Making Tortillas

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Making Tortillas
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• Do you know what tortillas are? They are flat,
  thin pancakes made from corn meal or flour.
  Tortillas are a basic food in the Mexican diet.
  They are still an important food for Mexican
  Americans in Kansas.

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• In Mexico, tortillas are often made the same way
  they were long ago. Corn was ground between two
  stones to make corn meal. Some Mexican metates
  were similar to this grinding stone once used by
  North American Indians.

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• Another type of stone found in Mexico is the
  mochete. It works the same way, but it is much
  smaller. A mochete is used to grind spices.

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• People often use store bought flour or corn meal
  when they make tortillas in the United States
  today.
• The flour is mixed with water and kneaded.

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• Next, the dough is placed in a covered bowl and
  allowed to set for several minutes. After
  setting, the dough is kneaded again until it has
  a soft texture.

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• The dough is now ready to be formed into
  pancakes. Virginia Martinez, a member of the
  Topeka Mexican community, will show us how this
  is done by hand.

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• Mrs. Martinez pats the dough

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as she turns it
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round and round
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in her hands
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slowly
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creating
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a pancake.
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She may sprinkle water on the dough to keep it
soft while she is forming it into a pancake.
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Tortillas can also be shaped in a tortilla
press. Here Senora Valdivia shows us an old
wooden tortilla press.
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She is opening the press to show us how the
dough would be placed on a soft cloth in the
press.
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Today you can buy smaller tortilla presses like
this metal one. It is open and ready for the
round ball of dough to be placed inside.
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After the ball of dough is placed in the center
of the press the lid is closed.
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Next the lever is pressed down. This presses the
bottom and lid of the tortilla press together and
flattens the dough.
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When you open the press you find a tortilla,
ready to be cooked!
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Sometimes the tortilla sticks to the press. To
keep this from happening lay a damp cloth in the
press before flattening the dough.
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After the dough is formed into a pancake it is
ready to be cooked.
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Mrs. Martinez cooks her tortilla on a comal, a
heavy flat round pan. If you dont have a comal
use a frying pan.
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When the tortilla is brown on one side, Mrs.
Martinez flips it over to cook on the other side.
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She removes it from the comal with a spatula when
it is completely cooked.
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These are the finished tortillas. The ones on
the left were made with a tortilla press and are
very thin. The ones on the right were made by
hand and are thick.
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The hand-made tortillas are thick enough that you
can split them as Mrs. Martinez shows us here.
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You can then spread butter on the tortillas or
put grated cheese or sandwich fixings on them.