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I searched for tortilla recipes and I found several, sometimes very different one from another - for instance, Mexican ones are mostly made with wheat flour while other ones are made with white corn one - or mixing the two, sometimes. Plus several other variations.

I am interested in making tortillas for backpacking, eventually for trips that could last up to a week and in warm weather.

what kind of flour, or flour mix, should I use to get the longest shelf life out of my tortillas? Are there any other recommendations about what is the best way to make them so that they last as long as possible?

Dakatine
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  • (I can't make recommendations on making your own, as I'm not posting this as an answer). I find that store bought tortillas tend to last longer than homemade ... I suspect that there are some preservatives in there. I can leave flour tortillas at room temperature for a 2-3 weeks without problems (so long as they bag is sealed, and they don't dry out). Most corn tortillas will also last 2-3 weeks, unless you specifically get the ones sold w/out preservatives in the refrigerated section of latin markets. (they'll go moldy after ~2 weeks, even if refrigerated). – Joe Mar 07 '16 at 16:57
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    Recipes usually have a long shelf life ;). – GdD Mar 07 '16 at 17:25
  • I'd argue that most Mexican tortilla recipes are largely made with corn... while they may eat flour tortillas, they're not the "norm" the way flour is in the US. – Catija Mar 07 '16 at 18:00
  • @Catija : it's a regional thing. Flour tortillas are common in northern Mexico (especially along the US border). It might be a more modern thing, but then we could argue that there shouldn't be tomatoes in Italian food, potatoes in Irish food or chilies in Chinese food, as they're all "new world" crops. It's a regional thing, like how northern Italy tends to be more rice, corn and potato, not pasta. – Joe Mar 07 '16 at 19:34

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Start with dent corn or flint corn. You get it in 50Lb bags at the local feed supply store $12. Nixtamalize, grind into masa add salt and water, press and cook into tortillas. Thye'll last a couple weeks. Wheat flour or sweet corn recipes will spoil faster. Yellow corn tortillas also have the advantage of actually tasting like corn; and they won't dissolve when you try to make enchiladas out of them like commercial, hyper-palatable tortilla-like-objects.

Wayfaring Stranger
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  • You can get nixtamalized corn flour in stores that sell a fair amount of Latin American food. The major brand is Maseca. – Jolenealaska Mar 08 '16 at 03:55
  • @Jolenealaska The instant Maseca stuff is usually dried and powdered nixtamalized sweet corn. Very, bland, high sugar content. It's convenient but you won't get anything that even vaguely tastes like a tortilla made with yellow field corn that you've nixtamalized and ground yourself. Major urban centers on the west coast will have places that sell stone ground yellow masa in the refrigerator aisles. That stuff is not bad. It'll even have brown spots, the way tortillas should, but it's also way expensive. Far cheaper to make it yourself. – Wayfaring Stranger Mar 08 '16 at 13:28