Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Homemade Corn Tortillas

Have you ever thought about how uniformity is not really natural?  I hadn't actually thought about that idea at all until one afternoon last week and Buttercup and I were making corn tortillas from scratch and they weren't, well, round.  At first I was feeling really inadequate.  Why couldn't I get my tortillas to be round?  What was I doing wrong?  Those thoughts kept running through my mind.  Then it occurred to me.  Why would my tortillas be uniform and symmetrical?  I'm not a machine...my dough balls weren't perfectly round, I wasn't using a tortilla press, and I really had no idea what I was doing.  Yet, when it was all said and done, those corn tortillas tasted amazing.  Valiant and I both commented that we'd been in the "not really a fan of corn tortillas" corner until we had homemade corn tortillas.  Now we agree that homemade corn tortillas make for amazing tacos and are great warm off the griddle and smeared with butter.


Intrigued?  It will take you less than 15 minutes to make roughly 16 tortillas and I'm sure as we gain experience, it will go even faster.

Corn Tortillas
(makes 16)

Ingredients:
2 Cups Maseca Corn Masa mix
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 1/8 Cup Water



Directions:

Mix the ingredients together until it makes a dough ball.  If it is too dry/crumbly, add in a tablespoon of water.

Separate the dough in 16 equal balls.

Place one tortilla ball in between two layers of plastic wrap (or two gallon-size freezer bags)--flour the sides that will touch the tortilla ball.

Smash the ball with your hand and then use a rolling pin to roll the dough out into your tortilla. 

Gently remove the tortilla from the plastic/bag and place it on a medium heat griddle/skillet.  When tortilla begins to bubble, flip it and cook until you get some browning on the tortilla.  Serve warm.

That is it...that is all there is to making your own homemade corn tortillas. Pretty easy, isn't it?  Just remember, they won't be uniformly circular...we're not machines!

If you want to see step by step directions accompanied by photos, head over to My Home Cooking and check out her tutorial.  (I didn't get my recipe there, but it is the one on the package of the Maseca, and she uses it, too.)

4 comments:

Alison said...

That does sound easy! I have to try this!

Andrea @ TheTrainToCrazy.com said...

I miss homemade tortillas! And you are right, round isn't natural =)

Anonymous said...

I have a tortilla press because I am too lazy to roll them out.

I prefer flour ones, tho, even though I live in an area where I get a lot of Mexican food (which, by the way, when I moved to Tennessee I MISSED!)and have had good corn tortillas in the past. Homemade or not, you can't convince me they're good for anything but enchiladas.

pam said...

I have been a fan of flour tortillas all my life and only recently beginning to appreciate how lovely corn tortillas can be - when homemade. We buy them from a local shop - freshly made.

You my dear have just singlehandedly convinced me to try making my own.