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AI-generated photograph: A stack of pale golden corn tortillas with charred freckles, half wrapped in an embroidered white cloth in a woven palm basket

Home · Recipes · Tortillas de maíz, handmade corn tortillas

Oaxacan · Sides

Tortillas de maíz, handmade corn tortillas

masa harina · pressed by hand · puffed on the comal

AI-generated photograph

Fresh corn tortillas made from masa harina and water, pressed thin and cooked on a hot dry griddle until they puff. They are the bread of every Oaxacan meal, and nothing from a packet comes close.

Contains: none of the 14 allergens, as written. None of the 14 allergens is in this recipe as written. Masa harina made only from corn and lime is gluten free, but check the bag in case it was made alongside wheat.

Ingredients

  • 250g masa harina (flour made from nixtamalised corn, that is dried corn cooked in limewater and ground), plus about 330ml warm water
  • Half a teaspoon fine salt

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Let's cook

  1. Mix the masa harina and salt in a bowl. Pour in 300ml of the warm water and knead with your hand for 2 minutes. Add more water a spoonful at a time until the dough is soft, smooth and springy, like play dough, and a ball pressed flat does not crack at the edges.
  2. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave to rest for 10 minutes, so the corn takes up the water.
  3. Divide the dough into 12 balls the size of a walnut and keep them covered.
  4. Heat a large heavy frying pan, griddle or comal (a flat griddle) on a medium high heat with no oil, for 3 to 4 minutes.
  5. Cut a freezer bag into two squares. Put a ball between them and press it into a thin round about 15cm across with a tortilla press, or with a heavy flat bottomed pan, pressing evenly.
  6. Peel off the top sheet, lay the tortilla on your fingers, peel off the second sheet and lay it in the hot pan. Cook for 30 seconds until the edges dry, turn it and cook for 1 minute until brown spotted underneath, then turn it again for 30 seconds more. A good tortilla puffs up on this last turn; press it gently with a cloth to help it.
  7. Wrap each cooked tortilla in a clean tea towel as you go. They steam and soften in the cloth, so keep the stack covered until you eat.

Tips

  • Masa harina is sold in the world food aisle of larger supermarkets and by online Mexican food shops; plain cornflour or polenta will not work, as only nixtamalised corn makes a dough that holds together.
  • If the edges crack when you press, the dough is too dry: knead in a little more water. If it sticks to the plastic, it is too wet: knead in a little more masa harina.
  • Cooled tortillas keep wrapped in the fridge for 2 days, or in the freezer for a month. Reheat on a hot dry pan for 20 seconds a side.

Swaps

  • Blue corn: use blue masa harina for tortillas the colour of slate, as some Oaxacan cooks make them.
  • No tortilla press: roll each ball between the plastic sheets with a rolling pin.

Our own recipe. The photograph is AI-generated.

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