Cooking Challenge #3 - Making Tortillas

Today's challenge is a step by step on how to make corn tortillas. Sure, you can make those yourself or buy them at the market for cheaper. A bit like the shaving cream in a can, I had a look at the ingredients and decided to make them myself after that. It took a lot of trial and error but I'm getting there. If you get your dough with the right consistency, you will be in the driver seat.

You can make wheat tortillas if you want but since I have someone who need gluten free, we are running a corn tortilla factory here. It looks like a bit of work but believe me, I do a dozen tortillas in 10 minutes now so it's fairly easy once you pick-up the beat.

The recipe is simple, corn flour (masa) and water. That's all I use. I tried it with a fat such as butter, grease, oil and they are very similar without it. You can add a pinch of salt but I also find that unnecessary.

I never measure my portions so it's no good but the package says 2 cups of corn flour for 1 1/2 cup of water. I would hold on the water a bit and add it slowly later on. More on that in the pictures.

So, what I use

• Maseca corn flour. You can usually find this in the international section of your grocery, they don't, usually keep them with the flour. I do not recommend the cornflour that you buy with the wheat flour, the grind is not the same. If you have an Asian grocery or (better) a Mexican grocery, you should be able to find something like that. Maseca is fairly easy to obtain where ever you are.
• Water (I use a brita) but tap water will do the trick too
• A metal bowl (I like this because the dough doesn't stick much)
• A tortilla press (I have a small tortilla press that I got off ebay for less than $10) - If you don't have one, you could use a plate or a wooden chopping board. You would need something flat. It's easier with a press
• Cling wrap to prevent the corn tortilla from sticking on the press. You need one on each panel.
• I also use a fork to mix the dough

Step 1 - Mix your flour with some water. So here, I will take the 2 cups of masa and add, maybe 1 cup of water and mix with the fork. I will add some water until I get this consistency with the fork (It's not quite coming together but I have little pieces sticking together).


This is when you go by hand. 1 hand is enough to mix. Mix it well for a good 30-45 seconds. You can see that the dough is not dry but it's not very wet either since it's not sticking on my fingers.


When you reach that, you can pick-up a small piece. This one is a bit flatten, maybe 1" wide by 1/2" thick


Put it on the tortilla press between the 2 pieces of cling wrap

Press the tortilla but not too hard, you don't want a see-through crepe! I usually do 4 press for 1 tortilla so I press, turn the tortilla 90 degrees, press again, etc. To be sure it's properly flatten


Take it out of the press and carefully peel the cling wrap off the first side. Wait till you are almost ready to drop it in the hot pan (I use a crepe pan, no oil, no butter). If you hold the thin tortilla for too long in your hand, it might fall apart so wait till the last minute to flip the tortilla in your other hand and peel that other piece of cling wrap. Spread your fingers so you cover most of the tortilla surface when you hold it.


Just to show the thickness.


In the pan it goes. It's around 30-45 seconds per side. It's thin so it cooks fast. I usually press my next tortilla during that time and rotate them in the pan until they are cook


Final step, keep them in a tortilla warmer or wrapped in a towel. If you use the towel, wet it and try to get most of the water out. It needs to be damp but not wet otherwise you will have porridge instead of tortillas.

Great work! Those look awesome! I love making my own corn tortillas Ever try them with honey and butter?

Nice work Luc! My wife and sons make flour tortillas occasionally. These look great and I'm sure they would be a hit with conchita pibil, or butter and honey, or pretty much anything.

SystemaCid said:

Great work! Those look awesome! I love making my own corn tortillas Ever try them with honey and butter?

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Honey/butter would be new, I have to try it.

Sullybob said:

Nice work Luc! My wife and sons make flour tortillas occasionally. These look great and I'm sure they would be a hit with conchita pibil, or butter and honey, or pretty much anything.

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Yup, we often have Mexican food so I got to make those to go with it!

Nothing like fresh corn tortillas. Storebought are not the same unless they are freshmade and sold out of a cooler so they stay hot and fresh. Off the shelf they are unappetizing to me.

Nice job Luc! Bacon and eggs on tortillas is a great breakfast.

Awesome! We make our own corn tortillas fresh every week (sometimes twice a week!). Store bought ones seem bland in comparison!

I'm going to look for some Maseca today.
I hope I find it.

Migas y Huevos

chop up 1/4lb bacon and start cooking it down slowly in a cast iron skillet stirring occasionally.

Remove seeds and core from 4 fresh jalapenos. Cut off the stem end. Chop the remainder up very fine. Chop up a small onion.

When bacon is very crispy pour off all but 2tbsp of the bacon grease. Save it. Turn up the heat to high. Add jalapenos and onions. Stir occasionally.

Cut up a dozen corn tortillas in 1/2" strips. Stale ones are ok. Cut strips so no pieces are over about 2" long.

When onions are brown on the edges, add the tortilla pieces. Stir often. Add bacon grease if needed, or olive oil if you prefer.

Beat a dozen eggs. When tortillas are a little bit crispy add eggs and reduce heat. Cover. Turn occasionally. When eggs nearly set, remove from heat, add cheese if desired, Lawry's if desired, cover and let stand for 5 minutes.

Rib stickin good breakfast. Serve with Pace and flour tortillas and beer.

I found a bag of Masaca. Pretty straight forward to make. The critical thing for me was getting the dough mix to have the proper amount of water. Having made Chapatti many times I started out with a mix that was too dry for the tortilla press to flatten to the right thinness. From there I got just a little too wet so after pressing they were too thin and would not survive being peeled off the plastic wrap. A tablespoon more of flour and I had it just right.

My wife and I had some with some home made hummus (Almond marketing board recipe so there was a half a coup of almonds in with a tin of chickpeas, quarter cup of lemon juice, pinch (1/8 tsp of cayenne), one clove of garlic, and I added a little olive oil and salt. I rinse my chickpeas and then add water as I'm blending to get the right constancy.

Fresh is the best. You can add a little cayenne in there, too, to kick it up a notch.

Wooo Hooo I found it. You have to realize that I can't usually find that kind of stuff here.
Metro had it. Ok. So today I made some for dinner.
They were too dry and too thick but they tasted like heaven to me.

I'm making more tomorry. Everything is going to be stuffed in a tortilla this week.

Fiiiine, I'll buy a tortilla press!

/runs off to eBay

Edit: cast iron tortilla press purchased.

Nice work Gents!

I predict this will be more popular than "corking" was.

Jim said:

I predict this will be more popular than "corking" was.

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Or super-lather for that matter.

You can't go wrong with homemade corn or flour tortilla's.

Even better when cooked on cast iron. It give's just a little bit extra flavor that you can't get with nonstick.

Anyone have recipes for a flour tortilla? I'm trying corn tortillas tonight.

craig87c said:

Anyone have recipes for a flour tortilla? I'm trying corn tortillas tonight.

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Good luck Craig, I know what happened already!

Robert Rodriguez did a recipe to make the Sin City brekkie tacos and he makes corn tortillas. I think you can avoid the lard or butter and they will be as good. I find corn to be easier to work with once you get the consistency of the dough right.

Yesterday I ran out of cling wrap so I used the plastic bag from the grocery to put the fruits and veggies in. It was a thicker plastic than usual, I was thinking of using parchment paper if that did not work. It worked better than cling wrap. The plastic did not roll under the tortilla and I can easily reuse that plastic next time. The tortilla sticks even less to that plastic. If only they would sell that kind of plastic with tortilla press that would be great!