Fresh Corn Tortillas!

Hooray! Okay so I did make some yesterday. They were pretty good. :) Joey said he wants me to make them more often. He likes the taste better than store bought. The kids ate them up also and didn't complain. Yeah. The recipe says it makes 18. I mismanaged my dough and was in a hurry so I only got 13. haha Store bought to the rescue! lol

Corn Tortillas

Ingredients:
We are all familiar with both the corn and flour tortillas, but the original ones were of the native corn only, and except in Northern Mexico, corn tortillas remain the staple.

4 cups masa harina *
1/2 tsp. Salt
21/2 cups hot but not boiling water

*Masa harina (corn flour) can be purchased in most supermarkets. Quaker and Maseca brands are both excellent. If you are fortunate to have a specialty Mexican market nearby, you can purchase the masa dough freshly made and ready to press or roll out.

Directions:
Place the masa harina and salt in a large bowl. Add the water and mix with your hands to make a dough that comes together in a soft ball. Continue mixing and kneading until the dough is elastic enough to hold together without cracking, about 3 minutes. If using right away, divide the dough into 18 equal portions and cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel. If making ahead for later use, wrap the whole ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 1 day and then divide.

To form the tortillas, place a portion of dough between 2 pieces of plastic wrap. Press with a tortilla press or roll out with a rolling pin into a circle 6 or 7 inches in diameter. Use your fingers to smooth any raggedy edges. Continue with the remaining portions until the dough is used up.

To cook the tortillas, heat a heavy skillet, griddle or comal over high heat until it begins to smoke. Peel the plastic wrap off a tortilla and place the tortilla in the pan. Reduce the heat to medium-high and cook for 30 seconds. Turn and cook on the other side for 1 minute. Turn again, and cook until the tortilla puffs a bit but is still pliable, not crisp, about 30 seconds more. Remove and continue until all the tortillas are cooked. Serve right away as this is when they are the best. The best homemade tortillas by far!

I am using my camera phone and the pictures came out kind of blurry because...I don't know. Steam from the oven? Wait, there ws no steam. DD#3 stole the phone and breathed on it? My hands were all messy from baking and cooking and I smeared it? Ding!!! I think we have a winner!



My handy dandy tortilla press in action! If you are wondering what the plastic bag is, that is a bread bag for storing baked bread I got from Smart N Final. They said to use plastic wrap. I guess it keeps them from sticking to the press.



A corn tortilla pressed and waiting to be cooked.




In the pan and almost ready to eat. Good thing I have ONE cast iron skillet. I have never used it before. I cleaned it really good today and greased it wih oil to treat it. It was a pan of my moms. So there you have it. A very simple recipe I will definately do again. They were very tender and soft. I tried the salsa again and it was very good. Still not like the Mexican restaurant. It didn't taste tangy tonight. Maybe a day in the fridge did it some good. ;) Have you ever made corn tortillas before?