Tortillas...Corn or Flour?

Flour or corn, corn or flour...what about flour-corn?  These are so tasty.  They are also much easier and faster than making straight flour tortillas.  This would really be a snap with a tortilla press...but I made my own.  I made a double batch, which was 30 tortillas.  From there I made the most awesome enchiladas with homemade enchilada sauce.  This truly was a labor of love.  Rowdy really likes enchiladas.  I am not a fan of canned sauce so I don't make them often.  Canned sauce tastes nothing like the real stuff, it doesn't even look like the real stuff.

Of course I didn't come up with this on my own...credit once again goes to Chickens in the Road.

This is actually the lid to my cast iron dutch oven, which can also be used as a frying pan if you flip it over.  I am using it as the base of my tortilla press.  I put a towel under to protect the counter.  On top of the pan is a large Ziploc that has been cut down the sides.  In the center is a 2 ounce ball of dough.

This is the dutch oven pot.  I placed in on the ball of dough and pressed down quite hard.

Here is the pressed dough ball.

I rolled it out even further with a rolling pin.

Then cook the tortilla in a cast iron skillet, about 45 seconds per side.  I know that my pan looks unseasoned.  This happens when you cook a bunch of tortillas in it.  When I was done, I rinsed the pan and oiled it with a paper towel.

Soft Flour-Corn Tortillas

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups masa harina
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup shortening or lard
• 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
  

Mix the flours and salt in a medium-size bowl. Cut in shortening with a pastry cutter. Stir water in (add a little at a time after the first cup) and mix the dough as much as possible with a fork or spoon. Knead, adding water, until you have a pliable dough. (Not too wet! Be careful adding the water after the first cup. You may not need the entire cup and a half.) Cover bowl and let rest for about 20 minutes. Sprinkle a bit of flour in the bowl and knead again briefly. Divide dough into 14 to 16 balls.  I weighed out my dough into 2 ounce portions and ended up with 15 tortillas per batch. Place a cast iron skillet on high heat. (Cast iron works best–you need something that can take high heat with no oil.)  Flatten your tortilla with what ever method you prefer.  I do not have a tortilla press, which would be handy.  Maybe I will ask for one for Christmas.  In the meantime, I used two cast iron pans.  I cut open a large Ziploc bag and placed 1/2 of it on one pan, then placed a ball of dough in the center.  Next, I folded the other 1/2 of the bag over the dough ball and pressed down quite hard with another cast iron pan.  This did not get the dough quite as thin as I wanted, so I just used my rolling pin, on top of the plastic to spread the dough out a little more.

Tomorrow....