Corn Tortillas
Learning to make handmade corn tortillas can be life-changing. It’s so easy, and a warm, fragrant tortilla turns any leftover into a fabulous taco. Unless you have access to masa made from freshly nixamalized heirloom corn — which has started turning up at small molinas around the country — you’ll want to use masa harina, which is masa that has been dehydrated and turned into flour. Just add water and it becomes masa again — and ready to use to make tortillas. In the past, the only widely available masa harina was made from commodity GMO corn (Maseca is the biggest brand). But now you can buy insanely fabulous masa harina made from heirloom corn from Mexico — it’s far more flavorful and fragrant than the commodity stuff, comes in white, yellow, blue and rose, and is not GMO.
But even if you use Maseca or other commodity masa harina, your handmade tortillas will be better than the pre-made tortillas available in supermarkets.
You'll need a tortilla press and a comal, griddle or large cast-iron pan or other skillet (not non-stick). Lining the tortilla press with plastic is essential to prevent sticking. Plastic from one of those very thin, crinkly plastic shopping bags works well.
(Note: For multi-colored tortillas, make half a batch of masa using one color masa harina, and half a batch using another. When you form each ball of masa, use some masa from both colors.)
Makes 12 tortillas.
Ingredients
1 cup masa harina
1 1/8 cup warm water