I teamed up with the folks over at Masienda to bring you a super special and easy recipe for homemade tortillas. First things first, my biggest pet peeve with tacos is starting with a solid foundation, the tortilla. If you go to a taco joint and they’re using store bought tortillas just keep walking. A tortilla will make or break a taco, literally. If you have a crappy taco filling but a great tortilla, you have decent tacos. But not even an awesome filling can make up for an old store bought, weak tortilla. They don’t toast right, they crack, they don’t hold liquid or sauce well. Theres just something about a fresh pressed and toasted tortilla; like when you go to take a bite and you can smell the corn right before you dig in- thats what heaven is like folks. Here’s a simple recipe for making all of your dreams come true…
Here’s what you’ll need:
2 cups Masienda Masa
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups of warm water
Mix the salt and masa in a bowl and add 1 cup of water and begin to mix. Once the water is absorbed, add the rest little by little until a soft dough begins to form. Turn the dough out on a table and gently knead it. If the dough is sticking to your hands add a little more masa to it but it shouldn’t feel too firm or crumbly. Next I let the dough relax before tearing into it and portioning it out. 10 minutes should do the trick!
Begin portioning out your dough into small golf ball size balls, this will make a tortilla roughly 4 inches in diameter. Keep a towel or plastic wrap over the dough youre not working with to keep it from drying out.
Prep your tortilla press by wrapping a piece of plastic wrap around the top and bottom separately. Don’t use the same piece to do the top and bottom. You could also cut a sandwich bag and half and use that on each side too, this makes the process move a little slower as to making sure they stay put but makes for clean seamless tortillas. If you’re gonna take on this new hobby of tortilla pressing invest in a good one. A nice heavy cast iron with even weight should do the trick, like this one!
Start pressing each small bowl one by one. Every time you press one, spin 180 degrees and double press each one to ensure evenness. Keep them stored back under that towel while your pressing them!
Last but not least, on a hot griddle or cast iron pan, start toasting your tortillas. Throw em on dry, no oil or cooking spray, they get a better toast that way. Tortillas will cook fast, maybe 45-60 seconds on each side. they will slowly start to rise then deflate when you flip them, Like most things I personally like mine a little bit shared around the outside to add some extra depth to my bite. Keep covered in a towel while you cook them to keep them warm and delicious!
