Homemade Corn Tortillas

When you can't find good corn tortillas without unecessary additives and preservatives, there's only one option: make your own!  It's really pretty easy, I promise.  It requires 3 simple ingredients, masa (corn flour), water, and salt.   I found the masa in the supermarket with the other flours.  The brand I bought, Maseca, had instructions for making tortillas on the back of the package which was helpful.  Even more helpful were the videos (see below) on their website.  They're in Spanish but luckily they have subtitles. One thing to note is that they use a tortilla press, something I do not own.  So I put the balls dough, one at a time, between two sheets of plastic wrap and used a can of beans to roll them out.  No, they were not anywhere close to being perfetly circular in the end, but they tasted great, were functional, and best of all, they didn't break when folded into a taco.

Video #1: Preparing the masa

Video #2: Making the tortillas



Recipe (my adapted version)
Makes 16 tortillas
Ingredients
Two cups Maseca
1/4 tablespoon salt
1 1/4 cup water
A large mixing bowl

Method
Mix Maseca corn flour, water and salt in a large bowl.

Mix by hand until a smooth consistency has been created and does not stick to your hands. Shape into a ball and divide into 16 portions and roll into balls.

Cover a large cutting board with plastic wrap. One by one, place a ball of dough on top, press down to slightly flatten it.  Cover with another piece of plastic wrap and roll out with a rolling pin (a can works too).  Carefully peel off when done.  You don't want them to break.

Place in a pre-heated ungreased skillet and cook for about 1 minute on each side.  Place them on between damp cloths or paper towel to keep from drying out.

When reheating you can place them in aluminum foil and heat in the oven at 350 degrees 5-10 minutes.  You can also wrap them in damp paper towel and microwave them for 15-20 seconds.  Both of these methods allow them to steam, preventing them from getting dry.