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[Hank D Thoreau]

I was supposed to make homemade tortillas a couple of days ago when I made enchiladas for the holiday, but I was too tired after all the cooking.

I finally made them today and they were great. This previous post shows how I make homemade corn tortillas. https://pelletfan.com/index.php?topic=4867.msg56574#msg56574

I used my stove and a cast iron skillet instead of my Razor outdoor griddle this time so I could get a higher temperature. I was running over 600 degrees F at times. You want a high heat if you can get it.

I ordered restaurant grade heirloom red corn masa harina from Masienda in Los Angeles. Masienda specializes in heirloom corn for restaurants that grind their own.

Masienda grinds a few of their corn varieties to provide as flour. I picked up some red and blue. This was the best handling masa harina that I have ever used. I was able to press thin and managed to get a few balloons during the cooking process.

(If you make tortillas you know what I mean by balloons.)

I turned the tortillas into American style tacos, folded, fryed and filled with hamburger, onions, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and taco sauce. It's not traditional street tacos, but still very tasty. Street tacos are good when you have some smoked and pulled beef chuck.

Add onions and cilantro, along with your favorite sauce.

The tortillas turned out more purple than red, but, that is still the flour from grinding red corn.

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[BigDave83]

Those look very good, i am a hard shell taco person, seems everyone I know likes soft one though. How do you make them in to the hard shell, cook longer in the pan and then lay over some sort of mold?

[02ebz06]

Tacos look good.

My wife makes flour tortillas regularly, but has never gotten the knack for making corn tortillas.

[Hank D Thoreau]

Those look very good, i am a hard shell taco person, seems everyone I know likes soft one though. How do you make them in to the hard shell, cook longer in the pan and then lay over some sort of mold?

I put about a 1/4 to 1/2 inch (estimate) of oil in a pan and heat it. I put the tortilla in the oil and let it cook for a few seconds and then flip it. This is make sure that there is oil on both sides of the tortilla.

I then let it cook on the other side. Home made tortillas do not bend easy like packaged tortillas so I have to use a couple of pinchers and slowly bend and form the tortilla as it cooks.

The tortilla will soften first and then start to harden. I bend as the tortilla softens and then hold it in place until it hardens enough to hold its shape. When the bottom side is done, I flip it to finish the other side.

After it is done, I take it off and put it on a plate with a paper towel to absorb excess oil.

I put just enough oil in the pan to cook the tortillas. I knew a cook who filled a pan with oil and deep fried them. Both work, but my method wastes far less oil. I don't use a mold, though I have seen that done with deep fryers.

[Hank D Thoreau]

Tacos look good.

My wife makes flour tortillas regularly, but has never gotten the knack for making corn tortillas.

The trick to corn tortillas is getting the conditions of the dough and the heat right so that you get the ballooning of the tortilla. The hot moisture from the ballooning cooks the tortilla from the inside.

You don't have this issue with flour.

[Hank D Thoreau]

I also did enchiladas with homemade red corn tortillas. They rolled nicely with just a bit of heating in a microwave with a wet paper towel on top. They tasted good but it seemed that the red corn was a bit stronger.

I have blue corn flour to try. I will probably get some white corn flower from Masienda to see whether it has a more subtle flavor which may work better for some applications.

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