Corn Tortillas

In this Instructable, I will show you how to make corn tortillas from scratch. This easy homemade corn tortillas recipe only requires 3 ingredients! Homemade ones are so much better than store-bought tortillas. And they are super simple to make at home, even if you don't have a tortilla press. If I can do it, you can do it. Let's get started!

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Follow the easy steps below or watch the video tutorial or do both!

Step 1: Ingredients and Tools

Ingredients: (Makes enough for 8 4-inch tortillas)

• 1 cup Maseca (corn masa flour) (125g)
• 3/4 cup water (177ml)
• 1/8 tsp salt, you can add a little more if you want (less than 1g)

Tools:

• Bowls
• Paper towel or kitchen towel
• Tortilla press or pie plate or something
• Plastic bag
• Spatula Skillet (cast iron or nonstick)
• Tortilla keeper or plate with a damp towel

Step 2: Make the Dough

This dough is super simple. Begin with the masa in a large bowl. Then add the salt and whisk them together. Warm the water, and then add about a fourth of it. Use your fingers and start mixing the water in with the masa. Then add a bit more water, etc. Until the dough comes together and when you press on it with your finger it doesn't stick to it. You may have a little water left, or you may need a bit more water. It shouldn't be crumbly/dry and it shouldn't be really damp either.

If it is too dry, add a bit more water, if too wet add a little bit more masa. :)

Step 3: Knead and Rest

Now knead the dough with one hand for about 5 minutes. This helps the masa absorb the water and produces a softer tortilla that won't crack or split on you. Once kneaded, shape it into a ball, and cover it with a damp paper towel or a kitchen towel and allow the dough to rest for 20 to 30 minutes.

Step 4: Divide and Roll

Once the dough has rested, take it out and roll it into a long log. Then divide it equally into 8 pieces. The easiest way is to cut it in half, then each piece in half, then in half again, leaving you with 8 pretty equal pieces.

Take the dough and roll it in between your palms into a ball. The size will be about the size of a ping/pong little smaller than a golf ball.

Place them in a bowl and cover them again with the damp cloth while you press them.

Step 5: Press the Dough to Make Tortillas

Take one of the dough balls and place it in between two pieces of plastic. I always just use a 1-gallon ziplock bag and cut off the zipper and cut the sides.

Then you can press it with a tortilla press if you have one of those, or just press down on it with a pie plate or heavy pot or something.

Gently peel it from the plastic, it shouldn't stick at all. Now it can be cooked. You can press then cook, or press all of the balls first then cook them, just make sure to keep them covered with the damp cloth before cooking them.

Step 6: Cook the Tortillas

Heat up a non-stick or cast-iron skillet or griddle on medium-high heat (approx 375 F/190 C to 400 F/205 C).

Then place a tortilla on the pan and let it cook for 30 seconds, then carefully flip it over, I use my fingers, but you may want to use a spatula if you aren't used to using your fingers. The pan is super hot!

After you flip it over, cook the other side for 30 seconds. Flip it over to the other side and give it a pat with a spatula. It will most likely puff, which means it is done. Even if it doesn't puff up, take it off after 30 seconds. The total time will be around 1 min 15 to 1 min 30 seconds.

Place the cooked tortillas in a tortilla keeper with a damp cloth or on a plate with a damp cloth, while you cook the rest of them.

And there you go, homemade corn tortillas using just 3 ingredients. Use these for tacos, quesadillas, enchiladas, etc. Enjoy!

You can print the recipe here if you like.

Step 7: Video Tutorial

Now watch those steps in action with this video tutorial. :)

Comments

[joymcjoy]

Great! Thank you. Looking forward to making those. Will be a challenge to find masa flour here in germany. Mabe will try nixtamalize the flour myself

[QuigleyD]

You may be able to order it online. I think Spanish cooking used this kind of flour also. What you need is masa harina which is processed differently than corn flour. I prefer to make them the larger dinner size ones which use double the dough. The water in new mexico where I used to live is very alkaline so much easier to grind and make there. It is a good bit of work though.

[In The Kitchen With Matt]

Yes, it can easily be found online. Whether the shipping to Germany will be cheap enough, is another story. Amazon has it, at least here in the US. Although, pretty much every supermarket carries it, here. Interesting how so many things we have here, don't seem to be readily available in other countries.

[eva0820]

https://www.losibericos.de/product/maseca-corn-flour-for-tamales-1-kg/
And it looks like it's on sale. Woohoo! :)

[In The Kitchen With Matt]

You are so very welcome! Let me know how it turns out.

[FlorinJ]

Just a note: masa harina/maseca is not regular corn flour. Masa harina is made by first boiling and soaking the whole corn grains in a strongly alcalinic solution. That introduces chemical changes to the grain which make it possible for the flour ground from it (after drying) to bind and form a dough. Plain corn flour will never make a dough.

[In The Kitchen With Matt]

Hi there, yes that is correct, but I didn't mention using regular corn flour. :) This recipe calls for maseca/masa corn flour (masa harina). But that is a correct and great note. :)

[FlorinJ]

Your video just mentioned corn flour in a slightly equivocal way - so that somebody not aware of the difference might have tried this with plain corn flour. I just thought it's useful to make sure nobody tries it that way.

[In The Kitchen With Matt]

Not really, it was pretty clear I said Maseca and Masa, and it is listed as the ingredients. haha, but cool.

[joymcjoy]

This process is called: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixtamalization
Patented first by the Aztec if something like patents existed back than ;-)
While corn flour today is reduced in aflatoxins from mycotoxin (mold, fungus) by fungicides during growing, this process makes it more easily ground, its nutritional value is increased, flavor and aroma are improved (wiki).
Can be done yourself with lime (CaO, CaOH) or ash (several metaloxides, chemistry: metaloxides in water --> alkaline, no metal -->acid)
Alkaline solutions dissolve as far as i understood sugars that make the cell walls of maize or other crops and gives the corn something working like gluten in wheat flour to form a dough.

[FlorinJ]

Not ash - lye, which you can make from ash. You put the ash into a sack made of multiple layers of dense cloth, so the solid particles can't get through. You put the sack opened at the top into a sieve, put the sieve on top of a big pot or bucket, and pour water through the ash, let it seep through the ash, and, reusing the same water, repeat the process a few dozen times. In the end, the water will have dissolved all (or at least most) soluble metallic oxides - many of them of highly reactive metals, such as Ca, but mainly K and Na. That's lye, and it can be used for nixtamalization. (Or soap making, for that matter, but that's a bit tricky - you have to prepare a few small batches to experimentally determine the ratio of fat to lye to use, since you don't know exactly what concentration of hydroxides you have in the lye.)

[ShaneK59]

I also live in an area where masa will be almost impossible to find. Do you have any instructions on how to make masa from dry corn? Or know what ingredients would be needed to do so? Thanks!

[In The Kitchen With Matt]

I have some for homemade cornmeal out of popcorn kernels. But that is a little different than masa. Try this recipe, it looks very good. https://www.mexicoinmykitchen.com/corn-masa