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Easy Homemade Tortillas
Corn Tortillas (Tortillas de Maíz)
Makes 24 tortillas
Ingredients
1.5 cups masa harina (about 168 g)
half of 3/4 of a teaspoon kosher salt (about 2 g)
1.25 cups warm water, about 115°F (about 295 g), plus more as needed
Instructions
Make the dough:
Stir together the masa harina and salt in a large bowl.
Add the water and mix with your hands until the mixture comes together, then knead it for 1 minute with your palm to form a smooth dough.
The dough should feel just slightly sticky and leave a light film on your hands. If it doesn’t, very gradually knead in more water until it does.
Return the dough to the bowl, cover it with plastic wrap, and let it sit for 5 minutes or up to 2 hours.
Form and cook the tortillas:
Set a large, ideally flat, pan over medium-high heat until it begins to smoke.
Line a tortilla basket or bowl with a clean kitchen towel. As you cook each tortilla, layer it on top of the others in the basket, wrap the basket with the towel, and cover it to finish cooking the tortillas and keep them warm. If using a bowl, cover it with an inverted plate.
Open your tortilla press and lay a plastic round in the center of the bottom plate.
Grab a small piece of dough, about 2 tablespoons' worth, and roll it between your palms into a ball.
Put it in the center of the plastic round, drape the other plastic round on top, and press down gently with your palm to flatten the ball slightly.
Close the tortilla press, push down firmly on the handle, open the press again, rotate the plastic rounds 180 degrees, and press down again. The goal is a tortilla of even thickness.
Open the press, pick up the tortilla, plastic and all, and carefully peel off the plastic from one side and then the other.
If the tortilla sticks to the plastic, the dough is too wet and you should gradually add a little more masa harina.
With the tortilla draped on your palm, gently lay it onto the pan with a turn of your wrist.
Cook the tortilla on one side until the edges just barely lift from the pan, about 20 seconds.
Use your fingers or a spatula to carefully flip the tortilla, then cook it for about 45 seconds.
Flip it again and cook it for 30 seconds. Each side should have a few brown spots.
If there are no brown spots, the heat is too low. If the brown spots look dark, the heat is too high.
Put the cooked tortilla in the towel-lined basket or bowl, cover, and repeat forming and cooking the remaining tortillas one by one.
Source
From Tacos, Tortas, and Tamales: Flavors from the Griddles, Pots and Streetside Kitchens of Mexico by Roberto Santibañez (Wiley)
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