Homemade tortillas

Corn or flour?

Typically flour tortillas are not made with a press, but stretched by hand slowly or rolling pin. The gluten in flour causes it to spring back when pressed suddenly.

For corn tortillas - grab a bag of Maseca and follow the recipe on the back.



Edited: by no means let me prevent you from trying flour tortillas with a press. Just be prepared they won't come out as thin as you'd probably like.

over the past month I’ve built a marble surface work table and acquired a blackstone griddle

Next up is flour tortillas
This was the recipe recommended to me

Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt I use Morton's
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, vegetable oil or other fairly neutral flavored oil
1 cup warm water

To make by hand:
Combine flour, salt and baking powder in a medium-size bowl. Using a sturdy silicone spatuala or a sturdy wooden spoon, mix dry ingredients until well combined.
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the oil and water. Stir well from the bottom up, until all dry ingredients are incorporated and the dough begins to come together and form a shaggy ball.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for 1-2 minutes until the dough is nice and smooth.

Divide into 16 equal portions. Turn each piece to coat with flour. Form each piece into a ball and flatten with the palm of your hand. Cover flattened balls of dough with a clean kitchen towel and allow to rest for at least 15 minutes (or as much as 2 hours) before proceeding.
After the rest period, heat a large pan over medium heat. Roll each dough piece into a rough circle, about 6-7 inches in diameter, keep work surface and rolling pin lightly floured. Don’t stack uncooked tortillas on top of each other or they will stick together. (I like to separate my tortillas with parchement paper.)
When the pan is hot, place one dough circle into the pan and allow to cook 45 seconds to 1 minute or until the bottom surface has a few pale brown spots and the uncooked surface is bubbly. If browning too fast, reduce the heat a bit. If it’s taking longer than a minute to see a few pale golden brown spots on the underside of tortillas, increase the heat a bit. Flip to other side and cook for 15-20 seconds. The tortillas should be nice and soft but have a few small brown spots on the surface.
Remove from pan with tongs and stack in a covered container or zippered bag to keep the tortillas soft.
Serve warm or allow to cool for later use. When ready to use, place a slightly damp paper towel in the bottom of a microwave-safe container (with a cover) that will hold the stacked tortillas. Microwave uncovered for 15-30 seconds (start with 15) or until warm, then keep covered to hold heat while serving.
Store in an airtight container or zippered bag at room temperature for 24 hours or refrigerate for up to 1 week. To freeze, separate tortillas with parchment paper or waxed paper and place in a zippered bag before placing in the freezer.

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Typically flour tortillas are not made with a press, but stretched by hand slowly or rolling pin. The gluten in flour causes it to spring back when pressed suddenly.

For corn tortillas - grab a bag of Maseca and follow the recipe on the back.



Edited: by no means let me prevent you from trying flour tortillas with a press. Just be prepared they won't come out as thin as you'd probably like.

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This. My flour tortillas kept coming out like flatbread when I used a press. Started using a rolling pin and they've been perfect ever since

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Ditch the oil in your recipe and use beef tallow or lard.

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I tried oil, butter, shortening, and lard and the times I used lard they came out way better. Like night and day better

Yep...it's what the women in my family used when they made tortillas when I was growing up.

I won't eat store bought tortillas and there are very few restaurants that I'll eat tortillas from. Most are undercooked garbage made with oil or shortening.

Yep...any animal fat will yield a better product. Tallow, lard...hell I think there is a company out there slinging duck fat tortillas.

Here ya go... Caramelo Tortillas

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The gluten in flour causes it to spring back when pressed suddenly.

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If you want to use the press on a flour tortilla, one hack to consider is a relaxer to let the gluten relax enough to stretch out under the press. Commonly available relaxers are pineapple juice or Adolph's meat tenderizer. You typically need just a tiny amount of this to work, so you don't have to worry about changing the flavor. This is commonly done in pizza dough.

Also, it's surprisingly hard to get the tortilla out of the GD press. Cut a thin plastic grocery bag in half and sandwich the dough round between the two pieces of plastic. Now press and you can peel off the resulting thin tortilla much easier.