Homemade Tortillas and I am missing something

CharredApron

CharredApron

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Thanks to Diesel Dave I got some Masa Harina and wanted to make some corn tortillas today. I mixed 2 cups masa with 2-1/3 cups of water and a teaspoon of salt. Ran it all up in my blender with a dough hook to mix, then kneaded by hand till the consitancy was right, wrapped it in plastic wrap to rest and then divided it into individual balls and cooked them in my cast iron skillet. I am missing something, they weren't thin enough at first so I thinned them down with a rolling pin. Do you guys put any lard in your tortillas? The taste is flat. I tried deep frying some and made some chips, these were good but still I am missing something. What is it? Help











Fried taco shells



Chips with Yardbird rub.



Why do they puff, I want flat chips like I get in Mexican Restaurants with salsa. Anybody know what I am missing here, please feel free to chime in here. I can't buy these things and have to make them myself.

Thanks :thumb:

Jed
 
Poke the chips with a fork. Air's getting trapped inside which is causing them to balloon up. In all honesty what you might be missing as far as flavor is some MSG.
The other thing you can do is fry them up in some lard. I don't add lard into corn tortillas, I do with flour tortillas, but I cook them in lard.
By poke them with a fork I mean after they're all cut. After I posted this I thought maybe I wasn't clear enough with that.
 
hey jed,

when I use masa harina for tortillas, I use low sodium chicken broth rather than water. same when I do tamales. really improves the flavor as it can be a little flat as you note.

I've never made chips though so no help there!
 
sbramm said:
hey jed,

when I use masa harina for tortillas, I use low sodium chicken broth rather than water. same when I do tamales. really improves the flavor as it can be a little flat as you note.

I've never made chips though so no help there!
Click to expand...
Nice, I'll try that next time
 
JazzyBadger said:
Poke the chips with a fork. Air's getting trapped inside which is causing them to balloon up. In all honesty what you might be missing as far as flavor is some MSG.
The other thing you can do is fry them up in some lard. I don't add lard into corn tortillas, I do with flour tortillas, but I cook them in lard.
By poke them with a fork I mean after they're all cut. After I posted this I thought maybe I wasn't clear enough with that.
Click to expand...
Do you use masa harina? Can you add corn meal?
 
CharredApron said:
Do you use masa harina? Can you add corn meal?
Click to expand...

You can add it, but it will be flatter. Corn meal isn't treated with the lime whatever it is that gives masa harina the 'distinctive flavor.'
I don't ever add anything beyond liquid, salt, and masa harina.
 
JazzyBadger said:
You can add it, but it will be flatter. Corn meal isn't treated with the lime whatever it is that gives masa harina the 'distinctive flavor.'
I don't ever add anything beyond liquid, salt, and masa harina.
Click to expand...
Cooked mine in the cast iron skillet at 300° not hot enough? Too hot? Oiled pan with olive oil.
 
They look great, I like the puffy bubbles when my wife makes them.

Corn meal or regular corn flour are produced from a different type of corn than masa harina and they are also processed differently as indicated by JazzyBadger. They will not produce the same results.

Here is a link if the process might be of some help to you...
 
Olive oil might not be the best here... maybe canola, corn or peanut? I haven't measured the temperature, but I'm pretty sure I go hotter than 300°F. I'd be surprised if it's not at least 350. I usually dry the tortillas out for ~5m in a 350°F oven before frying them.

Also, press them *thin*.

Here's roughly what I do:

- dry tortillas in the oven for ~5m at 350°F
- slice into eighths
- heat ~0.25" of canola oil until a little piece of tortilla sizzles right away when you drop it in
- fry until crispy (~2m or so I think)
- drain and serve

They still have bubbles in them, but don't puff up the same way you see in your last photo.
 
As others have said I don't think olive oil would be the one to go for there. If you're looking for the 'real deal' then you want some good ol' fashioned lard. If you're looking for a store bought type deal then you're more than likely going to be going for some soybean oil. Canola oil would work, but it won't add much in the way of flavor. It will simply give you the higher smoke point.

I've never temped my oil either, but I use a cast iron pan preheated to medium, and I keep it juuust under the smoke point, so it's over 350º but under 400º.
I hand roll mine with one of those wooden rolling pins, what are they again? French pins? Can't ever remember. Had it for years; it's awesome for rolling out thin.
 
That's what I use too. Unfortunately, mine come out looking like this...

tort3.jpg
 
deguerre said:
That's what I use too. Unfortunately, mine come out looking like this...

tort3.jpg
Click to expand...

Yeah I'm pretty sure the experience at my first job (bakery) gave me some pretty leet rolling skills. I was a cinnamon roll/kolache/strudel making MACHINE! Made muffins too, but that was just using an ice cream scoop. I made those farking batters though, and people LOVED them. Ohhh yeah.
 
Also this just occurred to me as well: If you're used to eating corn tortillas like Mission brand then you might actually be missing sugar. I believe that Mission adds dextrose to their mix; so not only are you getting the sugars from the corn itself, but you're getting some added sugar in there as well.

Every damn thing in this day and age has sugar in it if it doesn't have M.S.G. it seems. Sometimes it's both.
 
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