Making Tortillas at Home

[Chris Hennes]

I've made tortillas in pans ranging from cheap, thin stainless, to cast iron, to non-stick, and everything in-between (probably, in fact, on basically every piece of cookware I own, now that I think about it). They all work, but only if they are appropriately pre-heated and kept very hot (but not all the way up to high heat—at least on my burner that's too hot).

[Darienne]

The husband of a friend with whom I took a class in Mexican cooking made wooden tortilla presses for us all, copying the wooden one our teacher had brought back with her from Mexico. But these ones are lovely! He's a wood worker and couldn't just fasten together a few boards...these are works of art. (Haven't used it yet. )

[Chris Hennes]

You have great friends, Darienne, that's truly a work of art. I can't wait for a report on how well it works.

[rancho_gordo]

As for finding the dried corn itself, well, I've had to resort to having family members haul back bags of the stuff from Tucson! Steve Sando at Rancho Gordo has tossed around the idea of making it available.... Steve?

Sorry- I missed this. Most Mexican stores will have corn, often in white, morado and sometimes blue.

If you get stuck, you can call us and we can sell you ours. The problem is we don't want to offer it on the web as most people will casually order it thinking it's the same thing as pozole.

[danielito]

One of the critical variables in creating a perfectly puffed corn tortilla is the temperature of your comal. I imagine that with time, practice and thousands of less-than-perfect tortillas one learns to judge when the comal is ready, but for those of us who didn't grow up in a household where tortillas are being cooked daily there is a shortcut: an infrared thermometer. I used one of these today and made my best tortillas ever. I had the chance recently to speak with Roberto Santibañez about my poor results using his tortilla recipe (in "Truly Mexican", a great cookbook BTW) and he told me that his ideal temperature for the comal is ~575ºF. Using his advice, and a $45 Mastercool thermometer, I'm cranking out perfect tortillas.

[Darienne]

Thanks, Danielito. That's interesting advice. I shall try it next time.

[Jmahl]

Great to see the continued interest in this thread that we started some 8 years age. The kitchen is all changed but the same instructions still apply. Its like directions on how to get to Carnegie Hall - practice, practice, practice.

[Chris Amirault]

I had the chance recently to speak with Roberto Santibañez about my poor results using his tortilla recipe (in "Truly Mexican", a great cookbook BTW) and he told me that his ideal temperature for the comal is ~575ºF. Using his advice, and a $45 Mastercool thermometer, I'm cranking out perfect tortillas.

Very eager to try this out! Thanks for this information. Any advice about the texture of the surface of the comal? I have one very smooth one and another that's rougher.

[andiesenji]

The big steel comals that the local tortirillas use are scraped and scrubbed with a pumice griddle/grill stone so they look very slick and polished, not just shiny from the very thin layer of oil which is laid on with a cloth.

[Viktoria]

I was so inspired by this thread that I went and made some flour tortillas to go with dinner tonight. I followed the recipe in Diana Kennedy's "Essential Cuisines of Mexico" cookbook. I used whole wheat flour, and real lard and cooked them on my cast iron skillet. They were tasty, and the whole family loved them, but they really didn't turn out right. I don't know whether I didn't roll them thin enough or didn't cook them correctly. Either way, no one here complained!

[Chris Amirault]

danielito, please thank your source for me and my family. I made a few adjustments this round:

a. heated the comal up to around 575F (can't tell exactly bc my Thermapen maxes out at 530F), which was a good bit hotter than my previous attempts;

b. ground the masa to a finer consistency -- really pushed the limits of my UltraPride, in fact -- and kept it a bit wetter than on most previous batches;

c. applied a thin coating of oil for every other tortilla (instead of once at the start); and

d. religiously did the two-flip routine: apply on one side, turn to the second side, back on the first to finish.

And so, for the first time, I consistently got the puff:

Best tortillas ever.

[EatNopales]

For those not wanting to invest in the thermometer... the way I determine when the comal is hot enough is that I season it with Peanut Oil... and once the little bits of oil start beading up a little bit.. the comal is hot enough for puffy tortillas.. at that point you start lowering the heat a little bit at a time... also if you hold your hand an inch over the comal you can "feel" the right level of heat radiating once you have the hang of it.

BTW.. I do not grease the comal between tortillas... not needed.. and my comal is actually a crepe pan. Incidentally, I finally mastered making crepes over the weekend

[TheTInCook]

b. ground the masa to a finer consistency -- really pushed the limits of my UltraPride, in fact -- and kept it a bit wetter than on most previous batches;

Not having enough water in the masa seems to be a top failure point, IME. I've only used Maseca though, so I don't have the feel for making it from nixtamal.

c. applied a thin coating of oil for every other tortilla (instead of once at the start); and

I only oil when I'm reheating the tortilla on the griddle.

d. religiously did the two-flip routine: apply on one side, turn to the second side, back on the first to finish.

I've been consistently able to get puffs using a one flip. Masa moisture and comal temp are more important. I will say they didn't seem to puff as dramatically as the two flippers.

[rancho_gordo]

I don't think I ever add oil to my comal, for what it's worth.

I do add cal/water to my clay comal.

[Kitchen Detective]

OK, a dumb newbie question. How do you keep the freshly made tortillas warm and fresh, for say, throughout the meal? Mine quickly turn to cardboard. I've tried placing them in the oven uncovered as well as wrapped in foil. Neither worked. Help, please.

[Will]

OK, a dumb newbie question. How do you keep the freshly made tortillas warm and fresh, for say, throughout the meal? Mine quickly turn to cardboard. I've tried placing them in the oven uncovered as well as wrapped in foil. Neither worked. Help, please.

Tortilla warmer (those little round things designed for the purpose -- not much other utility, but shouldn't cost more than $5 or so), or maybe wrapped in a slightly moist, clean kitchen towel? Or, cook / heat them as you need them, which is how it usually works at our house.

Edited April 4, 2012 by Will (log)

[Kitchen Detective]

Thanks so much, Will. Much appreciated.

[EatNopales]

OK, a dumb newbie question. How do you keep the freshly made tortillas warm and fresh, for say, throughout the meal? Mine quickly turn to cardboard. I've tried placing them in the oven uncovered as well as wrapped in foil. Neither worked. Help, please.

Tortilla warmer (those little round things designed for the purpose -- not much other utility, but shouldn't cost more than $5 or so), or maybe wrapped in a slightly moist, clean kitchen towel? Or, cook / heat them as you need them, which is how it usually works at our house.

Also most hand made tortillas will benefit from steaming in their heat for a few minutes as they become much more pliable after they have been in the warmer. In fact, even in Pre-Hispanic times the most common practice for tortillas was to wrap them in Cotton cloth inside of a Chiquihuite / Xikihuitl (woven natural fiber basket with lid).

[Chris Hennes]

I use a pyrex bowl with a side towel in it, wrapped over the tortillas.

[Jmahl]

My resident expert her says she uses a little oil on a piece of paper towel and swabs the cast iron comal every third or fourth tortilla when they show that they want to stick. Also no thermometer here, just the open hand over the comal until it feels right - it’s hot. Chris - looking good.

[Kitchen Detective]

Thanks to Will, EatNopales, Chris and Jmahl. I'll try them all and compare techniques.

[Chris Amirault]

Clean towel folded around the tortillas and put on a plate here.

Can everyone specify whether they use nixtamal or masa harina? I'm interested to know which techniques are better suited to which masa.

[Chris Hennes]

I buy bags of fresh masa.

[EatNopales]

I also buy bags of "fresh" masa... one brand I am pretty sure is Maseca (white corn) the other nixtamal (yellow corn with lots of kernel in it)... honestly the techniques work identically for my setup.

[Paul Kierstead]

The last time I tried, mine seemed much too thick. I do think the dough was too dry, but looking at the press, there is a fair bit of space back at the hinge. Is this likely to be a cook problem, or a press problem?