Anybody make their own tortillas?

[Laura]

Is there anyway to make them lower in fat? I love homemade ones, and there are some places here that make good ones, but they are loaded with fat.

And how do you roll them out? I can't get mine quite thin enough and need something heavy to roll them with.

[Jime´s mom]

Tortillas are not supossed to be loaded with fat, you mix the corn flour with water and a little salt and that´s it. Homemade tortillas aren´t as thin as the one you buy, I can say that from a country where tortilla is a must, and my grandmas use to make them. You can fill them with almost anything, and they´re not always supossed to be rolled out to taste ok.

[cutienibbler]

I am hispanic grew up in NM and my mom made tortilla's all the time, I am actually trying to learn. They can be a little fattening at times.

My mom only made the flour ones, so I cannot comment on corn.

Her recipe consisted of Flour, Salt, Baking Powder, Crisco and Water. She also rolled them out nice and thin, I LOVE THAT! On my few attempts to make them, I actually got the rolling part right. When you roll them out you kinda have to do a stretch on them, then toss them between both hands and do it again. I dont know how to explain it.

My mom makes awesome tortillas, so I totally know what I am talking about. They beat any resteraunt or store bought of course.

I have a friend and she says she uses my same recipe, but, uses NO Crisco. She says they come out great. She is also from NM so I know she is also no newbie to tortillas.

Maybe you can try her recipe? Let us know how it works out!

[Amieee]

I have not used it yet, but DH bought me a tortilla press for Christmas. I always had a hard time getting my tortillas to roll out think enough. I am thinking this will solve that problem.
He got it at a hispanic grocery store, and it was only around 10 dollars. It is pretty small so it doesn't take up much space, but also it only will make small tortillas. I can also use it for pitas, which is good, too.

I can't comment on the fat thing. I use full fat!
Oh, Yes I can comment!
My LLL "Whole foods for the Whole Family" cookbook says in it's flour tortilla recipe that 1/4 to 1/2 c of butter or oil is optional. The recipe calls for 4 c of flour (WW), 1 t salt, 1/4 t baking powder (also optional) and 1 c water. Maybe that is less fat for you?

For rolling, it suggests rolling into thin circles between sheets of floured wax paper. Maybe that would help.

[Laura]

Thanks, ladies.

Yvette, my BIL's girlfriend is hispanic, also, and she makes them often. She makes them with about as much effort as I expend opening a can of biscuits! She has a steel pipe she uses to roll them out--it's very heavy. She also has a metal disk that's about 9 inches in diameter that someone cut with a blowtorch or something.

I remember seeing those presses around here (West Texas) so maybe I'll check them out. And I am very interested in trying the no-shortening type and both flour and corn tortillas.

[Jime´s mom]

This topic became more interesting than I thought, maybe tortillas are diferent all over Latin America. As I said in my country they´re made from corn, the ones made with flour are a variety that we usually get at stores, but no one I know make them. As I said before, I have never had a tortilla with fat. I must say this is making me hungry, I love tortillas, I might be going downstairs in a few minutes to get one at the cafeteria of our building, they add some cheese to the corn's flour, and it's great.
I´m curious with the other recipes, are they from Mexico?

[Laura]

As far as I know, yes, Mexicans make alot of flour tortillas. They are more popular around here than corn ones, and I don't know of anyone who makes the corn type. However, I think they'd be great homemade.

Also, I forgot to add that I understand the hand thing, tossing them back and forth. I have seen that done.

[colomom]

When I was on maternity leave DH's aunt taught me how to make the flour ones. It took some practice, but I finally was able to make decent ones, but my first several batches came out thin & crunchy! LOL! Off hand I am not sure what recipe I have (its at home) but you got some great advise here.

Oh & I have this mini wooden almost rolling pin thing to roll mine out ~ DH's uncle makes them when DH's aunt needs them so he made me one too & it works really good.

Good luck!

[cutienibbler]

colomom, my first batch of tortillas came out thin and crunchy too! I am still learning. Its kind of hard because I am in VA and mom is in NM, she gives me her recipe which has NO measurements, then I just go at it! They are getting better, I cant wait until they taste like hers. Mine also come in different shapes, some are round, some are not. It will take some time.

Jime´s mom, I am not sure if this type of tortilla recipe is from mexico, it might be. NM is pretty close to mexico so its very possible. My dad made corn tortillas once, it was funny! I think he still makes them every now and then, but, hes the only one who eats them. I buy mine store bought, only a certain brand tho. YUMMY! Red chile enchiladas made with course ground corn tortillas! SOMEBODY STOP ME!



zachytacky, good luck with your new lowfat tortilla making adventure. Let us know how they come out. I am going to master making the fattening ones before I attempt to make the lowfat ones. I have also seen people uses rolling pins of all shapes and sizes! My mom likes to use the big wooden ones, my grandma used tiny plastic type one. I just have a big wooden one, any pin will work. Its all in the technique :)

Gotta go, I am hungry now!