For this recipe, I highly recommend you watch the beginning of my live as I explained how to get your dough moist enough for making the perfect tortillas. Once you get the balance of the sauce, water, and the instant corn masa... the process of making tortillas is fairly simple! You do not need a tortilla presser to make tortillas so don't let that discourage you from trying this recipe! A heavy book, flat plate, or even the bottom of a pot can be used to press your tortilla.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE LIVE VIDEO!
This recipe makes: about 12-15 tortillas
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups of warm water
1/4 cup of Zesty Cilantro
Kitchen items:
2 pieces of plastic bag cut in squares ( Ziploc bags or any thin plastic bag works)
a tortilla presser or a book
a comal or a flat skillet
Instructions:
1- Add 2 cups Masa to a mixing bowl. Slowly add your water as you knead the dough. You can add one cup first, then once it is absorbed by all the masa, add the other half. This amount of water should make your flour meld into a dough.
2- Add the Zesty Cilantro sauce and continue kneading.
3- If your dough is sticking to your hands and feels gooey it means it has to much water, a quick fix is to sprinkle some masa.On the other hand, to know if your dough needs a few splashes of water, test the consistency by creating a ping pong size ball of dough and press it in the middle. If your dough shows cracks (I showed this in the video) it means that it still needs a few drops of water.
4- For our recipe, we recommend letting the dough sit for one hour wrapped in a wet kitchen towel before making the tortillas because it helps the dough achieve the perfect moisture. If you are short on time, you can go ahead and make the tortillas without the rest time as these are gluten free. Some might not puff up as much when cooking, if you notice this, wet your hands when making the dough balls to help the dough achieve the perfect moisture. Any homemade tortilla you create will still taste 10 times better than any store bought ones you can find so don't stress to much!
5- Heat a skillet or comal to medium heat. If you attempt to make the tortillas before the pan reaches this temperature, they will get stuck to the pan and it becomes a mess.
6- Now lets make the tortillas: line your surface or your tortilla presser with one piece of plastic, place a ping pong sized ball of dough in the middle then continue to cover with the second piece of plastic bag and press down to flatten the ball.
7- Remove the plastic on one side, place the tortilla on your hand and then continue to remove the plastic from the other side. Place the tortilla on the skillet after about 30 seconds, your tortilla should easily be able to slide from side to side on your pan, flip it and let this side cook for about 2 minutes. Flip it again and let it cook for a minute and half. During the last minute of your tortilla cooking, you'll notice it begins to rise. It is a good sign! The vapor inside the tortilla will help cook the inside of the tortilla and you'll have very fluffy tortillas! Once your tortilla is cooked keep it warm by wrapping it in a tea towel or place it inside a tortilla warmer.
8- Repeat step 6 and 7 until you have finished all your dough. When the dough is resting make sure you are covering it with a wet cloth so it doesn't dry.
Notes
Sometimes we need to sacrifice the first tortilla to get the temperature right on the stove. If your tortilla is not sliding in the pan after it has been there for the first 30 seconds, It means you need to dial up the heat on your stove. on the contrary, if your tortillas are forming black spots before the 2 minutes of cooking, you need to dial down the temperature.
Many people like to do 2 minutes each side for cooking their tortillas instead of our quick 30 second method. If it works for you, great!
Sometimes the tortillas need a little help to puff up, simply press the middle of your tortilla during the last 30 seconds of cooking and this will help the tortilla puff up.
After a few tortillas, you'll notice your hands start collecting dough, make sure you wash your hands if this happens as it can make the tortillas stick to your hands and bend when you are trying to place them on the skillet.
If its your first time making tortillas, I highly recommend you watch our video to learn how to maneuver the tortillas! I am accustomed to using my hands when flipping tortillas, but please be careful, a spatula or some thongs can help you flip them if they are pretty hot to touch.
