Home Made Tortillas

[Ulysses G.]

Wait till I tell Ulysses G about this... he'll go into raptures.

I don't have any way to cook. Only if you make some for me!

[jasreeve17]

I think chapatis have a little yeast in the dough while tortillas are unleavened. Same concept, though.

A kind of all purpose wrap, I suppose.

Do you reckon that the nan have the yeast rather than the chapatis? A good nan can be great, but often too doughy.

- what type of available cream / yoghurt would do the job best? ?

Use Sour Cream or Cream Fraiche....

Chapaties are like Tortillas... unleavened.

Nan is : 3 1/2 cups flour (Maida) 1/2 cup yogurt 1 egg 1/4 cup butter 2 tsp. salt 3 tsp. sugar 3/4 cup water 1 2/3 Tbls. yeast ...dried.

1. In a dish, take 5 Tbls. of water, add the yeast and a teaspoon of sugar and stir well. Keep aside for 10-12 minutes. (You will see bubbles on the surface of the mixture which suggests that the yeast is all right). Now, add in the remaining water, sugar, yogurt, egg, butter, and salt. Stir well.

2. Add the flour to this liquid and make into a smooth, soft, and elastic dough. (It will take about 10-15 minutes). Take a warm bowl, butter all the sides and the bottom of the bowl then place the dough in the bowl, cover with a cloth and keep in a warm place until the dough doubles in height (about 40 minutes). Push a finger into the dough. If the impression remains, then it is ready to be baked. Make the dough into 8 equal balls, flatten them into circles with your fingers such that the edges are thicker than the center. Pull one end of the circle so that the dough circle now looks like a tear drop or a balloon in two dimensions. The length is about a hand span and width about a palm.

3. Heat oven to 450F, and on a non-greased baking tray, place the dough. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown.

best in a tandoori of course, but then unless you are of Indian origin/descent, there wouldn't be one in the kitchen or in the yard - would it?

Great. Thank you.

[NanaFoods]

If you can find some lard that's the right stuff for making refried beans.

I'm old enough to remember cakes and piecrusts made with lard, before the days of them trying to kill us off with those trans-fats in shortening. Let me tell you, no shortening ever made a piecrust as tender and flaky, or a cake as light in texture, as lard. I think I'll be looking for some next time I shop. FWIW, the steep rise in heart disease in the US corresponds to the disuse of butter and lard and the use of hydrogenated fats in the form of shortening and margarine.

I concur 100%.

To think that something unnatural is somehow better than something natural defies logic.

That's corporate marketing for ya.

Remember the "eggs are bad for you" scare of the '80's?

P'shaw.

Same goes for coconut milk and coconut oil. It got a lot of bad press from the makers of solvent extracted seed oils that we normally wouldnt eat in concentrated form. Now research is showing coconut milk/oil, is not only bettr for you than we have been led to believe, but it is also helpful for the immune system AND is proven to be beneificial to AIDS patients. Imagine that, something we and our ape cousins evolved with is actually good for you.

[rice555]

Hello Ratsima, Makro now has fresh Jalapeno's, in bags by the red,yellow and green bells pepper's.

rice555 ps, the serrano's are from my garden.

[Ratsima]

Jalapeños in Korat? Amazing....

Are you going to save some seeds and plant them? Should do fine here.

[jaideeguy]

a 'real' tortillia is made with 'masa flour', which I haven't been able to find here, so I had a friend bring a bag over from the US and it made all the difference. not pasty flavored like white flour.

On a side note, the absolutely best tortillias I've had were hand made by an old mexican lady in an alley in Alcapulco and she toasted them on an old automobile hood with a fire underneath.

[Samuian]

a 'real' tortillia is made with 'masa flour', which I haven't been able to find here.....

Let us in on the secret, what IS "masa flour" exactly - Durum Wheat or Corn Flour?

Edited July 11, 2008 by Samuian

[Ratsima]

Wiki: Masa is Spanish for dough, but in Mexico it sometimes refers to cornmeal dough (masa de maíz in Spanish). It is used for making tortillas, tamales, pupusas, arepas and many other Latin American dishes. The dried and powdered form is called masa harina; it is reconstituted with water.

So, corn tortillas are made with masa (cornmeal dough). So-called "flour" tortillas are made with plain old wheat flour.

[huggybear]

Wiki: Masa is Spanish for dough, but in Mexico it sometimes refers to cornmeal dough (masa de maíz in Spanish). It is used for making tortillas, tamales, pupusas, arepas and many other Latin American dishes. The dried and powdered form is called masa harina; it is reconstituted with water.

So, corn tortillas are made with masa (cornmeal dough). So-called "flour" tortillas are made with plain old wheat flour.

Good clarificatiom Ratsima-there are two types of tortillas, corn and flour. OP is doing flour tortillas, poster mentioning masa is talking about corn tortillas.

[Samuian]

THANX'S!

Now we know...

[rice555]

Hello Ratsima, I don't know where my copy, "The Tortilla Book" is after moving things to find the snake in the house, but in my 'The Practical Encyclopedia of Mexican Cooking' by Jane Milton, ingredients for 12-10" flour:

5 cups all-purpose flour, sifted

1/4 teaspoon baking power

pinch of salt

scant 1/2 cup 'LARD'

1/2 cup warm water

I'll skip the rest of the how to stuff.

I order seeds from the States, in fact, the Jala's in my picture are from Villa in Pattaya last week, I went to pick up new seeds that a friend brings on his trips here. My wife pointed out the Jala's to me as I was looking at papayas in Maakro on the monthly bulk buying trip.

In The Tortillia Book, it talks about the rise of wheat use in Mexico, late 40's early 50's, corn was the most used till large amounts cheap wheat went south.

A little off topic, but you can grow Hickory King corn and make your own masa. The seeds I just picked up were 6 different NuMex chillies for salsas and rellenos and Oaxacan green dent corn to make green flour tamales.

rice555