Tortillas a mano (Handmade tortillas)
In El Salvador tortillas are part of every meal on a daily basis. They are often enjoyed with the traditional breakfast, with grilled meat for lunch and even torn to pieces in soups. Like my dad says "las tortillas no pueden faltar," which means "tortillas cannot be missing."
If you live in the US you are probably more familiar with thin tortillas that they sell at the grocery stores or the handmade pressed tortillas that you will find at most Mexican restaurants. In El Salvador and most Central America, tortillas are thick and handmade to where you can see the finger inprints left on them. In El Salvador the corn is cooked with ashes to create the nixtamalized process to make the dough or "masa" daily. However, in the US since it's a bit hard to do this process, we buy the instant flour ready to mix with water.
How to make handmade tortillas?
This is the same process to make pupusas and pastelitos.
Ingredients:
1 cup flour: I use Maseca brand but you can use any brand as long as it's Nixtamalized
1 cup warm water
1 tsp salt: This is optional and you can adjust to taste
Instructions:
Warm up a cup of water in the microwave for about 1-2 mins
In a large bowl add the flour and make a whole in the middle of the bowl
Add in half of the cup of water and knead until the water is absorbed. Add in the other half of the cup of water and knead until the dough is no longer sticky. It may seem as you've added too much water, but you haven't, just keep kneading. The dough will start to get firmer and no longer sticking to your hands. This can also be done in a stand mixer, add all ingredients and set it at speed 2 for 4 minutes with the knead tool.
Set a comal or griddle to medium heat. Grab a 2-3 oz ball of dough and shape it into a circle. Typically the tortillas are thick but I like to make them as thin as possible because they tend to be heavy. The thinner you make them, the harder it may be to manage the dough for beginners.
Cook for about 2 mins on each side until fully cooked and enjoy!
