I’m impressed at how well you’ve gotten into the world of Mexican tortillas–not only at a restaurant–or grocery store–but making them at home in style.
To me, flour tortillas are nothing special–the corn tortillas are really the cultural signature worth exploring–and this thread is showing me how and why.
I think now I know what to look for–and ask for–from talented friends when we do a co-op meal together.
For me, as a cook–I’ll stick to Swedish pancakes.
I’m glad they work for you, but I just don’t find corn tortillas from masa harina particularly tasty on their own, whether I make them or someone else does (lots of restaurants/carts/trucks make them fresh from masa harina whenever you order tacos and they’re still just a vehicle for various fillings for me, and those are made by people who obviously know what they’re doing and have made a lot of tortillas). Whereas I find a fresh flour tortilla to taste wonderful as is, so I think one is worth the trouble and the other is not.
The corn tortillas here are not even on the level of commercial ones in the USA (you could get tortillas made that same day in NYC supermarkets) so unless I decide to fry them and make tostadas, I don’t bother. I just don’t make tacos here most times. Or I make tacos arabes, which I love. When the time comes that I get a taco craving, I’ll be playing around with the corn and flour hybrid again using masarepa (it’s closer in consistency to masa harina even though it’s not nixtamalized).
I use bacon fat and, depending on type of tortilla, AP flour and/or Masa Harina. I don’t have a press.
My favorite flour tortilla recipe: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019621-sonoran-style-flour-tortillas
My favorite 50/50 tortilla recipe: https://www.mexicanplease.com/half-half-tortillas-flour-corn/
My favorite corn tortilla recipe (with the addition of ¾ t. lime juice): https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1016122-almost-from-scratch-corn-tortillas
Thus far, I’ve been most successful with the flour and 50/50 recipes. I’ve improved my results with corn tortillas by kneading them for a sufficient amount of time, but the corn tortillas I make are still sub par compared to your most commonly available store-bought varieties.
I make corn tortillas sometimes. Usually with masa harina (Maseca brand lately) in a ratio of 45g masa harina to 75g warm water, with a pinch of salt. I mix and knead and divide into three balls of equal weight, and then let them rest covered for 20-30 min or so if I have the time. Then I press them out in a metal tortilla press. I use a piece of parchment paper to line the press and spray with oil before pressing out each tortilla. This makes 3 taco sized tortillas, and the amounts can be adjusted with the same ratio for however many tortillas are needed. Then I cook them on a pan or griddle, maybe a minute a side before flipping, and then another minute or so, then flip again and press it a few times with a finger or spatula and hope it starts puffing up. Doesn’t always happen for me and sometimes I have to cook it a little longer. And then finally another flip for a few seconds. Then it goes into a sealed glass tupperware like container. Each tortilla goes into this. This is key as it lets them kind of steam a little and become more pliable. IMHO freshly made tortillas are definitely superior to supermarket tortillas.
I used fresh masa from a local Mexicatessen before a few times (La Palma in San Francisco) and the tortillas from those were better than the ones made with masa harina (and reliably puffed up every time). But I never got through a bag fast enough before it started molding. I might try it again and freeze the leftover masa sometime, or maybe just eat a lot more tortillas.
Tortilla press:
I think any closed container would work as long as it traps in heat and moisture - e.g. in the Rick Bayless video above he shows a basket and a styrofoam container.
All this talk of tortilla making led me to go get some fresh masa again. Made one today for a little quesadilla. Fresh masa is definitely a step above masa harina, worth seeking out if its available near you.
I’ve been using these bread bags lately as liners for the tortilla press and they work really well. I cut them into two sheets. Much lighter than parchment paper and comes off the masa easy, no oil needed either.
My kids and I have been making flour tortillas but we’ve not yet made corn. I’m really (REALLY) bad at rolling out rounds so I have my daughters do it. For some reason they can make perfect 10-inch rounds, while I make something looking more like squid or octopi.
I am quite happy with Guerrero brand as @ScottinPollock mentions, though. But my kids like the homemade. My wife likes them better as just leftover snack food, too.
BTW, there was discussion of fats above and the recipes I’ve been following all use about 4-5 Tbs butter to 2.5-3 cups flour. I do also see many recipes calling for lard or shortening or other fats, but I seldom have them on hand. Butter I make every week, though, so I always have plenty of it.
I try to only use nixtamalized corn flour for my masa. Rolling pin to cast iron. Oh, the smell. I think we’d better relearn to nixtamalize our corn, as the kinds of corn we’ll have to switch to are ones with the toughest husk that use much less nitrogen to grow. Some in Oaxaca make their own nitrogen, so don’t need any added. These corns are best after nixtamalization. They break down easier and are much more easily digestible.
Isn’t all masa, by definition, nixtamalized corn flour ?
That’s why I buy one I know is nixtamalized. The Mexican ones, and El Milagro made in the US are almost all nixtamalized. Not all corn flour is. When you use a softer yellow corn, it doesn’t need to be nixtamalized because it’s already soft and digestible. Much of the masa corn is very hard, takes little nitrogen but is tough as nails. I see a native gardner in my state trying to bring such corn back, and she does the nixtamal process to hers. Corn produced in the US is often the thing we grow because, add a ton of nitrogen, it’ll grow well. Problem is it’s choking the Gold of Mexico. Would it be more expensive to grow the harder corn? Not worth killing the Golf. I can just see how , on the US side, we could be skipping the nixt step, and use our softy stuff for the corn flour.
I’ve always trusted corn flour and masa to be two distinctly different products.
“Corn flour” sold in the US is fine cornmeal. It’s not marketed as masa harina. It’s its own thing. I use it for cakes and other items and would never use it for making tacos or other Mexican food items that rely on corn masa. Masa harina is nixtamalized.
The other item labeled “corn flour” that you can find in the USA and Latin America is masarepa, which is not nixtamalized and is pre-cooked. This is used for arepas of course, but also for tamales in certain Latin American countries like Colombia and Venezuela, which do not tend to employ nixtamalized corn. But in terms of Mexican food, the corn flour in question is masa harina, and it is always nixtamalized.
There are also courser grinds of masa harina (masa tamal) that are designed to be used for tamales.
I made the King Arthur Flour Simple Tortillas recipe today.
Prior, my go-to has been the New York Times version referenced by OP, but I wanted to try this one - it calls for less fat and more water, with minor adjustments to salt and baking powder. As usual, I used bacon grease for the fat and mixed/kneaded everything by hand.
The tortillas came out great - notably lighter and flakier than the NYT version, with a bit more chew. While I would recommend either recipe, I’ll be going with the KAF version until further notice.
These look fun!
