Homemade Corn and Flour Tortillas

America's Test Chicken consists of two separate chickens, each with her own take on this cooking thing. Check out Chicken One's related blog, A Travel for Taste where she shares travel stories and recipes collected whenever she ventures abroad. And give Chicken Two's new, also-related blog, Poop from the Coop a read. There you can find stories about her personal adventure re-experiencing the kitchen after many years away. Please join our Facebook group to share your own recipes, kitchen practices and know-how. We are also on Pinterest and Instagram.

The complete recipes appear at the end of this post.

From Chicken One: Flour Tortillas By the time Chicken Two made her corn tortillas, I'd already made them two or three times. Click here to see the detailed tutorial on my A Travel for Taste blog. It was a fun experiment using the ground corn, or masa harina, and tortilla press for the first time. I especially loved using the tortilla press, but for this post I wanted to try my hand at flour tortillas since I'd never made them before. Not only was it the first time I made them from flour, it's the first time in forever that I used actual lard for an ingredient. I will try other fats in the future, but for the first attempt I always try to use the real deal recipe. So I mixed up flour, lard, salt and water in the stand mixer per the instructions in one of my favorite cookbooks, Tacos by Alex Stupak. Unfortunately you can't effectively use the press for flour tortillas, so I rolled them out with a rolling pin. It's interesting that I used my Indian belan (rolling pin) and chakla (rolling platform) for this. It's not the first time I've remarked on the similarity between Indian and Mexican cuisine procedures! I've never worked much with lard, but I am here to tell you that the dough was so silky and smooth! I loved the feel and workability of it. It was like rolling out a heavenly mini-pizza. Flour tortillas are cooked the same way as corn ones, i.e., on a hot griddle or cast iron pan. I used cast iron but have since tried it on the Indian tava (griddle), which worked equally well. I also used the fabric warmer to keep them warm after cooking. Note that, unlike corn tortillas, leftover flour ones can be refrigerated or frozen and reheated later. The same day I also tried homemade chorizo, and Chicken Two made beef tamale filling, both of which we used for taco filling.We'll post a future blog about those, so stay tuned. I'm still looking for an authentic Mexican comal, and I'll make these again when I find one. Fortunately, Chicken Two and I found a wonderful Latin market in the same neighborhood as our favorite Indian market. It's called La Mexicana Latin, and it's truly authentic. There are so many spices, handmade ceramics, treats and worlds of unfamiliar things in there that I can't wait to explore more closely!

From Chicken Two: Masa Harina (Corn) Tortillas  Many years ago, (as in over 30..yikes) I lived in Denver and had a wonderful friend who was married to a handsome man of Mexican descent. I remember watching her make tortillas and other Mexican food and envying her culinary abilities. I've always wanted to make my own tortillas, so I'm very excited that we chickens are now venturing into Mexican cuisine. Step 1: Get a good Mexican cookbook. I chose America's Test Kitchen's The Best Mexican Recipes. Step 2: Get a good tortilla press and a warmer. We both chose the cast iron ones, though I'm sure the lighter ones are just as good. Just follow the recipe below. I've added some pics of my process to give you a frame of reference. You will be amazed at how easy it is! Be sure to use the plastic bag! Isn't it pretty? I used a cast-iron pan, which worked really well. This is where the warmer comes in handy! I plan on making these often...give it a try and let me know how you do!

Flour Tortilla Recipe

Ingredients:

4 cups AP flour

1/2 cup lard

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup water + more as needed

Instructions:

Combine flour, lard and salt in stand mixer or by hand until well incorporated and mealy.
Add 1 cup water and mix until dough just comes together.
Transfer dough to smooth, floured work surface and knead gently; do not overwork.
Cover dough with damp cloth and rest 10 minutes.
Make a small ball of dough about the size of a golf ball. Roll it out into a 6-inch disk.
Cook on a pre-heated griddle over medium-high heat, 2 minutes on each side. If resulting tortilla is too heavy and the edges cracked, the dough is too dry. Add 1 teaspoon water at a time to the dough until moist and malleable.
Divide rest of dough into 12 equal balls. Roll each ball out into a 6-inch disk and cook one at a time on the griddle 2 minutes on each side. Keep in a warmer until ready to serve or seal in an airtight container and refrigerate or freeze.

Corn Tortilla Recipe

2 cups (8 ounces) masa harina

2 tsp vegetable oil

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/4 cups warm tap water, plus extra as needed

Mix masa, 1 tsp oil, and salt together in a medium bowl, then fold water in with rubber spatula. Using your hands, knead mixture in bowl adding additional water 1 tbsp at a time, as needed, until dough is soft and tacky but not sticky, and has the texture of Play-Doh. Cover dough with damp dish towel and let sit for 5 minutes.

Cut sides of 1 quart zipper lock bag, leaving bottom seam intact. Line large plate with 2 damp dish towels (or use the warmer, like I did. Got it on Amazon!). Divide dough into 12 equal pieces: keep covered. Working with 1 piece at a time, roll into ball, place on 1 side of zipper lock bag, and fold other side over top. Press dough flat into 6 1/2 - inch wide tortilla (about 1/8 inch thick) using tortilla press. (you could use a pie plate if you don't have a press)

Leave tortilla between plastic until skillet is hot.

Heat remaining 1 tsp oil in 8 inch non stick skillet over medium high heat until shimmering. Using paper towel, wipe out skillet, leaving thin film of oil on bottom. Remove plastic on top of tortilla, flip tortilla onto your palm, then remove plastic on bottom and lay tortilla in skillet. Cook tortilla, without moving it, until it moves freely when pan is shaken and has shrunken slightly in size, about 45 seconds.

Flip tortilla over and cook until edges curl and bottom in spotty brown, about 1 minute. Flip tortilla back over and continue to cook until first side is spotty brown and puffs up in the center, 30 to 60 seconds. Lay toasted tortilla in warmer or between damp dish towels. Repeat with remaining dough. Tortillas can be refrigerated for up to 5 days, and rewarmed. 

Give it a try! It's pretty easy and a lot of fun! Just imagine the fillings you can make for it. Actually, next time, we'll talk about fillings so stay tuned!