Corn Tortillas

I decided to try and make my own tortillas. The first time I made them they were greasy and leathery. The second time I made them I followed a recipe from Food Wishes and they were fantastic. This recipe is my tweaks and notes on the original.

Go watch the Food Wishes video as well; It gives many tips that are not repeated here.

Ingredients

• 1 cup instant masa (a kind of corn flour)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup hot water
• a little oil to grease the pan

Directions

1. Mix flour and salt in a large bowl.
2. Make a small well in the flour and pour in the water. Mix with your hands.
3. Knead the dough until it is soft and smooth. About 10 minutes.
   • Do not use too much flour, if any, while kneading. That might make the dough to dry.
4. Put the dough back in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a wet paper towel.
   • This prevents the dough from drying out.
5. Let the dough rest for 20 minutes or more.
   • This helps make the dough more elastic so that it’s easier to flatten out without tearing it.
6. Divide the dough into equal portions and roll into balls.
   • It’s better to make a few large tortillas instead of many small ones. Each tortilla only takes a few minutes to cook, but when you are doing 16 of them it really adds up.
7. Preheat a cast iron pan.
8. For each ball of dough/tortilla:
   1. Flatten out the dough into a tortilla.
      • A tortilla press is unnecessary. All that is needed are two plastic or parchment paper sheets and two flat ridged surfaces that can be pressed together and are large enough for the size of tortilla. A pan and a table work great.
   2. Wipe the pan with a little oil and a heat safe rag.
      • The pan needs a little tiny bit of oil for each tortilla to keep them from sticking. Just enough to make the pan glisten.
      • Warning! Never use synthetic fibers. Only use rags that will burn to ash such as cotton or paper.
      • Wipe quickly. Do not keep the rag on the pan for to long. It could overheat.
      • I use cotton rags. They do not catch fire at cooking temperatures but you still need to be careful.
      • This will probably give your pan a great seasoning.
   3. Cook the tortilla on both sides.
   4. Immediately after cooking, wrap the tortilla in a towel.
      • The tortillas need to steam for several minutes after being cooked. If they are just put on a plate they will dry out on top and get soggy on the bottom. If they are wrapped in a towel they become soft and supple.
9. Let the tortillas rest in the towel for about a minute before serving. If storing long term, let them cool to room temperature in the towel.