Tortillas

Corn Tortillas

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups masa harina
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/8 cup warm water

Equipment:

• Tortilla press (you can find a cheap one for about $25 online)
• Tortilla warming dish (again, you can find cheap ones online)

Directions:

mix masa harina and salt together in a stand mixer on medium low setting. add in water and mix until incorporated. take out of mixer and begin to kneed. add more water if needed, as you want the dough to be as soft and moist, but not sticking to your hands. if it is sticking to your hands kneed in a bit more masa. if it's too dry you will see it forming cracks when you lightly squeeze it. kneed into a ball and cover with a damp towel while you heat up your pan on medium high heat (this can be a cast iron, or a non stick frying pan).

cut the dough into 12 equal pieces and then genitally roll each piece into a small ball (about the size of a ping pong ball). again, cover these with a damp cloth, taking one out at a time to press. place a piece of parchment paper down on the bottom of the press and place a ball of dough down, genitally flattening it a bit. place another piece of parchment paper on top and close the press. place the tortilla in the pan on cook for 30 seconds or so before flipping it. let cook another 30 seconds. flip and repeat the process but now cut cooking time down to 10-15 seconds per side. 

place cooked tortillas into the warming container and serve sooner than later

Flour Tortillas

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 cup shortening (or lard if you want to be traditional and non vegetarian)
• 2/3 cup warm water

Directions:

in a stand mixer, combine flour, salt, and baking powder and mix slightly. add in shortening or lard and mix until the flour is grainy. add in warm water and mix until combined. take dough out and kneed briefly until a smooth dough is formed (don't overwork the dough). cut dough up into 16 pieces and roll into balls. cover with a damp cloth and let rest for 15 minutes.

on a floured surface, grab a tortilla ball and flatten it with your palm. then with a rolling pin, roll out the edges, rotating the tortilla as you do so, into a disk approximately 6 inches in diameter. 

on a hot cast iron or non stick pan, place the tortilla down and cook for about 45 seconds. tortilla will start to bubble. flip tortilla and cook on the other side for about 30 seconds. your tortilla should have nice golden cook marks on each side, so you may need to do a few more flips, for just a few seconds on each side. 

place in a tortilla warmer and serve as soon as possible.