Corn Tortillas

I LOVE corn tortillas, even more than flour tortillas. The only thing that sucks is that when I buy them from the store, they're slightly dehydrated and end up cracking really easily. The second I try and fold up my taco, the tortilla rips or breaks in half or crumbles apart. The solution? MAKE THEM MYSELF. First of all, it's really easy to do and it's cheap. Secondly, it's only three ingredients. And lastly, they taste so much more delicious and they don't have any chemicals or preservatives in them.

Ingredients [yields 10 small tortillas]:
1 cup masa harina (dried and powdered masa, which is made from ground hominy)
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup warm water

**I will definitely have to do a post on arepas in the future. Arepas are incredible.

This is a tip that I learned from my coworker, who hails from Mexico. Take a 1 quart zip-top bag and cut it open on two sides so that you have a long sheet of plastic. You're going to use this during the tortilla press process. This will work better than plastic wrap because it's thicker so it's more durable and it's easier to peel the tortillas off once they've been pressed.

To assemble the dough, first combine masa harina and salt in a bowl. Then drizzle in warm water (I microwaved mine for 30 seconds on high so that it was the temperature of warm bath water) and toss with a fork until it's sort of clumpy.

Dump out the dough clumps onto a board and knead for a few minutes until it's smooth and lovely. The dough can be made ahead of time; just wrap with plastic and set aside until you're ready to use it.

Divide the dough into even pieces. I used a 1-1/2 tablespoon cookie scoop, which yielded exactly 10 pieces.

Roll the dough into a ball, place on the cut open zip-top bag, fold the plastic over, and then using a cutting board or a heavy skillet, press the dough into a flat circle. Obviously, if you have a tortilla press, you should use that instead.

Peel back the plastic to reveal a perfect tortilla.

Heat a skillet on medium high heat. Cook the tortillas on each side for 30 seconds or until you see little golden dots.

Doesn't that look yummy? As you cook the tortillas, place on a plate and cover with a damp paper towel so they stay moist until you're ready to serve them.

And even though this is a pretty simple process, I'm including a recipe page: