I have a small wooden press. It is very basic and works well. I am thinking of making a burrito-sized one.
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Make two… and sell me one. (c;
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Found this one… what do you think?
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Since I’ve only made flour tortillas once, I’m a novice!! BUT, I did have a great teacher. I absolutely think this is worth a try, and I’ve saved it to my recipe saving app. One thing my friend stressed is to keep moving the dough by quarter turns with each roll - this probably helps with not overworking the dough, but not sure, but also helps to make them round/roundish. I’ll let you know if I try these, and please do the same.
On a related note, I’ve had homemade refried beans made with olive oil, that I would have sworn we’re made with lard. I’m all for healthy substitutions that deliver good results. Good luck on the tortilla making!
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Going to try that recipe in the next few days. Quesadilla and a clear tortilla soup sounds like a great dinner.
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Yes. I’ve used shortening, but I have also successfully used lard and beef fat. Usually a 4:1 ratio of flour to fat. Then water and salt. Sadly, I don’t have the ratio for that, but for every 16 oz. of flour, about a cup of warm water and a teaspoon of salt (kosher - I use Mortons). You may need to adjust the water/flour based on variables in your kitchen (humidity of the day, type of flour - I used rye in the mix once and it needed more water and a rest for absorption). You want a smooth and elastic dough. I usually rest and then portion (about an hour covered). If you roll out the dough and it gives you spring back, rest it longer. Cook on an ungreased skillet at medium-medium high heat until it puffs up (about 20-30 seconds) and then ~10-15 seconds on the other side. Keep warm in towels or a tortilla holder while you make the whole batch. You should get about 20-24 tortillas.
I personally don’t think corn tortillas made from masa harina are really worth the trouble. I don’t find them very tasty or different from ones at the stores. If you can get fresh masa, those tortillas taste different,
Now fresh flour tortillas made with lard, duck fat, beef dripping, or even bacon fat I do think are worth it. I no longer have masa harina left and can’t buy it here. But even when I did making corn tortillas was not worth it to me, so I’ve settled on making a hybrid flour tortilla with a portion of corn flour or cornmeal or perhaps polenta. I still need to work on the ratios, though.
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As tortillas for chores like making enchiladas or soft wrapped tacos al pastor, I agree. For puffy tacos, nothing beats home made. For my purposes both are used regularly. They only take a jiffy with my little wooden press.
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I just noticed my masa has a “best by” date of a year ago. Should I toss it?
Plus it is Tamal (which is courser than Harina). If you think it is still good to use, I can grind it finer in the VitaMix, or is that not necessary?
I would smell and taste it for evidence of oxidation. It may taste off if subjected to a high temperatures where stored. I would toss it in that case.
I’ve only used fresh masa for puffy tacos.
If I still had masa harina, I’d use it for things like sopes and gorditas. But I don’t find masa harina tortillas made at home to be all that delicious or different from the ones in the store, and it’s kind of a hassle to make them for tacos, which go really fast.
This is also part of why I prefer to just make tostadas at home. A fried tortilla is good even if the tortilla wasn’t that great to begin with.
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99% of the time, corn. Super easy, only masa and water, a little salt. I’ll make a couple by hand as an older Mexican woman taught me, just for giggles, but I also have a cheap metal press that is quicker and easier. Don’t skip the sheets of plastic to keep the tortilla from sticking to the press.
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I love Mexican and have actually more Mexican cookbooks than any other type of cuisine. I’ve never gotten around to attempting homemade tortillas, though, even though someone gave me a metal tortilla press. I don’t know why. I prefer flour over corn. I’m sure one of these days I will make them.
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Me neither. And I’m pretty sure my fav Mexican restaurant doesn’t either. In fact, I don’t recall any Mexican restaurant experience that offered anything noticeably better than the Guerrero brand I buy at the local Safeway.
When I lived in San Diego, I remember a place that had one of those automated tortilla makers located at the front of the house, but I can’t say that what they produced made a noticeable difference.
But many folks (including Pati Jinich - who I am a fan of) say it is a game changer… but I am still dubious about it. Subway bakes their own bread, but IMHO it pretty much sucks. I’m guessing the places I most like for burgers, dogs, and sandwiches don’t do their own buns/breads in house.
I do my own pita, but that is because what the local supermarket has is pretty lousy. But they sometimes have some Nan breads that put my pita to shame. I’ve also done English muffins during the height of the pandemic, but I really can’t say they were noticeably better than the Thomas’ brand I can buy.
I am still gonna try this, but my expectations are not all that high.
If you are ever in a town that has a Central Market or an HEB, their fresh warm flour tortillas are a real treat.
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I have been making my tortillas with regular wheat flour, durum or a mix of those. Usually with sunflower oil mixed in, but I have liked butter better, when using butter I may do it in milk also then. It’s pretty good that way imo, although perhaps not so traditional.
Inspired by this thread I attempted my first corn tortillas today, out of regular corn flour though… Will be on the lookout for that masa harina now :D.
Usually I make the wheat flour tortillas with a rolling pin, but this time I attempted some plastic bag etc sorcery as I read about those with the corn flour and it didn’t go too well honestly now. The consistency was so different. I ended up using a hot carbon steel pan as a press then in the end and somewhat successfully made a bit smaller smash corn tortillas :). If I pressed too hard there was a bit of tearing, but it wouldn’t stick to the hot carbon steel “press”.
Will indeed get some masa and check the mentioned recipes as well here.
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Just to make things a little clear:
Masa: freshly ground nixtamalized corn dough. Not typically found in the USA outside of cities with large Mexican populations.
Masa harina: instant cornmeal/corn flour made from dried nixtamalized corn. This is what most people mean when they mention making corn tortillas at home.
Nixtamalized corn flour tastes pretty different from regular cornmeal and corn flour and it would give you a hard time attempting to make tortillas with corn flour because they absorb water pretty differently. If I put the same amount of water into finely ground corn flour as I would masa harina, I’ll end up with a much looser dough that has a very different feel.
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Shellybean, I disagree that commercial tortillas are = to or better than homemade. I think the difference is huge. Commercial/restaurant tortillas don’t have the flavor of homemade. IMO dried masa varies from brand to brand. I’ve had some that made the whole process difficult and now use a brand ($$) that gives me perfect results so I’ll stick with it.
I prefer the corn tortillas in dishes with sauces and the flour or flour& masa for tacos as they hold together better.
It took a lot of practice until I managed to produce respectable tortillas - the step of getting them from my hand onto the skillet in one piece and constantly fiddling with temperature.
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