Tortillas- The easy way.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?YZYIN 3 November 2014 Grinding Nixtamal to Masa
Utilizing raw corn, making flour or dough for tortillas is very difficult if doing the process when the corn is wet, which is the preferred method
The method presented here is a hybrid system, which is easy to implement. The corn is made into nixtamal in the typical manner.The nixtamal is then blended in a typical home blender with water. Only enough water is added to make a smooth slurry. The slurry is placed in a mixing bowl and enough corn flour commercial (Masa Harina)(Maseca) is added, mixed and kneaded to make a texture perfect for tortillas.

That method should work for sprouted wheat/grain bread, too.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?FKVFL 7 November 2014 Tortillas
Basically tortillas have replaced bread in my diet.About three or four tortillas are consumed daily.The corn is grown in my garden and nixtamalized and made into wet masa. The grinding is dead simple by using the blender. The liquid masa is then mixed with maseca, which is typical commercial corn flour, to make the dough of the proper texture for producing tortillas. This product is gluten free which is attractive to some. A quarter liter of corn produces about ten tortillas, which are relatively easy to make on a daily basis. Cooking is on a cast iron pan about 30 seconds each side, then placed in the microwave to balloon up. Photos depict the procedure.

Really glad you posted this. I grew a bunch of corn this year with the intention of making tortillas. I had no idea about the nixtamalization. How do I do it?

Will Holland wrote:Really glad you posted this. I grew a bunch of corn this year with the intention of making tortillas. I had no idea about the nixtamalization. How do I do it?

Nixtamalized Corn

Background.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22675/22675-h/22675-h.htm#CHAPTER_VI
This preparation of corn was called nocake or nookick by early colonists. The process is alkaline treatment of corn kernels to release nutrients which are readily digested.”It is Indian corn parched in the hot ashes, the ashes being sifted from it; it is afterwards beaten to powder and put into a long leather bag trussed at the Indian’s back like a knapsack, out of which they take three spoonfuls a day.”

It was held to be the most nourishing food known, and in the smallest and most condensed form. Both Indians and white men usually carried it in a pouch when they went on long journeys, and mixed it with snow in the winter and water in summer. Gookin says it was sweet, toothsome, and hearty. With only this nourishment the Indians could carry loads “fitter for elephants than men.”

Nixtamalized Corn
Modern Method of making Nocake or Nookick or Masa. Recently, food scientists have found that this process, called nixtamalization, increases the bio-availability of both protein and niacin, and radically reduces the toxins often found in moldy corn. The resulting dough, called masa, is the basis for corn tortillas, chips, tamales and other specialty corn foods. Whole corn that has been nixtamalized is called hominy or posole, while the ground form is called masa.
Read more: http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/make-masa-nixtamalized-corn-zmaz04amzsel.aspx#ixzz33Ore51jd


2 pounds clean, dried flour-corn kernels (about 1 quart) Dent corn or field corn
1/4 cup pickling lime (food-grade calcium hydroxide)
3 quarts water

Rinse the corn in a colander and set aside. In a large, stainless steel (nonreactive) pot, dissolve the lime in the water. Immediately wash off any lime that gets on your hands. Add the corn and discard any floating kernels. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low, and cook uncovered for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat, cool the pot and let it sit, uncovered, for 4 hours at room temperature or overnight in the refrigerator. Pour the corn into a colander in the sink. With the cold water running, rub the kernels between your hands to rub away the softened hulls (they will have a gelatinous texture). Rinse thoroughly (some old recipes say to wash between 4 and 11 times). Drain well. Use the whole, moist kernels in soups or stews. Or, grind them through a food mill able to handle moist kernels to make masa, to which you can add enough water to make a slightly sticky dough for making tamales or, using a tortilla press, tortillas. Promptly refrigerate any unused masa, and use it within 3 days.

Where to buy ingredients for processing corn as per mostly Mexican Food.
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?KLFUQ 2 June 2014 Field or Dent corn

http://www.bulkfoods.com/cooking-ingredients/2689-pickling-lime.html Pickling Lime
Pickling Lime is a common name for Hydrated Lime which is Food Grade Calcium Hydroxide. Item: 4330

Where to buy if desired commercially.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Maseca-Instant-Masa-Corn-Flour-25-lb/10790737

Google Nixtamalization for more information. Here is where I record my efforts. http://durgan.org/2011/

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?FKVFL 7 November 2014 Tortillas
Basically tortillas have replaced bread in my diet.About three or four tortillas are consumed daily.The corn is grown in my garden and nixtamalized and made into wet masa. The grinding is dead simple by using the blender. The liquid masa is then mixed with maseca, which is typical commercial nixtamalized corn flour, to make the dough of the proper texture for producing tortillas. This product is gluten free which is attractive to some. A quarter liter of corn produces about ten tortillas, which are relatively easy to make on a daily basis. Cooking is on a cast iron pan about 30 seconds each side, then placed in the microwave to balloon up. Photos depict the procedure.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?CEVNE 8 November 2014 Tortillas Corn and Beans
Eighteen tortillas were made with about 50% mixed beans, with nixtamalized home grown Indian corn, and Maseca, commercial flour to make the right texture. The tortillas were cooked in a cast iron frying pan, and placed in the microwave for one minute to cause ballooning. Th object was to make a convenient bread which can be eaten alone or stuffed with various food as desired.The tortillas are stored in a air tight plastic container kept in the refrigerator until required. They can also be frozen and revived by placing in the microwave for a time.
Here are links to the corn and beans, which were previously prepared.
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?YUNKR 27 October 2014 Pressure Cooking Dried Beans.
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?HPVDY 19 October 2014 Indian Corn Tortillas.Garden to Plate.

Hi, James....I like this idea of beans mixed with the masa for tortillas and want to try it. I was wondering if there might be another way to do that final puff without a microwave as I don't use that appliance....maybe in the oven or back on a hot iron griddle? do you fill them then like a pita bread?
Thanks!

Judith Browning wrote:Hi, James....I like this idea of beans mixed with the masa for tortillas and want to try it. I was wondering if there might be another way to do that final puff without a microwave as I don't use that appliance....maybe in the oven or back on a hot iron griddle? do you fill them then like a pita bread?
Thanks!

The micro puff is additional cooking,since it is so simple and available. Sometimes the tortillas puff on he griddle, sort of depending upon the moisture content of the masa. I am new to this tortilla business, so am still experimenting. The stimulus was I wanted to get away from commercial bread. Also I consider the tortilla as being nutritious in small bulk, also I grow the corn. I can now make the tortillas sort of on the fly, and will enlarge the ingredients as I progress.

At the present time I eat the tortilla often by itself and sometimes wrap various cut up food in them. Also fill the hollow in the puff. Tomato, onion, garlic, beans. I am not much of a meat eater, but choice cuts of meat would be suitable.

Thank you! I plan to try this tomorrow. I envy you your home grown corn, we grow a lot of our food but have never had much luck with corn. So, I buy a bag pf masa as fresh as I can and we use that....we use the tamale masa as a substitute for corn meal in tiny skillet cornbreads.

Judith Browning wrote:I was wondering if there might be another way to do that final puff without a microwave as I don't use that appliance....maybe in the oven or back on a hot iron griddle? do you fill them then like a pita bread?

Here in Ladakh, people puff their leavened thick flat bread by either putting it into the glowing red embers of the wood-burning cookstove and turning it with metal tongs, or holding it with tongs directly over the flame of a gas stove.

This bread is made like this: you roll out a ball of leavened wheat dough so that it's about 1/4 inch thick and 6 inches diameter, then sear both sides on a dry hot iron surface, and let it start to heat through. Before it heats all the way through you move it to the puffing location. It puffs up, but then as it cools it sinks back to be about 1/2 inch thick, with holes throughout, and soft crust. Can be stuffed like pita bread, yes.

The easy way for me is with a cast iron tortilla press:


source

This would work well with the above recipes.

Then slap the tortilla on a cast iron grill for a few minutes.

Anne Miller wrote:The easy way for me is with a cast iron tortilla press:


source

This would work well with the above recipes.

Then slap the tortilla on a cast iron grill for a few minutes.

Is a cast iron press better than a cast aluminum one (as I found on the King Arthur baking site)?

They are probably about the same to use though a lot of folks are against using aluminum due to the health issue.

I assume they both can be seasoned with some oil.