Recipe(tried): Homemade Tortillas

Janice,

Tortillas are usually made with masa harina, which is a kind of "corn flour". Here in California, we can buy it in all the grocery stores. Wonder if you could order it through mail-order.

Anyway, you make the tortillas using the masa harina and then they are fried in oil to make them crisp. Here's a recipe from Diana Kennedy's The Cuisines of Mexico.

Tortillas

2 cups masa harina
1 1/3 cups warm water (or less in very humid weather)
2 cast-iron griddles or frying pans
1 (6") tortilla press (you can order these through the mail)
2 sandwich-sized plastic bags

Mix the flour and water together to a soft dough.

Meanwhile, heat the griddles, one over a low flame, the other over a rather high flame.

Place one of the bags on the bottom part of the opened tortilla press. Roll a piece of the dough into a ball about 1 " in diameter. Place the ball almost on the center of the bag--a little more toward the hinge of the press. Place the second bag on top of the ball of dough. Close the press and push the handle down hard, then open up the press and peel the top bag off the flattened dough, starting at the side opposite the handle, since the dough nearest the handle is too thin to pick up easily. If the dough is still rather thick and has a grainy uneven edge, then it it too dry. Add some more water to the dough and knead it well.

Pick up the second bag, torgether with the dough and place the dough on your fingers--not your palm. Carefully peel the bag off the dough--do not try to peel the dough off the bag. If the dough does not come away easily from the bag, or if it sticks to your hands, it is too wet. Add some more flour and knead the dough again well, and lightly grease your hands to make it easier to handle.

Place the tortilla on the cooler of the two griddles. After a few seconds, the dough will begin to dry out at the edge. Do not wait for it to curl up, but flip the tortilla over into the hotter pan and let it cook until it is speckled with dark-brown patches. Flip it back onto the first side, still in the hotter pan, and let it cook further and color a little. The total cooking time for each tortilla is about 2 minutes.

The second side, which is not on top, is the "face" of the tortilla. It will probably puff up, indicating that the tortilla will be light and nicely cooked through.

The puffing is not absolutely necessary, but you can encourage it by pressing the tortilla just before it finishes cooking with a piece of cloth or paper towel--Mexican cooks use their fingers and say they are "tickling" the tortilla. Much will depend on the heat of the pans, however. From time to time you will have to adjust it, especially under the hotter of the two, which is apt to burn after a while.

As each tortilla is cooked, stack it on top of the others in a dry cloth, which must cover them completely. In this way they will keep warm and moist. To conserve the heat even more, cover the cloth with foil.

Tortillas can be made about 2 hours ahead of time and warmed up, in their "package", for about 20 minutes in a low oven.

Wipe the tortilla press with a dry cloth or sponge, and store it away with some paper toweling between the plates.
Tortillas are traditionally served out of a chiquihuite, a square-shaped basket, woven from a reed-grass, that is always lined with a cloth so the tortillas will remain hot and soft. Never, never leave them uncovered when you help yourself to a tortilla at table.

Obviously, you can make these by hand. Use a ball of dough as above, and pat it out evenly to a round, thin circle. (You can use a rolling pin to make it easier.)

Hope this helps

Karol