Learn me on tortillas

[MonkeyDoughnut 10152]

30 minutes ago, Bevo&Pevo said:

HEB Mixla half corn half flour.  Muy deliciosa. Especially with a little char in the skillet.

Best fish taco tortillas for sure

[Bevo&Pevo 5055]

1 hour ago, Brisketexan said:

My daughter calls those "crack tortillas."  When she goes back overseas, she brings back a pack of 20 flour, and a pack of 10 mixed.  She shares the flour.  She keeps the mixed all for herself, to be eaten warm, with just that little char in the skillet.

Smart girl takes after her dad. Uh...I meant you brisket.  I'm sure you know what I meant.

[Celery Man 20902]

Alright I think I've got it down with the tortillas

16 oz flour
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup room temperature butter
1 cup lukewarm milk
mix flour, salt, and butter in a stand mixer on low, gradually add the milk.
continue mixing on medium low (periodically scraping the flour down the sides and reseating the dough) until it is dry/not sticky to the touch, about 15 minutes

divide into 16 pieces, smoosh/fold/pinch into smooth balls, let rest on the counter covered (i use saran wrap I bet a tea towel would work fine) for a few to several hours(potentially overnight - i've waited as long as 8 or 9 hours between making the dough around noon in the morning and cooking the tortillas after putting the kid down for bed)
heat your big cast iron over medium high until thoroughly heated up. no oil - go in dry
generously flour your working surface, flatten a ball and then roll it out with even pressure to make as close to a circle as you can. It shouldn't be hard to make a thin disc that fits just about perfectly in a 12" skillet
place the tortilla into the skillet and start rolling out the next one. flip the tortilla when it starts to to bubble up. remove when done. repeat until finished. clean.

i think the butter gives it a better flavor than shortening, and I didn't notice any difference in terms of how the dough comes together. still need to try with lard but honestly I'm happy. i think using milk rather than water gives it some flavor and pliability as well, but I think the big thing I was fucking up early on was not mixing it thoroughly enough. I checked back on my notes from talking to the baking scientist, and the "until it is dry and not sticky to the touch" is from her. that takes a minute. I think the other thing to learn as a shortcut is that cleaning up takes less time and effort than trying to do bullshit to avoid making a mess.

 

Edited May 3, 2023 by Celery Man

[PhillyD 1257]

Thanks.  I'm going to try this.  Those look perfect.  For those of us outside of Texas, making them ourselves is the only way.

I've finally got the corn ones down and it's been a game changer for us.  I've had some success with flour, but it just hasn't been quite right yet.

[Celery Man 20902]

dough hook on the mixer, obvs

[Anastasis 23403]

I picked a bad week to cut back on carbs. Those look great. 

Edited May 3, 2023 by Anastasis

[RollLeft 5040]

On 10/26/2019 at 12:16 PM, Hate said:

For store bought tortillas, these are pretty damn good.

 

I would take the recommendations above as far as finding the Mexican neighborhoods.  It shouldn't be too hard to find a paneria to get some tortillas from.  If you keep them in the refrigerator, they should last a couple of weeks.  As far as corn or flour, Henry James nailed it with his post above.  Corn tortillas for breakfast tacos is an awful idea. 

These uncooked ones are the best HEB has to offer. They are next to the biscuits. Better than their fresh baked, imho.

[rage-a-holic 4308]

47 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

I picked a bad week to cut back on carbs. Those look great. 

I picked up a pack of these at Sam's Club 2 weeks ago and took them to Playa/Cozumel with me. Wherever we went, I just ordered the carne/queso and used these. They aren't bad. My girlfriend ran out of her cheap tortillas and has tried to finish them off; wish I had brought more.

 

 

[Celery Man 20902]

On 5/2/2023 at 10:33 PM, rage-a-holic said:

I picked up a pack of these at Sam's Club 2 weeks ago and took them to Playa/Cozumel with me. Wherever we went, I just ordered the carne/queso and used these. They aren't bad. My girlfriend ran out of her cheap tortillas and has tried to finish them off; wish I had brought more.

 

 

ok hold on because i was being polite but extremely didn't understand this post where you were talking about walking around Mexico with a pack of Sam's Club tortillas.

it's because you are on a low carb thing and these are low carb tortillas that's why this post isn't completely insane

['stache 21778]

I eat those too when I occasionally go on a diet to drop a few pounds. They're pretty good in that context. I'm gonna try the recipe above. I have yet to find the right formula for homemade flour tortillas.

[CooterBrown 17943]

8 minutes ago, 'stache said:

I eat those too when I occasionally go on a diet to drop a few pounds. They're pretty good in that context. I'm gonna try the recipe above. I have yet to find the right formula for homemade flour tortillas.

The recipe doesn't matter as much (except for the fat, lard is best) as how much your work your dough.  You want to knead it until it is smooth and then let it rest before rolling out tortillas.  This will result in a tortilla that's soft and flexible and not crumbly and dry.

[Celery Man 20902]

I think that that jibes with my experience. You poke the dough, your finger comes away clean and and dry. Recipes say let rest for like twenty minutes or something - that is an absolute minimum and you can let them rest (covered so as not to dry out) much longer.

[Texzilla58 4718]

Alright I think I've got it down with the tortillas
16 oz flour
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup room temperature butter
1 cup lukewarm milk
mix flour, salt, and butter in a stand mixer on low, gradually add the milk.
continue mixing on medium low (periodically scraping the flour down the sides and reseating the dough) until it is dry/not sticky to the touch, about 15 minutes

divide into 16 pieces, smoosh/fold/pinch into smooth balls, let rest on the counter covered (i use saran wrap I bet a tea towel would work fine) for a few to several hours(potentially overnight - i've waited as long as 8 or 9 hours between making the dough around noon in the morning and cooking the tortillas after putting the kid down for bed)
heat your big cast iron over medium high until thoroughly heated up. no oil - go in dry
generously flour your working surface, flatten a ball and then roll it out with even pressure to make as close to a circle as you can. It shouldn't be hard to make a thin disc that fits just about perfectly in a 12" skillet
place the tortilla into the skillet and start rolling out the next one. flip the tortilla when it starts to to bubble up. remove when done. repeat until finished. clean.

i think the butter gives it a better flavor than shortening, and I didn't notice any difference in terms of how the dough comes together. still need to try with lard but honestly I'm happy. i think using milk rather than water gives it some flavor and pliability as well, but I think the big thing I was fucking up early on was not mixing it thoroughly enough. I checked back on my notes from talking to the baking scientist, and the "until it is dry and not sticky to the touch" is from her. that takes a minute. I think the other thing to learn as a shortcut is that cleaning up takes less time and effort than trying to do bullshit to avoid making a mess.
 

Those look great. Most homemade flour eat like a communion wafer or a pancake. Have you tried lard?

[rage-a-holic 4308]

1 hour ago, Celery Man said:

ok hold on because i was being polite but extremely didn't understand this post where you were talking about walking around Mexico with a pack of Sam's Club tortillas.

it's because you are on a low carb thing and these are low carb tortillas that's why this post isn't completely insane

Yes, exactly. These were from a Sam's Club in Austin. They don't sell them in Sam's Club Playa/Cozumel. Been trying to stick to mostly keto to drop weight before this EU trip in 3 weeks.

[Celery Man 20902]

7 hours ago, Texzilla58 said:

Those look great. Most homemade flour eat like a communion wafer or a pancake. Have you tried lard?

Finally figured out where I can find some, and my wife ate the last of the most recent batch so it’s game time tomorrow

 

[Celery Man 20902]

Ok I think lard is noticeably better. It’s hard to do controlled experiments because I’m getting better at the whole thing each time and also a fresh tortilla is always incredible but this tastes like a goooood tex Mex place and I’m having a hard time not housing this whole plate right now.

[Texzilla58 4718]

Lard makes everything better. Tortillas, pie crust, tamales, frijoles, ice cream

[Celery Man 20902]

 

So I've still been making tortillas. I long ago figured out that a decent youtube tutorial is way better than tablature/music for figuring out how to play something on guitar, I don't know why it took me so long to look at tortilla tutorials. I think the thing I've found is that doing it correctly is much more about process and technique than it is about recipe. I watched a few videos (including the one above) and incorporated a few of the things into the same recipe I've been starting from (https://patijinich.com/flour-tortillas/ , using shortening or butter for fat and milk for water). One big thing that I think I was doing wrong that the above video highlighted was that i wasn't mixing the fat in with the salt and flour thoroughly before adding the liquid. In the posts above I talked about how long I had to mix the dough to get it to have the right consistency and the right lack of stickiness. The last time I made it, I hand mixed the dry ingredients with the fat until it had that sand like texture, and I found that upon adding the milk it came together much quicker. The other change I made that may have contributed to that is taking the temperature of the milk from "lukewarm" to "fairly hot". A big dumb stupid thing that i was doing was taking the big ball of dough and then halving it and halving the pieces until I got 16 little balls. Squeezing off the correct sized balls (I did 60g like she mentioned this time, I'll go slightly smaller next time around) is such a "duh" easier and more consistent process. I forgot to do the stuff she does here where she kinda rubs down each ball with lard before resting them.

I found some tallow at a butcher's market down the street, trying that next. I also have some maseca for pupusas, so I need to give corn tortillas a go.

[Anastasis 23403]

Why can’t Austin figure out tortillas? 
 

 

 

Edited November 22, 2023 by Anastasis

[C-Man 27083]

So I've made several batches of homemade tortillas myself, several with lard and one with duck fat. I'm still working on the Sonoran style as I try to get them as close as possible to Caramelo tortillas, which are heavenly even though they come from Lawrence, Kansas of all places. I think Caramelo takes it up the absolute edge with the amount of fat they put in theirs.

I watched the YouTube that @Celery Man posted for the first batch. This was the "duck fat" recipe: https://www.reddit.com/r/food/comments/ht221y/duck_fat_tortillas_homemade/
 

Quote

 
Sure! As a baker I work in percentages for consistency and scaleability, so here is a sample recipe with 300g flour, which will make about a dozen six-to-seven inch tortillas.
[100%]300g bread flour [40%]120g water [25%]75g fat [2%]6g salt
Mix all ingredients in a large bowl with a wooden spoon until a shaggy dough forms. Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead for about 5-6 minutes or until smooth and fairly pliable. Wrap in plastic and let rest for 20 minutes at room temp. Divide into 40g balls, cover, and allow to rest for another 10 minutes. Preheat a large non-stick or well seasoned cast-iron/carbon skillet over medium high heat now. Flatten each ball into a 3 inch disc and allow discs to rest for another 10 minutes before rolling or pressing into 6-7 inch tortillas. I like to use parchment paper and a gallon size freezer bag rather than adding a lot of flour to a work surface. If tortillas are shrinking back when they are pressed or rolled, allow dough to rest for another 10 minutes. Next, cook tortillas on the pan for about 25-30 seconds per side, DO NOT ADD ANY FAT TO THE PAN. Serve immediately or, if using later, reheat on a hot skillet for 15 seconds a side before serving.
 

Then I did this one this past weekend: https://cookingwithcheftuan.com/blog/f/sonoran-flour-tortillas
I still need lots of work getting them rounder. I did finally realize at the end of the last batch that you need to lay them down from front to back on the comal, not back to front (I think the YT video above said that but I hadn't watched it in some time before the last two batches).
 

First run at tortillas with lard (these were made near midnight after the Super Bowl -- and I was drunk as shit)

 

Duck fat tortillas (lighting under the vent-a-hood make them appear yellow -- they were not)

 

Another run at tortillas using lard this past week

Edited April 16 by C-Man

[Celery Man 20902]

I suck at rolling them out still. They turn out round enough to use but rarely a perfect circle. That said, one thing I did that made me better was just light pressure with both palms on the rolling pin, not using the handles if you have one with handles. The handles are stupid.

[C-Man 27083]

1 minute ago, Celery Man said:

I suck at rolling them out still. They turn out round enough to use but rarely a perfect circle. That said, one thing I did that made me better was just light pressure with both palms on the rolling pin, not using the handles if you have one with handles. The handles are stupid.

I've got a large regular rolling pin with handles and two smaller ones that do not. I've been using the one with handles because it's get them thinner and bigger much faster. The non-handled ones are smaller too, so harder to work with here. A big part of my issue was laying them back to front, which is not the way to do it.

[CooterBrown 17943]

A tapered rolling pin helps with rolling them out in a circle when you have no skillset (i don't).

[Post Oak 20188]

I've pretty much given up on mine.  The taste is good to pretty good most of the time but I can't get the thickness or texture that I like.  I've tried them on the counter and Blackstone but no luck.  I guess I'll have to try a different rolling pin.

It's the same with sourdough.  The taste is great. The presentation leaves a lot to be desired.

[Blotto 23439]

Would a tortilla press solve the rolling issue? I think I'm going to give homemade a shot, and I just figured that would be easier. Looking at prices, they are $15-$20.

 

Edited April 16 by Blotto

[Post Oak 20188]

Never worked with me.  Didn't get it as thin as I wanted but that could be my particular press.

[Mrs Whiggins 13049]

It might, but honestly the thing with rolling dough whether pie crust or tortillas is that practice is sometimes all that is needed. I was making pies from a young age and whenever I went for a long enough spell w/o rolling crust, the skills got a little rusty and then would pick right back up. Get comfortable with rolling dough every week and you don't have to think about it, it begins to flow like a great jump shot.

 

[Celery Man 20902]

Tortilla press is worthless for the flour tortillas.

You guys might be different than me but all of my “can’t get the thickness/texture I want” problems came from not working my dough enough. If you stick your finger into the ball, it should come out clean. I still am not good at rolling them round, but that’s just about applying even pressure and setting them down cleanly. Comal is much better than a skillet btw, the sides make it hard

[Celery Man 20902]

Saving for later -

Oh cool, insta embeds work now 

[C-Man 27083]

I’m going to do another batch today. I’m thinking of exceeding what the recipes call for with regard to the “fat” (probably doing one duck and one lard). I think the Caramelo tortillas are loaded up with the fat. Maybe use recipe amount of animal fat with some butter? Spitballing here.

WRT to tortilla press, I think you almost have to go commercial grade for it to make sense on homemade tortillas. The $20 deals off the internet don’t make a shit.

[C-Man 27083]

Ok, these turned out pretty damn good. Made one dozen with duck fat and one dozen with lard. Had some leftover dough from each batch and made one single tortilla that was duck/lard mix. (I might do a whole dozen like that sometime.)

[C-Man 27083]

Has anybody found a good tortilla press for flour? I’ve seen the one Masienda offers for $100 or so but I read a comment or two that make it seem like it doesn’t work as well on flour as corn and everything on that site is geared toward corn.

I’m looking for something to help make more uniform shape/size flour tortillas quicker than rolling them out, which is a time suck.

[Brisketexan 104746]

Has anybody found a good tortilla press for flour? I’ve seen the one Masienda offers for $100 or so but I read a comment or two that make it seem like it doesn’t work as well on flour as corn and everything on that site is geared toward corn.

I’m looking for something to help make more uniform shape/size flour tortillas quicker than rolling them out, which is a time suck.

Yeah…all home tortilla presses are geared towards corn. The only good flour tortilla press I ever seen is a big heavy commercial one, like you see at Cabo Bob’s.

[C-Man 27083]

4 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

Yeah…all home tortilla presses are geared towards corn. The only good flour tortilla press I ever seen is a big heavy commercial one, like you see at Cabo Bob’s.

Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of — not ready to throw that down just yet.

[Celery Man 20902]

Aren’t those ones like… pressing the tortilla on to a hot surface? I’m picturing the machine at Taco C. I have a bigass tortilla press and the only thing it makes with flour tortillas is a big mess. It just sticks, the plastic sheet trick doesn’t work, it’s a mess. Maybe if I tried again now that I know what I’m doing more I might could make it work but I don’t think so.

[Captain Ron 12813]

I haven’t read the whole thread yet, so sorry if these are already suggested or commented about.

I have no problem rolling out circular tortillas. But a I’ve also been doing this a decade plus. I’m not an abuelita yet, but I can get mine done in about 5 rolls  

One hint from my sister’s husband - small turns when you’re rolling out. Think roll, turn your tortilla 90 degrees. Roll again. Rotate back about 15 degrees, rolle, 15 degrees roll, wash, rince, repeat.

Im also a proponent of a good teflon coated double burner griddle. I use the All-clad at home but the cuisinart one works too.

Off to read a lot of this. 

[Captain Ron 12813]

i also normally use shortening to make tortillas, but yesterday tried my first lard batch ever. Too damn easy - they were damn near perfect. 

[Captain Ron 12813]

On 8/11/2023 at 11:38 AM, Celery Man said:

 

So I've still been making tortillas. I long ago figured out that a decent youtube tutorial is way better than tablature/music for figuring out how to play something on guitar, I don't know why it took me so long to look at tortilla tutorials. I think the thing I've found is that doing it correctly is much more about process and technique than it is about recipe. I watched a few videos (including the one above) and incorporated a few of the things into the same recipe I've been starting from (https://patijinich.com/flour-tortillas/ , using shortening or butter for fat and milk for water). One big thing that I think I was doing wrong that the above video highlighted was that i wasn't mixing the fat in with the salt and flour thoroughly before adding the liquid. In the posts above I talked about how long I had to mix the dough to get it to have the right consistency and the right lack of stickiness. The last time I made it, I hand mixed the dry ingredients with the fat until it had that sand like texture, and I found that upon adding the milk it came together much quicker. The other change I made that may have contributed to that is taking the temperature of the milk from "lukewarm" to "fairly hot". A big dumb stupid thing that i was doing was taking the big ball of dough and then halving it and halving the pieces until I got 16 little balls. Squeezing off the correct sized balls (I did 60g like she mentioned this time, I'll go slightly smaller next time around) is such a "duh" easier and more consistent process. I forgot to do the stuff she does here where she kinda rubs down each ball with lard before resting them.

I found some tallow at a butcher's market down the street, trying that next. I also have some maseca for pupusas, so I need to give corn tortillas a go.

 

Watching that clip of her roll tortillas - I am embarrassed for her.

 

[Captain Ron 12813]

On 5/2/2023 at 9:21 PM, Celery Man said:

Alright I think I've got it down with the tortillas

16 oz flour
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup room temperature butter
1 cup lukewarm milk
mix flour, salt, and butter in a stand mixer on low, gradually add the milk.
continue mixing on medium low (periodically scraping the flour down the sides and reseating the dough) until it is dry/not sticky to the touch, about 15 minutes

divide into 16 pieces, smoosh/fold/pinch into smooth balls, let rest on the counter covered (i use saran wrap I bet a tea towel would work fine) for a few to several hours(potentially overnight - i've waited as long as 8 or 9 hours between making the dough around noon in the morning and cooking the tortillas after putting the kid down for bed)
heat your big cast iron over medium high until thoroughly heated up. no oil - go in dry
generously flour your working surface, flatten a ball and then roll it out with even pressure to make as close to a circle as you can. It shouldn't be hard to make a thin disc that fits just about perfectly in a 12" skillet
place the tortilla into the skillet and start rolling out the next one. flip the tortilla when it starts to to bubble up. remove when done. repeat until finished. clean.

i think the butter gives it a better flavor than shortening, and I didn't notice any difference in terms of how the dough comes together. still need to try with lard but honestly I'm happy. i think using milk rather than water gives it some flavor and pliability as well, but I think the big thing I was fucking up early on was not mixing it thoroughly enough. I checked back on my notes from talking to the baking scientist, and the "until it is dry and not sticky to the touch" is from her. that takes a minute. I think the other thing to learn as a shortcut is that cleaning up takes less time and effort than trying to do bullshit to avoid making a mess.

 

I might give your recipe a shot. The milk is weird to me.

 

Here's mine, which is my mom's and grandma's recipe. You guys do "small batch" I usually go 3 dozen at a time:

6 Cups flour (I use King Arthur all purpose, but I've heard good things about using bread flour)
1 Tablespoon salt (I use table salt NOT sea salt or kosher salt)
2 Teaspoons baking powder
5-6 Tablespoons Crisco shortening (I've been going near 6 Tbsp with this lately)
2+ Cups hot water (I microwave mine 3 min 30 seconds while mixing ingredients)

I use a kitchenaid stand mixer for all of this. Mix the flour, salt and baking powder use the paddle to evenly distribute the ingredients. I then add the shortening and let that mix in a minute or two. Then I start adding the hot water - half of what's left each add: 1 cup (this should make the dough shaggy), then 1/2 cup, then 1/4 cup until is starts to come together as a whole dough. Once this starts, I take out the paddle and put on the dough hook and let the dough fully come together about 5 or so minutes. I actually like my dough to be a touch "wet" or sticky. If it's too dry it ends up being a little hard to roll out.

Once I've finished with the dough hook, I put the dough in a gallon ziplock and put it back in mixing bowl I don't let it sit on my counters*

* - so I live in Boston - my counters are too damn cold, even in the summer, and the cold is bad for the dough/gulten. My first few batches here was an absolute nightmare to deal with until I figured out the cold counter issue.

They get at least a 30 minute rest at this point (If it's longer I will put the bag on a wooden cutting board with dish towels insulating both sides).

When I take the dough out it should be sweaty. I throw it on a wooden cutting board (that is only used for making tortillas - again keep it off the counter). I kneed all the moisture back in. Then I start tearing out dough balls and making these (If I want to be crazy precise they should weigh ~40 grams).

Note on doughballs- I've always found this to be the key to making round tortillas - you need round and well formed dough balls and they need to be smooth. You get this by pushing the dough into itself while rotating it. I do this by making an OK sigh with my right hand, I put a dough ball in the circle formed by your thumb and pointer finger. I usually push the dough in from the palm side with my left pointer finger and rotate the dough ball as I do this. Once they are smooth I put them along the edge of my cutting board.

I get to rolling immediately - UNLESS I put them back in the ziplock and then I can take up to 12 or so hours to get back to them (same insulation as above). 

I also roll on the cutting board and I don't use flour at all to keep them from sticking, this is likley because the cutting board is seasoned well enough I don't need to, but if my dough is right - it won't stick.

Since I use the double griddle my process is usually:

roll out tortilla A. Put it on griddle

roll out tortilla B. Flip tortilla A, put tortilla B on griddle.

roll out tortilla C. Flip tortilla A, Flip tortilla B. remove tortilla A. put tortilla C on where A was.

The last step is repeated a lot. Once this is going, I am generally getting a tortilla off the griddle every 45-50 seconds.

Edited May 2 by Captain Ron

[Celery Man 20902]

I’m up to 150g of lard per pound of flour, still 1 cup warm milk and a tsp salt. I think more fat makes everything come together quicker - I mix the dry ingredients and the lard with my hands until it is like sand, mix in the milk while I’ve got it in the kitchen aid on 2 with the hook. It’s usually ready to be rolled into balls in a few minutes.

[C-Man 27083]

Beef tallow tortillas for this Cinco de Mayo. I looked at two recipes — one from Lisa Fain and another one that was just flour, tallow, salt and water. Lisa includes butter and baking powder. I didn’t do Lisa’s this time. Will try that one another day.

My shaping still needs work but these tasted pretty good. I’ve decided I need a rock solid real comal— can somebody steer me in the right direction? My cast-iron Lodge plancha griddle isn’t as desirable as I’d hoped.

[Celery Man 20902]

the fresh off the comal tortilla with shredded cheese and doña is 🤌

[Buzzrock 14880]

Probably a stupid question but can you just smash the dough balls with a heavy skillet or similar? Or a press like you use for smash burgers?

[Braff Zacklin 13434]

6 minutes ago, Buzzrock said:

Probably a stupid question but can you just smash the dough balls with a heavy skillet or similar? Or a press like you use for smash burgers?

In most cases, those would turn out way thick, like arepa thickness. You really need to roll them out or use some sort of mechanical advantage to get them thin enough since they fluff when you cook them.

[Celery Man 20902]

I have a tortilla press, bigass cast iron thing. Yeah it doesn't work for flour tortillas, you have to roll them out. I think it works on those tortilla making machines at... Taco Cabana or whatever because the press is also the cooking element.

Mine also don't really shrink up too much when i cook them. The first few batches I made that was a big problem. The change I made that i've attributed the difference to is following the "mix the dough until you can stick your finger in and pull it back out clean" advice. Another thing that may have an effect is letting the dough balls sit for longer. I made and balled up the dough yesterday at about 1 and then cooked them at 9:30 (which was entirely driven by kid bedtimes, but I let them rest for a while these days). Another thing I started doing was spray the balls with oil before covering them with plastic.

[Foggy Notion 1202]

14 minutes ago, Celery Man said:

I have a tortilla press, bigass cast iron thing. Yeah it doesn't work for flour tortillas, you have to roll them out. I think it works on those tortilla making machines at... Taco Cabana or whatever because the press is also the cooking element.

Mine also don't really shrink up too much when i cook them. The first few batches I made that was a big problem. The change I made that i've attributed the difference to is following the "mix the dough until you can stick your finger in and pull it back out clean" advice. Another thing that may have an effect is letting the dough balls sit for longer. I made and balled up the dough yesterday at about 1 and then cooked them at 9:30 (which was entirely driven by kid bedtimes, but I let them rest for a while these days). Another thing I started doing was spray the balls with oil before covering them with plastic.

You can use a tortilla press to make flour tortillas. The trick is to put parchment paper on both sides of the press so that the dough doesn’t stick to the cast iron. You can cut open a gallon ziploc bag and use it the same way if you don’t have parchment paper on hand. 

[C-Man 27083]

2 hours ago, Buzzrock said:

Probably a stupid question but can you just smash the dough balls with a heavy skillet or similar? Or a press like you use for smash burgers?

I’ve seen online tips discussing pressing them down with a heavy cast-iron. You just need to have parchment paper or plastic wrap to make sure it doesn’t adhere to the skillet.

 

2 hours ago, Foggy Notion said:

You can use a tortilla press to make flour tortillas. The trick is to put parchment paper on both sides of the press so that the dough doesn’t stick to the cast iron. You can cut open a gallon ziploc bag and use it the same way if you don’t have parchment paper on hand. 

As others have said, no “hand” press I’ve found can get them thin enough. I tried getting started with a round shape with my Masienda press the last time I did flour and then rolled them out thinner. They didn’t turn out any better shaped in my experience so not sure I’ll even bother next time. Some day, when I start my tortilla company, I’ll have all the fucking toys!

[Brisketexan 104746]

As others have said, no “hand” press I’ve found can get them thin enough. I tried getting started with a round shape with my Masienda press the last time I did flour and then rolled them out thinner. They didn’t turn out any better shaped in my experience so not sure I’ll even bother next time. Some day, when I start my tortilla company, I’ll have all the fucking toys!

It’s all about the rotation as you roll them. My daughter has gotten it down (out of necessity, as flour tortillas are not readily available overseas). Yes, let the dough balls rest. Yes, lightly oil them. And rotate frequently as you roll them out.

Also, find a way to get Pati Jinich to run away with you to an isolated resort where she can cook and not wear much clothing. That’s advice for me, from me.

[Braff Zacklin 13434]

"Let the balls rest ... and rotate frequently"

Better advice has never been given.

[Brisketexan 104746]

"Let the balls rest ... and rotate frequently"
Better advice has never been given.

If I hear you go “hawk tuah” when you’re making tortillas…I’m skipping dinner.