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Corn Tortillas Made with Yellow Corn Flour

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homemade corn tortillas,corn tortillas pragueOne of my most vivid and fondest childhood memories is being sent to the local tortilleria everyday, sometimes twice, for our daily kilo or so of fresh corn tortillas for our meals. The lines where always long, but just being there and smelling the tortilla dough, feeling the heat and smelling the tortillas as they came off piping hot from the conveyor belt was a great sensory experience. I always had to eat at least one on the walk back home, I just loved it and miss it terribly.

Tortillas are Mexican flat breads that are eaten with almost every meal, one of the most important part of Mexican cuisine. The word comes from Spanish, torta which means a circular cake. In Castilian Spanish and in Spain a tortilla is a thick and round egg omelet, quite different but still delicious. Tortillas have a long history in Mexico and some central American countries, some legends say they date as far back as 10 000 BC or older. There are 2 kinds, corn which is made from masa harina, a whitish cornmeal dough made by soaking dried corn kernels in water and lime to soften them and remove the skin. Then ground to form the masa or dough, made into balls then patted to a flat round bread that was then cooked. The second tortilla type is flour made from wheat flour. I know that flour tortillas aren’t as old as the corn, but not really sure when they were first introduced, (more to come on flour tortillas.). Tortillas are used to make tacos, enchiladas, quesadillas, tostadas, chips, and Burritos (made with flour tortillas) and some desserts . So you can see why a Mexican kitchen without tortillas would seem like an incomplete kitchen.

Busy and modern times had ended the traditional ways of preparing your own and nowadays families use commercially prepared tortillas. In the US as in Mexico you can find good commercially made corn and flour tortillas virtually anywhere, but unfortunately in Europe there aren’t any tortilla factories that I’m aware of, although I have come across the flour tortilla packages which I think taste awful. I’m almost certain that the “Mexican” restaurants here make their own corn using reconstituted masa harina. So again I have had to substitute and make do with available ingredients, which means no masa harina. Today’s recipe is made with yellow cornmeal flour, my substitute to the traditional masa harina. (A recipe for my homemade flour tortillas will be added soon).

corn tortilla ingredients Your Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups(170 grams) fine yellow corn flour
1 cup (110 grams) white wheat flour*
1/2 tsp. (2 ml) salt
2 TBSP. ( 30 ml) vegetable oil
3/4 cup (177 ml) warm water
skillet /griddle
rolling pin or tortilla press
2 small sandwich bag / or 2 waxed paper sheets
* the wheat flour helps in keeping the fine corn flour together and easier to work with*
1. In a bowl combine both flours and salt, until well combined. Next add a little of the water and the vegetable oil. Start kneading and combining the dough, gradually adding the rest of the water until the dough stops sticking to your hands. You may need to use either more flour or water to get the balance right. You want a smooth dough that isn’t too dry.
2. Warm the skillet/griddle over medium heat. Separate the dough into small balls,golf ball sized, you should get about 10-12 balls. Take one ball and cover the rest with a kitchen towel, to keep them moist.
If the balls start to dry out as you are rolling the others out, add a drop or two of water to re moisten.
3. Take either your 2 plastic bags or waxed paper and place a dough ball between them. If you have a tortilla press just push down to flatten, If you don’t have a press and are using the rolling pin roll out the ball to a 1/8 inch.

cooking corn tortillas,expat corn tortillas

4. Peel the tortilla away from the plastic/waxed paper and put on the hot skillet for 2 minutes on each side. You will see blisters start to form as it cooks. Repeat steps 2-4 until you have finished with all the dough. You can either stack the tortillas up to use right away, or let them cool down a bit and put in a sealed container or bag to store in the refrigerator and use later.

yellow cornmeal tortillas

The tortillas will keep in the refrigerator for a few days, then begin to dry out( which you can then fry/bake and use as chips.) The tortillas can be reheated on a warm skillet/griddle, directly on the flame(gas stove) or in a microwave.

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Comments

  1. Aww I love Tortillas… I should try your recipe some day – better then those store-bought tortillas which definitely have some preservatives added in them!

  2. Hi Alina,

    If you do make them you'll notice the taste difference straight away. Then eating the store-bought one's will just taste like plastic :( yuck!

    Would love to see your photos if you do try it:)
    ~

  3. WOWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!! Finally i was able to fix a real tortilla here, i am mexican but live in sweden and i have been attempting to make tortillas for a long time now, believe me i have tried EVERYTHING without getting any success at all.
    BUT THIS TIME IT WORKED!!!!!!!!
    Muchas gracias, desde ahora me convierto en fan numero uno de tu blog.
    Viva Mexico! Viva la comida mexicana!!
    Un abrazo desde Örebro

  4. Hi yomerarubio,
    I am so glad that my recipe worked for you:) I have even made tamales that have worked out really good, I have a lot more tips and substitutes to share and would love your feedback and results. What have you made with these tortillas so far? Tacos,enchiladas?

    Muchas gracias bienvenido a mi blog y provecho!
    ~

  5. excellent tips! I love corn tortillas and It's nice to see that it is not too complicated to make. I know that homemade corn tortillas are suppose to be far better than the store bought ones. I can't wait to try this one out

  6. I need to make my own corn tortillas. I feel for you, not having them readily available! (I'm in Texas, where they're EVERYWHERE) I just want to make my own because they taste better, and it'd be fun!

  8. I love that tortilla press. I made this once in school. Only once using the tortilla press. I was having fun. But now I have to use the rolling pin. I love the aroma of corn tortillas. I should make these soon. Thanks for the wonderful recipe and photos.

  9. Hi Jessie~I think once you make these you'll get hooked on making your own. I usually make enough for several meals for the week.

    Tasty Eats~ Texas is great for finding any Mexican products, so you are lucky.

    Noelle~ Your welcome.

    Divina~ Yes the rolling pin can take a bit longer than the press. My sister sent it to me so I'm lucky it cuts down the time. Thanks for the compliment.

    Have a great weekend everyone:) !!

  10. Hola Soy de Uruguay, pero en Perú comi tacos y me parecieron exquisitos. Me encanta tu receta. Espero me salgan lindas las tortillas y pueda prepararlas en mi casa. GRACIAS!!!

  11. Hola que tal mucho gusto! Soy de México y estoy viviendo en paris. No sabes cuan feliz me hizo encontrar tu blog y mejor aún- como hacer tortillas! Prometo tomar fotos y enseñarte todo! Ten un buen día y aplausos por tu maravilloso Blog!!!!!!!!!!!!

    • Hola Luis, Que felice estoy porque encontrastes mi blog. Tambien me acuerdo cuando no tenia mis ceridas tortillas, no se puede vivir asi:) Si porfavor toma unas fotitos para ensenar a todos aqui. Oye con esa masa tambien se puede hacer gorditas, sopes y tamales! Gracias for visitar y espero que regreses muchas veses:) Saludos!

  12. Hola, soy hondurena vivo en egipto y si he llorado por mis tortillas, aqui no se encuentran, acabo de ver tu blog, y voy a probar hacerlas, espero me salgan bien, gracias tu ayuda, llevo tres annos buscando como hacer tortillas, en honduras es nuestro pan y no sabes cuanto las extrano, gracias de nuevo y saludes.

  13. Thankyou for sharing this recipe, as I also come from Europe where Masa Harina and corn tortillas are hard to find.
    I was wondering if it is possible to substitute the wheat flour to another flour? I don’t eat wheat, that is why ;) I want to try your recipe, as the tortillas look delicious!

    Greetings from Denmark

    • Hi Sophie!

      For this recipe I have never tried using any other flour besides the wheat. You know I always wanted to try doing just the yellow corn flour, be never got around to experiment with it (I live in Mexico now and have plenty of masa harina and tortillas available). Masa harina is pure corn flour, though different than the yellow corn flour, but perhaps you can get lucky with doing 100% yellow corn flour?…

      Have you ever tested oat flour? Just make sure it’s certified gluten-free so that no wheat has contaminated the oats. I’ve used the oat combined with yellow corn flour for a pie crust (in this recipe) and got good results.

      What you really need is to make sure that the dough binds together so that the tortilla doesn’t fall apart, and that it is also flexible so you can fold it or roll it. Good luck! :)

  14. Made for the first time, had to grind my own corn flour, as we only have polenta / grits style available or cornstarch. Def no masa in South Africa. Think the dough not quite moist enough, and more salt needed, but not bad for first attempt, and finally used the press I bought, but not sure it presses thin enough… Have a photo but don’t know how to upload, don’t see option :) having with 5 bean mix tonight, chipotle salsa and guacamole, with a tofu sour cream. Yeah!

    • Hi Toni! Wow, that’s amazing that you attempted the tortillas with the polenta. Yes, since they aren’t the same thing as masa I can imagine you’ll have to make lots of tweaks in order to get it to your liking. Unfortunately you can’t upload photos in the comments section here, but if you go to my Facebook page you should be able to do so there. Here’s the page link https://www.facebook.com/spicie.foodie
      Thank you and hope you enjoyed that delicious meal! :)

  15. Me hace muy feliz. I am in mainland and the cheapest harina flour I have found is mailed from Shanghai and costs over 5 bucks for a one pound bag. In California it would be about 3 bucks for a five pound bag. Wow big difference. so praying this works and I will use it to make tamales and lots more. Signed stranded Mexican in Shandong Province. God bless you for this receipe!

    • Hola Oren! Que bueno y si vas a ver como funciona tan similar esta harina a las masa. También he usado esta masa parecer tamales en navidad y salieron riquísimos.

      Thank you and enjoy the tortillas and flour! :)

  16. I have lived in Texas all my life and make regular, masa harina corn tortillas. I just moved to Luanda, Angola, Africa, and have been able to make great mexican food with the local meats and produce…but they just have fine corn flour, not the masa flour I find in every Texas grocery store. I was delighted to find your recipe! Thank you.

  17. Hi, I have a question I hope you won’t mind taking a minute to answer. Do these tortillas get crispy if I tried to, after initially making them on the skillet, put them in the oven to crisp up and break into pieces to make baked tortilla chips? I have been buying good tortillas here in the States and making tortilla chips that way but I want to make my own tortillas now because I cannot find a brand of corn tortilla made with non-GMO corn. I also cannot find a brand of masa harina that is made with non-GMO corn. The only thing I found is Non-GMO corn meal or corn flour, hence I found your recipe. Now I only wonder if your tortillas (which look delicious by the way) could be made into tortilla chips or would just be too soft for that. Thanks.

    • Hi Tray,

      Yes, these tortillas will get crispy — in fact, I would put them in the oven to turn them into tostadas. It is such a pity that non-GMO is not available and I completely understand your concern.

      Maybe I don’t need to point this out, but just in case, the flour I used for this recipe is very fine yellow corn flour not corn meal. So do pay attention to that. :)

      My tip would be that when you are making the tortillas this way to make them quite thin so that they don’t come out as thick and too crunchy of chips. You may need to play around with the water content a bit to see what works best for you in your climate. Good luck and enjoy those chips!

    • Tray, I just made this recipe with non GMO finely ground corn meal and it was perfect!

  18. Maybe you can help me. I too am a lover of corn tortillas after having lived in Mexico for 5 years. I now find myself in Vietnam and am craving a corn tortilla…or the next best thing. While I’ve not been able to find corn flour I’ve found coarse corn maize for polenta which I’ve been doing my best to grind down as fine as I can. The first batch I made lacked the corn flavor and were quite hard, cracking when I tried to fold them. The second batch I just made I subbed more corn flour for the wheat flour. The flavor is much better, but I’m still finding that they come out quite firm and again break when I try to fold them. I also don’t have the blistering that you mention. Do you think this is because my corn flour isn’t fine enough? Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

    • Hi Alison,

      The flour we use in Mexico is very different than polenta flour, the way it’s processed is very different. As you see in this recipe I used very fine yellow corn flour, the texture is just as fine as wheat flour.

      I do think that the results aren’t good because of the different flours and perhaps because yours isn’t ground fine enough. But when I was first experimenting with this recipe I did the same and my tortillas turned out dry and crack, and also wouldn’t blister. So my suggestion would be to keep playing with the corn and wheat flour rations as well as adding a bit more water. Don’t give up, you’ll find a solution. Good luck! :)

  19. Tried this and has a better and different taste came out good did not crumble as some said it would with corn flour

  20. Thank you for this recipe. I subtituted white hard whole wheat for the wheat flour and it it came out really good.

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