Tortilla Press
Over the past seven months, David and I have been trying to perfect our flour tortilla making skills. After lots of trial and lots of error (some of which is embarassingly enough displayed in our videos) we have found a recipe that we are happy with. Now my biggest struggle concerns how to roll out a pretty circular tortilla. Somehow they end up looking like asymmetrical post-modern tortillas… David and I hesitated for a long time before buying a tortilla press but we finally succombed hoping it would be the answer to our problem. Tortilla presses are either iron, aluminum, or mesquite wood. We opted for iron under the recommendation of our hero Rick Bayless — if you haven’t seen Mexico: One plate at a Time, you should because its awesome/surprising/hilarious. Anyways this thing is ridiculously heavy and is covered with a thin layer of silver paint. Alarmingly enough that paint seems to rub off on our hands very easily which leads me to suspect that I will soon die of lead poisoning. Despite scrubbing at it with a copper scouring pad, and using parchment paper on both sides of the dough, I somehow still end up with traces of paint dust everywhere. Aside from that–the flour dough seems to be too elastic for the press to handle and they kinda pull back into tight little rounds once it hits the pan. Since thick doughy tortillas aren’t the most appetizing I think I am going to have to stick with hand rolling and amoeba shaped tortillas for now. Basically I think the presses are reserved for corn tortillas so I guess we will need to take another seven months to figure out that recipe! If I don’t die of lead poisoning first that is…
Nic you look beautiful.
We were just in Mexico at an all inclusive resort. I watched a cook use her tortilla press every morning at the breakfast buffet. She used two pieces of plastic bag in her press. It just looked like parts of a bag from
a loaf of bread. I thought it looked weird but it worked great. Hope it works for you.
PS. I am crust’s mom.
are those rubbermaid boxes of pecans in the background there?
you can always make candies from them or stuff like that and sell them online, (some Texas Pecan Pralines)maybe.
oh and also i live in the gulf coast area and i am Mexican from Acapulco if you need any advice on food or seafood Mexican style let me know. i hope you like it here in Texas.
If your dough is spring back the gluten is too active. Let the dough relax for 13 to 15 minutes, then try and do whatever you’re trying to do. It’s the same deal with breads. If you’re trying to form something like a dough rope for pretzels and it keeps springing back, let it rest awhile, then do your thng. Hope that helps you out.
First of all, I love your videos and pictures, you guys are the best !!!!! I am mexican and I am glad to see you guys try all kind of offal things, since I cant get my irish husband to even try menudo or tacos de tripitas and we have been married for 13 years. Anyways about the tortillas , you can actually press them with anything that is smooth and kind of heavy like a glasss casserole dish and of course use the plastic bag so it doesn’t stick, I like making them this way because I can see through the glass and with the press you can’t .I hope I make sense, and Just use your body weight to press it as thin and as wide as you want.
the flour tortilla find your self a little rolling pin or cut and sand one out of a broom stick, it would have to be the kind of broom that they sell at the mexican stores. also try and use unbleached flour it makes a big difference. Or you could try a pasta machine. I have never tried it but it makes a lot of sense to me. I love you guys. bye.
I did a little research and I was right , some people do use the pasta machine for making flour tortillas , here is a helpful link for you, hope it helps.
http://www.wabisabibaby.com/blog/2009/homemade-flour-tortillas-using-a-stand-mixer/
Haha yes. They are the remnants from our tree going crazy with pecan-iness this fall–no matter how many we eat we can’t seem to make a dent!
Agreed – you should be a tortilla press model. Are there openings for that?