Homemade Tortillas are The Best

Our diet consists of either Thai Food or Mexican Food. In the past I'd buy a pack of 20 flour tortillas for the weeks worth of meals. It may seem like a lot, but with a family of 5, thats about two mexican style dinners. It has gotten to the point where I've been having to buy the 30 pack to also allow for lunch time sandwich wraps.

I think it was last week when I finally came to the conclusion that our tortilla consumption justified a tortilla press. Even though I usually am pretty kung ho about making my own food products, tortillas have been on my afraid to try list. When it comes to pre packaged tortillas, flour is the only way. Corn just tastes gritty and nasty. Since flour tortillas are a bit more challenging to make, I accepted that I could buy the packaged ones. Recently, I have decided that corn tortillas from restaurants are nothing like the gritty nastiness that comes from the store. If I could make fresh ones that tasted as good as a restaurant then I'd be satisfied that it'd be worth it.

I went to WalMart, I figured they have tamale steamers and they sell Maseca, they should have tortilla presses right? Wrong! So, after my hectic week came to a close my mom and I went to the new SuperMex grocery store on 20th in Pasco. It was fantastic. What a great little store. We found the press, only $13.00, and went to check out. The check out lady was so friendly, she said, "Are you going to make your own tortillas." I said, "Yes, we're eating so many that I figure it's time to make our own." She said,"I make them fresh every day. Are you going to add flour to the Maseca?" I said, "I don't know, is that better? How much do you add?" She smiled and said, "Oh yes, the flour makes them better. Just 1 cup of flour to two cups of Maseca. You can change it though, more flour or less if you like." (That must be the secret, I bet the manufactures don't add flour.)

She was so friendly and helpful, it was a great experience, unlike the unsociable lines at WalMart. Oh, and their produce looked so fantastic, it made my mouth water. I'll be going there this weekend, I think, for next weeks food stock.

Ainsley and I mixed up the Maseca and flour with a bit of water until it was the consistency of play dough. We formed an assembly line and she rolled up the balls and I pressed them in the press between to sheets of seran wrap. The recipe made about 12 tortillas and it only took us a few minutes to press the tortillas out. We first tried to heat them on the stove top. The oven temperatures varied greatly from the recipe, and the first few burned on the outside quickly and didn't cook through. I quickly turned the temperature way down and got some good results. But, one at a time was very time consuming. We made another batch and this time I experimented with the electric pancake griddle. I turned the heat all the way up (like the recipe says) and they cooked perfectly. 2 minutes for 5. It took about 6 minutes to heat them all. So, I am guessing it took Ainsley and I a little less than 15 minutes to make the second batch. That was our first day too, I bet we can do it faster as we get more experience doing it.

The whole house smelled of delicious fresh tortillas. When Kenny came home he said he could smell them in the car before he opened the door. We made tacos. They were some of the tastiest little tacos. Ainsley was ecstatic that she made the tortillas, she couldn't stop talking about the experience. Anyway, I highly recommend making your own tortillas. It was easy, fun, and tasty!