How to Make Corn Tortillas

Step 1

Mix the hot water with the masa harina and knead it into a cohesive dough, about 3 to 5 minutes. Wrap tightly in plastic and let it sit at room temperature 1 hour to hydrate. Alternately, vacuum seal the dough, which will hydrate it instantly.

Step 2

Get your comal, griddle or heavy frying pan hot; you are looking for at least 400F, and 500F is not too hot. Line your tortilla press with 2 sheets of light plastic from a grocery store produce bag. Set your stove's timer to 40 minutes; you want to see a constant count-down timer as you make your tortillas.

Step 3

Pull off a ball of masa about the size of a walnut; about 40 grams if you want to be precise. Roll it into a ball and set it in the middle of your press. Place the other sheet of plastic on top and gently press down with your hand a bit. Lever the tortilla press closed, tight but not overly tight. Lift, and flip the tortilla over from right to left -- most tortilla presses will press unevenly, and this flip evens out your tortilla. Lever the press down again, fairly lightly, to even out your tortilla. Remove the top plastic.

Step 4

Place the tortilla in your hand so you are touching the tortilla. Carefully peel the second piece of plastic off, and flip-slap the tortilla onto the hot comal. Once you get the hang of it, you will not have any bumps or folds, but beginners will have this happen once in a while; it's OK.

Step 5

Let 30 seconds elapse. Using a spatula or your hands, flip the tortilla. It will almost always flatten out perfectly here, even if you had some wrinkles initially. Let 1 minute pass. During this time, set up another tortilla in the press.

Step 6

After the minute has passed, flip the tortilla once more. In many cases, it will puff up. This is good. Your tortilla is ready. If not, let it sit 30 seconds to a minute more, then move it to a tortilla warmer or wrap it in a kitchen towel.

Step 7

Repeat with the rest of the masa dough. When you are ready to serve, take all the tortillas and flip the stack -- the ones on the bottom will be the softest, and you want to give the freshly made ones time to steam.