the Mother of Invention? Some of my best cooking experiences come from exactly that expression, either I’ve forgotten to purchase something or what I was counting on was no longer viable. Case in point: we were at the Upper Deck a couple of weeks back and I had intended on making Waldorf Tuna Wraps for our car lunch for the way home but the fajita shells were old and too dry to make a decent wrap that wouldn’t fall apart, so I decided to make some fajita shells from scratch! They worked out so well, JT proclaimed he liked them better because they had flavour and did not feel dry and crumbly when he bit into it, in fact, they reminded me of a very thin Naan because they are slightly chewy. My wraps held together perfectly. So one afternoon in the city, I decided to experiment and create a recipe that was blog worthy and this post was developed.
I had no idea making these fajita shells was so easy, 4 ingredients, mixed together and knead a little, rest a little (both the dough and the cook), roll out, cook on stove-top in a skillet and they are done! See? So damn simple. I doubt I’ll buy ready made fajita shells ever again. This recipe makes 7 wraps that are about 25 cm or 10 inches in diameter, if you make smaller ones you’ll get more of them! I was being lazy and didn’t want to have to wash a whole bunch of measuring tools so I simply put my bowl on my scale, tared it to zero and kept adding ingredients, each time, tarring to measure from zero. One bowl makes it even easier.
Easy Whole Wheat Fajita Shells
A KitchenInspirations Original Recipe
This recipe makes 7 shells that are about 25 cm or 10 inches in diameter
Ingredients:
- 275 g (scant 2 cups) AP unbleached white flour
- 75 g (2/3 cup) whole wheat flour
- 20 g (2 tbsp) EVOO
- 5 g (3/4 tsp) sea salt
- ~200-220 g (2/3-1 cup) water
- non-stick cooking spray or a light vegetable oil
Directions:
- Measure all of the ingredients into the large bowl of your stand mixer. Insert dough hook and slowly knead the ingredients together until a smooth ball forms (I made this dough while it was rather humid so you may need to adjust the water). Set aside for 10 minutes and allow to rest.
- Divide the dough into 7 equal portions (about 83 g each). Dust your work surface with a little flour, and roll out each ball into a 25 cm or 10-inch circle. It’s best not to stack them because they will stick together.
- Heat to medium, a cast iron skillet that is at least 10 inches in diameter. Spray or oil the skillet lightly. Cook each fajita shell about 2 to 2.5 minutes each side or until slightly browned.
- Allow the shells to cool ever so slightly and bag them immediately with parchment separators in a zip-lock bag, use as needed. These will stay fresh for 4 days but they have no preservatives so if you are not using them right away, store parchment separated shells in the freezer. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight to use. If they have hardened, heat very gently prior to use to make them more supple.
- You won’t regret this.
Notes:
- I cooked my fajitas on a well-seasoned cast iron crêpe pan, you may use a non-stick pan or a large skillet.
- Purée spinach or basil with some water and use it instead of just plain water.
- Use tomato juice instead of plain water.
- Flavour with herbs or spices for a change.
- I updated the ingredients with imperial volume measures August 3.
They look absolutely delicious, Eva. Congratulations! I have been admiring you for the beautiful naans for such a long time and now fajita shells…. They do look better than anything I’ve ever bought. I’m in awe of your skills!
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I’ve been enjoying far more wraps these days than I ever have. Finding a good wrap is a real problem. I just may give your recipe a whirl, Eva. I make my own flatbread from a family recipe and yours doesn’t look much different. I think I can handle it. 🙂
Yes, summer is flying by but I see that you’ve been able to spend time at the cabin. How nice is that! I hope you can squeeze a few more get-aways before you-know-what returns.
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I always make corn tortillas from scratch and I’ll try these now too. GREG
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Thank you Greg, let me know how they work out.
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Oh, yes! These must be SO much better than store bought. I bought some pitas for gyros this week and they were so dry and pathetic. They’ve been on my baking list for years, but I didn’t have time to pull it off. I need to take a cue from you and just do it.
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Hi Liz, I bought a package of flour tortilla because I ran out of time and they stuck together making several of them impossible to use.
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We’re guilty of it too, but in the US most of us don’t measure things out by weight enough. And it’s so much easier! And really more accurate. Need to get in the habit. Although of course I’ll need to convert a bunch of recipes. 🙂 Anyway, these look great! I make corn tortillas often, but rarely flour ones. I need to — I’ll bet the flavor of this is terrific. Good stuff — thanks so much.
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Hi John,
I have a corn tortilla press but I’ve never made corn tortillas with it, will definitely give it a try.
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Nothing beats freshly made does it? Some of the ones sit on the shelves at the shops for a while so if you have the time making your own is so rewarding as you have shown! 😀
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Hi Lorraine, I had bought a package recently because I didn’t have time to make them and they all stuck together making it virtually impossible to use! I was not happy.
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So much fresher and better!
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Thanks Angie.
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Homemade is always so, so much better than store bought. I will not buy Chinese pancake wrappers nor dumpling wrappers from the store, like mpasquali, I dislike the artificial taste and texture.
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Thank you Norma, I’m like you, I have made Chinese wrappers too and they have very few ingredients.
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I wish the recipe was in cups/tsp as my scales aren’t very accurate, but they do look good.
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Hi Maria, Next time I make them (this week), I’ll measure this recipe out in cups and update the post.
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Thank you. Incentive to try a recipe increases with ease of measurement of ingredients for lazy people like me. 🙂
Naan, pita, tortillas, fajita shells … can’t say I’ve had huge amounts of success with them in the past. And I think I’m a decent enough bread baker so I don’t know what the problem is.
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They look great, Eva. Homemade are always the best anyway. Love the wholewheat addition, I guess it opens the door to substituting all sorts of fancy artisan flours we can get now.
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Hi David, thank you for your kind comment. I agree with homemade and I was very surprised at how easy and few ingredients these actually had. Some of the artisan flours would make a very tasty base for sure — love that idea, thank you!
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I started making my own fajita shells earlier this year too because we started to really dislike the artificial taste and texture of store bought. You’re right – making them from scratch tastes so much better and is super easy. I like the idea of using some whole wheat flour in the mix and the different flavour options – I’ll try that next time! And how did you get yours so perfectly round?! Mine always look really “rustic”! 🙂
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Hi Michela, thank you for your kind words. How I get mine round is by starting out round and I invested in a marble rolling pin so I don’t have to put as much elbow grease into rolling them out (makes it super easy to keep it round). Superstore has an excellent one for a reasonable price. It’s great for rolling butter pastries because the marble is very cold.
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Awesome! Thanks!
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