Corn Tortillas

[ScottinPollock]

I have never made my own tortillas before, but I have made tamales using "Maseca Tamal" flour (which I have a good amount on hand). My understanding is the Tamal variety is just a courser grind of the "Maseca Masa" flour used for tortillas.

Will the courser grind ruin my corn tortillas?

If so, can I just throw some of Tamal into the Vitamix and grind it finer? How much finer? Just how fine is the Maseca Masa designed for tortillas?

[pepperhead212]

I've made tortillas before using the maseca masa, because I was out of the masa harina, and they turned out fine - a little coarser texture, but that was all. I have actually bought some tortillas in Mexican markets that were slightly coarser in texture. Grinding in the VM is I good idea, to get it finer, but not too much finer - I wouldn't want it to get too fine. Masa harina is finer than semolina, but not quite as fine as a regular flour.

[ScottinPollock]

Appreciate that. And what is the best temp to griddle them at (I usually do pita and other flatbreads around 375°F)?

[pepperhead212]

The best way to cook tortillas I found in an early Diana Kennedy CB - it called for putting one skillet over a medium low heat, and the other over a med-high heat. The pressed tortilla is layed in the cool skillet, and initially it sticks, but in about 10 seconds it starts floating around in the skillet. It is then flipped into the hotter skillet, top down, and in 20 seconds or so it gets flipped to the other side, with a few spots on it, and usually, it puffs up - if not, you just "tickle the tortilla", which usually puffs it up. I used to do this with 6 skillets at once, with just one cool skillet, and a friend pressing out the tortillas as fast as I could cook them, and we'd get a large number of them made quickly.