Corn Tortillas

Yesterday I made corn tortillas which I used for enchiladas. As I wrote in an earlier post I found the tortilla corn flour online here in Holland. I learned how to make them at Pilar's La Casa de los Sabores (the house of flavours) Cooking School in Oaxaca City, Mexico were we took a cooking class on our vacation in March. She took us to the market and we bought ready to use masa (dough) there.
Now I had to mix it myself, which isn't very hard but it takes some time to get the consistency right.

I used 2 cups of tortilla corn flour and started with 1 1/4 cup of very warm water, brought it together and found out it needed more water. If you make a little dough ball and flatten it and it cracks easily it's too dry.

When I had the right consistency I rolled balls which were a little bigger than a golf ball. Keep the bowl you put them in covered with cling film to prevent them from drying out.
Cut up a freezer bag in such a way that you have 2 sheets that fit inside your press. This makes it easier to press the tortillas and it keeps your press clean.

Place one of the balls on the plastic sheet in the press.

Put the second sheet of plastic over the ball and flatten it a bit by hand.


Use the press to flatten the ball in to a tortilla. Pilar's tip was to open the press, flip the tortilla over and press again, this way you get a nice even thickness.


Remove the plastic, if your dough sticks too much to the plastic it's too wet, and put on a hot griddle and cook until they are done on both sides.


You can put them in aluminum foil and cover them with a dishtowel to keep them warm for a while.

In Oaxaca we made smaller once, the dough balls were about 2 cm (3/4"), which we filled with squash blossoms and Oaxacan string cheese (a cheese that's gets nice and runny when heated). This was served with Salsa Verde Asada, a nice green salsa made with jalapeno, avocado, garlic and roasted tomatillos.

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