Homemade Tortillas - shrinking
Discussion
I've got a Tortilla press, 8 inch. I made some dough and pressed them out. Internet said to use baking paper. Tried that but it was a bugger to peel then off.
Went OK by just dusting the press with flour.
Problem was that as soon as I release the press they were shrinking back on themselves instantly.
They tasted great but we're smaller and thicker than they should have been.
What did I do wrong? Anyone got any tips?
Went OK by just dusting the press with flour.
Problem was that as soon as I release the press they were shrinking back on themselves instantly.
They tasted great but we're smaller and thicker than they should have been.
What did I do wrong? Anyone got any tips?
Yes, quite a lot. But as smack points out, you are going to struggle with wheat flour. It will press but its like bread, it depends on the water and flour ratio how long it needs to rest. A few hours really. Mix, portion/ball it and rest or if you roll as mentioned it will work a bit quicker, if not roll, rest and roll again.
I went on a mission to perfect Flour Tortillas recently, and thanks to spending a lot of time in Mexico I knew if I was getting it right. So after trial and error, trying different recipes and tips from reddit and youtube expressly looking for the Mexican way and not some housewife from Upstate New York with a blog, and taking to a PH mate who now lives in the US, this is what gave me the best results:
I make them in a small batch based on 1 cup of flour which gives me 4 large tortillas for burittos, but standard recipe quoted uses a 3 cup as 3:1 ratio is used.
1 Cup of Plain Flour
1/3-1/2 tea spoon of salt
35g of Lard
1/3 cup of hot water.
I don't have a mixer so add Flour and salt in a mixing bowl, add lard bits into the flour squishing it with my fingers (room temp makes it easier, but I usually haven't planned that far ahead!), mix until you have breadcrumb consistency. Add hot water and mix with hand and kneed into a ball. Rest for a little while in a warm place covered.
What I learnt getting to that. many western recipes used butter - Mexicans don't. Oil is often quoted in recipes, but Mexicans mostly use Lard. Oil everyone has, is vegie/vegan friendly, and many parts of the world is hard to get. But I eat meat, and want my tortillas to taste right, Lard is stocked in UK supermarkets and cheap at £2/kg, so it is pig fat in my kitchen.
Flour, tried self raising, they blew up like balloons and cooked the bread - great for Pitta Bread, not Tortillas. Baking powder with plain flour did the same, so that didn't work for me, but maybe as I used lard rather than oil. The water in the dough gives you the air bubbles when cooking.
Last was shrinking, I had that problem but from a reddit thread I found a video from some cooking institute, who said hot water prevents the flour making strong gluten bonds, and I was using just luke warm water out of the tap. Spoke to my mate who did a lot of Mexican cooking, and said to use b
d hot water, there are no yeast to worry about. That worked a treat, can roll the dough nice and think and didn't shrink after every roll.
Cook on a medium hot dry pan. Cook too long and they won't be pliable, which is the reason you make flour instead of corn tortillas, which can't be folded.
Lard ones tasted the best. Enjoy!
I make them in a small batch based on 1 cup of flour which gives me 4 large tortillas for burittos, but standard recipe quoted uses a 3 cup as 3:1 ratio is used.
1 Cup of Plain Flour
1/3-1/2 tea spoon of salt
35g of Lard
1/3 cup of hot water.
I don't have a mixer so add Flour and salt in a mixing bowl, add lard bits into the flour squishing it with my fingers (room temp makes it easier, but I usually haven't planned that far ahead!), mix until you have breadcrumb consistency. Add hot water and mix with hand and kneed into a ball. Rest for a little while in a warm place covered.
What I learnt getting to that. many western recipes used butter - Mexicans don't. Oil is often quoted in recipes, but Mexicans mostly use Lard. Oil everyone has, is vegie/vegan friendly, and many parts of the world is hard to get. But I eat meat, and want my tortillas to taste right, Lard is stocked in UK supermarkets and cheap at £2/kg, so it is pig fat in my kitchen.
Flour, tried self raising, they blew up like balloons and cooked the bread - great for Pitta Bread, not Tortillas. Baking powder with plain flour did the same, so that didn't work for me, but maybe as I used lard rather than oil. The water in the dough gives you the air bubbles when cooking.
Last was shrinking, I had that problem but from a reddit thread I found a video from some cooking institute, who said hot water prevents the flour making strong gluten bonds, and I was using just luke warm water out of the tap. Spoke to my mate who did a lot of Mexican cooking, and said to use b
d hot water, there are no yeast to worry about. That worked a treat, can roll the dough nice and think and didn't shrink after every roll.Cook on a medium hot dry pan. Cook too long and they won't be pliable, which is the reason you make flour instead of corn tortillas, which can't be folded.
Lard ones tasted the best. Enjoy!
Slightly off topic, but I remember attempting to make these a couple of times back in approx 1987. However, back then the reason for making them was because you couldn't buy them. Then I discovered that they sold them, frozen, in Harrods food hall. They even put a bit of dry ice in the bag when you bought them to keep them frozen on the journey home.
Compare that to today, when they are everywhere.
Compare that to today, when they are everywhere.
Gassing Station | Food, Drink & Restaurants | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff