I decided to stand in the kitchen and make tortillas until I could actually make tortillas.

[Mosca]

It’s the second day of a 3-day-all-day rain here in NEPA, and I got nothing to do. The house is clean, the kitchen is clean, and any other projects are too much of a PITA for me to get motivated for. (Fixing the kitchen faucet means lowering the Dispos-All, and that is a son of a gun for one guy, and too crowded of a space for two guys.)

For all the tacos I make, I still just buy tortillas. To be fair, the ones I get are reasonably mediocre, maybe 60% as good as those H-E-B tortillas we were raving about last month. “Okay enough”. Not “good enough”, but okay enough.

There are SO MANY YouTube videos on this. And there are SO MANY pundits who claim that their way is the actual right way. Let me ask you, though; when was the last time you handled Play Doh? It’s been about 30 years for me, and it was probably 30 years then before that. So, once in 60 years. “…until it is the consistency of Play Doh.” That instruction is useless. And everyone says “hot skillet”. What’s that? 375°? 400°? 500°?

It turns out, you just have to make tortillas. The very best thing would be to have someone stand there and correct mistakes as you make them, but I don’t know anyone nearby who can do that. So, I just mixed up the stuff and started making mistakes.

186g of masa, 300g of 100° water, 3g of table salt, 16g of vegetable oil. This is looser than the Play Doh I remember. But I rolled out a ball and squeezed it, and it didn’t crack around the edges, so 🤷🏻♂️? Now that I know what it looks and feels like, I can eyeball this eventually.

I rolled out 10 50g balls of dough, about golf ball sized, for what I intended to be 6” tortillas, and put them into the refrigerator for about half an hour. Then I set up an assembly line left to right, and started pressing and skilleting:




Son of a gun, the hardest part is getting them from the press to the skillet! You can’t palm one over like a basketball; you have to drape it on your hand, then lower the edge to the pan and roll your hand out from under it. And you have to do it boldly and quickly; if you hesitate, it folds or falls! The good side to that, though, is that you can quickly scoop it up, re-roll it and repress it, and try again! The first couple took some re-rolls, but I started getting the hang of it on about the 4th one.




Everyone talks about the “puff”; I’m just happy to get round tortillas over the heat. But I did get a little bit of puffing on 4 out of the 10:




And surprisingly, I wound up with a batch of passable tortillas!



They’re probably about as good as a Mexican 12 year old child would make, but any failings are all texture. These are pretty damn good. I put a little butter and salt on one, and they are definitely better than okay enough.

I don’t usually keep track of ingredients and measurements, but I think I will on this one. I think these could be about 10% dryer; maybe 200g of masa to 300g of water. And 50g is too small for 6” tortillas, unless I press them really thin; but tortillas that thin are really hard to handle for a beginner. I think I’ll use 60g. And that’s easier to remember, 50g for 5” tortillas and 60g for 6” tortillas. (That ratio won’t hold as it gets bigger, because 3.14(r^2) ‘n ‘at.)

Anyhow, that’s my rainy afternoon. Tortillas. Tomorrow’s breakfast tacos will be the start of a new era.

[Potkettleblack]

You could heat the pan a bit more or toast them a bit longer.

I’m fortunate to have a bodega 100 ft from my house that sells El Milagro tortillas. Haven’t had HEBs, but can almost promise that El Milagros are at least as good. Often still warm in the bag.

The ads I get from Masienda are very appealing. If I didn’t have great local tortillas…

[Mosca]

I was between 400° and 470°. I tried to keep it around 400°-420°.

[HouseHomey]

First of all in my neighborhood, 12-year-old girls making tortillas nail it.

Man, you have no idea how much I wish I was standing next to you. I too hate all of those videos, but the bottom line is the only way to do It is like you are doing it now. There is no other way. Get your recipe down for what you like and the ingredients that you are using and you are done.

There was a time not too long ago, where I was making tortillas for a rooftop bar. And it was a lot of them. But I found that 10% fat is about the way to go and I was using lard. Your recipe is pretty close. Couple of grams off.

but I too hate all of those instructional videos that “say you just have to feel it.”

The same thing happens in those videos when you’re making tamales.

good on you for doing this. It’s been a long minute since I made them not sure if I could jump right back into it. But you certainly want to make me try.

That’s childhood right there fresh corn tortillas, butter, and salt. Well done, my friend.

[Oak Smoke]

I’ve got one tip for you. Use a solid at room temp fat. In the old days that was Crisco, now it’s lard. My son made a batch with wagyu tallow that were really good. Yes it will make a huge difference. The other thing is to make sure your water is warm. I’ve made a few tortillas.

[Mosca]

I have both lard and Wagyu tallow….

[Oak Smoke]

There was never any doubt, you’ve got this.

[HouseHomey]

But before Crisco, it was lard. And before margarine, it was butter

[FireMan]

Yep, ditch the seed oil (tank lube) and use the real stuff, lard butter.

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

You underestimate Mexican 12 year olds At least the Hispanic households I grew up in, tortillas or some cooking chore is being delegated (as in already at least partially competent) before 8... but to be fair not all of the kids are great at it.

However, you also underestimate yourself. I bet you perfect the process to your standards by the 3rd attempt. Though I would seriously try lard unless you can get your hands on fresh masa which plays nicer with oil if I remember correctly. It's been a few decades since I was mixing or rolling dough, and I wasn't allowed to use the tortilla press.

Though my first light hearted point does bring up a serious thing, I've seen the last few years where parents are being encouraged to involve kiddos in the cooking process before 2 years old. If that's a trend that takes off, there will be lots of 12 year olds cooking circles around many of us some day, and that possibility warms my heart.

[HouseHomey]

Animal fats for the win…..

[HouseHomey]

Mosca I cannot tell you how much I love this thread and the replies.

[FireMan]

How much, c'mon, tell us.

[captainlee]

I'm no help but you have convinced me they are beyond my ability. Great job.

[Mosca]

I'm no help but you have convinced me they are beyond my ability. Great job.

I was reading something about Richard Feynman, who taught himself how to play guitar, pick locks, paint, juggle, and speak various languages. He said that you have to be willing to be bad at something first, if you want to get good at it.

For me, for a lot of things I’m just not motivated enough to be bad at them. I’ve tried to learn guitar and harmonica; I just don’t care enough to work my way through it. I’ve been trying to learn Spanish; I’ll work at it for a couple weeks, then forget to drill myself on what I already know + learn one new thing that day, and then I just don’t remember to do it.

With tortillas I bought the stuff, but I’ve kept putting off actually doing it. I’ve tried maybe half a dozen times before, but as soon as I drop a couple in the pan, or burn them, or can’t get the mix right, I dump the stuff and go do something else. I’d rather think about a thing for a long time, visualize it, then just go and do it. That’s how I take photos. That’s how I cook a new thing. But every time I visualized tortillas, what I saw in my mind didn’t materialize in front of me.

That is what made this different. I powered through the mistakes. If I didn’t get it right, I was going to mix up more masa and keep going! I did have the memory of my past failures, including what I remembered about Play Doh, that I’d been pressing them too thin, that palming the raw tortilla doesn’t work, etc, so I wasn’t completely blind; but damn it, I decided I wasn’t going to buy another damn pack of tortillas.

After I’m done with these, I’m going to do another couple batches, then I’m going to move on to WI Bubba’ butter tortillas. Those look really awesome.

[HouseHomey]

Are you using Maseca and if so what brand. And honestly, if you just keep using the same product and doing what you’re doing, it’s not gonna matter you’re gonna have this nailed by tomorrow.

[Mosca]

Answered below, and you seen it!

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

I have all the tools to make sourdough, I've had them almost since I joined AR and a post inspired me... they're still in the shipping materials, I wasn't inspired enough I guess.

[58limited]

The fresh homemade tortillas that I've been making for the last four months are so much batter than store bought, even HEB's. I learned by watching Views on the Road's and Masienda's youtube videos. For cooking and getting the puff, I realized that I wasn't getting the skillet hot enough. Got to be at least 475^o to work here at sea level. I follow Masienda's instructions on the bag of masa - no fat is used in their recipe but I think I'll add a little next time, what could go wrong? HeHe.

I saved all of the liquid that drained from the Hatch chilies that I roasted last fall (100lbs!) and I use it to make the tortillas.

[Mosca]

I’ll try bumping the heat up next time. I’m using Masienda’s yellow masa.

[HouseHomey]

Love Masienda and buy it in 50lbs sacks. Heck yes man!!!

[58limited]

Mosca Try their blue masa - yum!

[Andrrr]

I love it! Thanks for sharing your process.
For how simple these seem to be they’re so hard to get perfect, although perfection isn't required for them to be delicious. And like you say, the overwhelming number of videos online doesn’t help either. I think you inspired me to sit in the kitchen the next time I don’t have anything to do (ha!) and just hammer out tons of tortillas until I get it right. It sounds like a romantic idea, I just need to figure out what music should be playing.

[shify]

Great job. I’d say I’m an average corn tortilla maker. Definitely better than the store bought stuff but clearly not as good as the good stuff from local restaurants. I’ve stuck to just masienda masa, water and salt. Haven’t done any with fat and honestly don’t know what added fat does to taste/texture and if I should try to add some

I will say I’ve gotten damn good at flour tortillas including sourdough flour tortillas. A bit more work and ingredients but they are stellar and worth the effort. I’m still terrible at making them anything close to round but even in their amoeba like shape they blow anything I can buy out of the water.

[58limited]

Sourdough tortillas? Do tell...a recipe post is requested.

[smokenoob]

my mom started making me wash the dishes at age 8, by age 12 I was a pro, just sayin’ don’t underestimate the 12 year old! 😂
my first job at age 15 was dishwasher at the local restaurant, I was promoted quickly! 😁
great thread!

[SheilaAnn]

There’s always going to be a first pancake. Or a second or fourth pancake.

(Yeah, I just jumped on the Succession bandwagon)

seriously, Mosca that’s how you get good at tortillas, or egg rolls, or pies. Practice!

[Oak Smoke]

At 72 years old my first pancake is always ugly. You would think by now I’d be better than that.

[yakima]

Much respect Mosca. Here in Yakima, WA I do not have your patience/dedication. We have countless tortillerias, and do not eat enough for me to justify delving into it. Yes, I have a press, have made some, but my heart is not in it.