God I love tacos, and after reading so much praise about how much better homemade tortillas are I’m ready to take the plunge into making my own. Does anyone have a press they really like?
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I just use a nickel coated cast iron one I got from the corner mercado, It really doesn't matter much unless you want to make bigger tortillas or huaraches. The aluminum ones do feel pretty flimsy, though, but will work.
Now let's talk masa and your comal. Your griddle may or may not get hot enough to reliably get the tortillas to puff up. I have better luck cooking on a cast iron pizza pan on the stove than I do with my griddle. As for masa, unless you have someplace you can but fresh masa para tortillas, you're gonna end up using masa harina. The most common brand is Maseca. It... makes tortillas. Better than grocery store tortillas, which are stale discs of tasteless sadness, and worth using just because of that. But better awaits! I use either the white or yellow masa harina from Masienda. It's so far superior to any other masa harina I've tried.
All that being said I'd get a bag of Maseca for practice, it takes a bit to get the hydration of the masa right and get the rhythm of making tortillas down. Once you get a feel for it, it's pretty easy, but it's actually more complex than it looks like it should be.-
This is the type of info we've come to expect from our Pit brethren. A+ -
Your griddle will likely be fine. I think part of the problem I have is not getting the masa quite right, and being outside the masa looses moisture faster. When I asked the cooks at work why my tortillas weren't puffing up reliably I was told that it was either my masa being too dry, my comal not being hot enough, or the fact that I'm a gringo.
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I picked mine up on Amazon, but it’s been a few years. They seemed to jump in price shortly after I bought mine. I made tortillas one day when my parents were here and my mom raved about them so I bought her the same press and it was a bit more.
Just looked on Amazon - the Victoria 8†press I have is on sale for 1/3 off. That’s a great deal for this press.
And as mnavarre mentions, I don’t make tortillas as often as i use to, but I just use maseca. it’s easy to use and store for when you do want to make tortillas. And a cast iron griddle or pan is how I cook/warm them.
You will love these! As will your friends that you invite over for taco night!
have fun!Comment
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I use a pasta rolling pin and thick layers of plastic salvaged from bread bags. I've seen people using plastic when they use a press too. I use Maseca Amarillo and it's great. I let my hydrated dough sit for 45 minutes before i roll tortillas. And i fry them in a little oil. Remember the salt!!! 🔥🔥🔥Comment
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Andrrr yes I did have it already. But I have always used my hands to make tortillas.The rolling oin was just to make them perfectly flat and thinner than i could do with only my hands without tearing them. I have a little beechwood pin that was not expensive and easier to store/wash than a tortilla press
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If I didn't have an HEB Tortilleria 1.2 miles from my house, I would not be able to talk myself out of getting that 8" Victoria. It's on sale today for $20!Comment
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One other thing you're going to want, even if you're reheating tortillas from the tortarilla (or, gag, the grocery store) is one of those tortilla warmers. Nothin' fancy, the cheap-o styrofoam ones are fine. For fresh made it helps them steam and finish cooking, for reheated ones it helps them kinda reconstitute.Comment
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I'm looking into making hybrid tortillas, part flour, part masa harina. I'm looking for more flexibility than I get with corn tortillas while still having some corn flavor. I'm thinking I can still use a tortilla press for them instead of a rolling pin. With flour tortillas I have to use a rolling pin; they're too sticky for a press. Am I barking up the wrong tree here?
P.S. Masienda makes a tortilla press on steroids for $95. Recommended by Cooks Illustrated, The Kitchn, and Epicurious. Not coming to my kitchen any time soon. For a lot of years I just used a glass casserole dish and a slit open plastic bag
Kathryn
Last edited by fzxdoc; July 11, 2022, 07:34 AM.Comment
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That's where I first learned of "hybrid" tortillas as well, Andrrr . Apparently they're available in HEB grocery stores in Texas.
I thought I might try this recipe: https://hispanickitchen.com/recipes/...as-all-in-one/
Kathryn -
fzxdoc I'll have to give that one a try once I get the hang of corn. I was looking around the Masienda website and maybe you saw this already but they have a half corn, half flour mix you can buy if you wanted to give that a try.
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mnavarre Thanks a lot for the advice on the tortillas and masa harina. I decided to go with your suggestion and use a bag of Maseca to get the hang of it and I’m SO glad I did. I went into it with the mentality that it was going to take me a few batches to figure this out so be prepared for failure and don’t feel bad about throwing them away… they’re dirt cheap, no need to cry. You were absolutely right when you said for something so seemingly simple it’s really complex. I found there is such a fine line between temp, time, uniformity, thickness and moisture that things can go sideways in a hurry.
However, tonight was finally a success in that I achieved the coveted fully puffy corn tortilla. Behold…
This represents maybe 2-3 of the 14 or so tortillas I made that turned out as well as this one did. I’d have more pictures of the process but this is a pretty fast moving process. The first one had no puff and the rest were done with varying levels of success from barely puffy to perfect. This one was perfect. I was paying extra attention to the variables I mentioned earlier and I think I had it figured out, then I ran out of dough. Dang was it rewarding though.
Thanks again and maybe I’ll go back and chronicle my ongoing road to perfection if enough people care to hear it.Comment
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Awesome work! My skills are still a work in progress. Not that happy with the results on their own in normal tacos but when I used homemade corn tortillas for quesobirria tacos they BLEW the store bought tortillas out of the water. That was the first time I really felt good about my own tortillas and that it was worth the effort.Comment
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shify Great minds think alike. My first try at tortillas was the day after I made Sam the Cooking Guy’s Birria. The tortillas I made were pretty bad actually, they cracked at the bend way too thick. They won’t be cooked on an electric griddle again anytime soon. Even with that, they were "eat with a fork"delicious. I think some modifications are needed but that birria recipe was a great place to start.
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Ha! I love that you are showing some birria tacos with those excellent tortillas! It’s been a while since I’ve made tortillas. I need to do this again and see if I get the puff. I don’t recall getting as much puff that you showed in the photo, so something to work on!
And again, excellent job! Makes me seriously want some birria!
Also, there’s a great taco book that I have mentioned a number of times on here.
Tacos: Recipes and Provocations by Alex Stupak. I really enjoyed this book. There are a number of great recipes as well as some different style tacos that show some wonderful creativity. Check it out, you may enjoy it for the recipes and he does go into making tortillas as well.Last edited by barelfly; July 19, 2022, 09:01 PM.Comment
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barelfly Well I made another batch of Birria that I have to finish first. I tweaked what I did last time but I finally read your write up and that sounds really good. Labor intensive but good. I think the first order of business is getting that adobo sauce made and go from there. I’ve been wanting to take a stab at Al Pastor, just gotta determine the best way to do it on the grill -
Andrrr for an easy way on Pastor, I bought pork steaks and slathered them up and grilled them hot and fast. Gave me the char I wanted and I was able to get the pork cooked how I wanted. I don’t have anything that would allow for me to cook Pastor on a spit, so this was the easy way for me. And tasty on homemade tortillas!!!!
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Having grown up with mis abuelos and my mom making homemade corn and flour tortillas I was so spoiled. My wife knows how to make good tortillas now but we’re so lazy we buy the uncooked tortillas and cook them on a comal. Nothing beats homemade though.Comment
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Andrrr here you go - I forgot I posted the entire birria recipe I used. It’s a mix of recipes i picked up, but the chile oil is included in this post! And mnavarre pointed me to the YouTube channel that I reference in the post. Dang, it’s 6am and I’m jonesing for birria already!
Enjoy - both the recipe and the book (when you get it back)
https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/fo...-consome-brothLast edited by barelfly; July 20, 2022, 06:23 AM.Comment
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My girlfriend gave me a cast iron tortilla press which is leaps and bounds ahead of the old cheap aluminum one I used before it.Last edited by Attjack; November 2, 2022, 10:03 PM.Comment
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I bought the 8†CI Victoria mentioned above and I’m happy with the purchase. I don’t have anything to compare it to but the only thing I might do differently is getting something just as sturdy but in a different material so rust won’t be an issue. Hardly a dealbreaker though -
Attjack I used plastic but I’ll just say there was a little bit of a learning curve as to how much dough to use and some may or may not have squeezed out the edges and got all over the press. 🤦I had to wash it and got some light rust on the bottom which I took care of. No biggie and lesson learned
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