October 13, 2014 - 11:41am
Tortilla Press worth it?
We home make all our other bread, so I'm thinking why not make our own flour tortillas since we eat a lot (currently shop bought though).
I've looked at some recipes and videos online and the only part that looks a chore is the rolling out. I like the idea of a tortilla press but would like to hear from anyone who uses one of these - do they produce good results and are they worth it? any specific recommendations on type of press would be great.
thanks!
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I’m no tortilla expert, but in my experience tortilla presses work great for corn tortillas, not so great for wheat. Wheat flour-based dough won’t stay thin enough after being squished in a press because of the elasticity of the gluten. I’ve used my press to get them started, but some rolling is still necessary to fully stretch them out. Adding a bit of masa flour to a wheat flour tortilla helps make a less elastic (easier to roll out) dough – it gives a little extra flavor too. I suppose you could cut the gluten effect with other additions to the dough as well but I haven’t experimented with anything else. I would love to hear of a method to make wheat flour tortillas “pressable,” but I think all the rolling demos you have found online are an indication that maybe there’s no getting around it.
With or without a press, homemade tortillas are a treat worth the trouble, even if it isn’t practical to make them all the time.
Marcus
Presses are great thing to have for corn tortillas. Flour tortillas are generally formed with rolling pins. The exception would be the electric ones that cook the tortilla while pressing. That said, I have seen people do this a couple ways. First is to make sure there is enough flour on the press, second was to use folded parchment with the dough in between. The best ones I have seen that used a press were started on a press then rolled with a pin afterwards. It might be worth a try though.
The press is made for corn tortillas and almost an essential tool. Flour tortillas are rolled without a press.
Jeff
I don't make flour tortillas, but I do make sourdough flatbreads every time I feed my sourdough starter. I mix the dough, pull off a little ball, and press. Beats a rolling pin every day! 150 g flour, 75 gram water, 50 gram starter, 10 gram olive oil is my basic recipe. Place on greased sheet pan, cover and let rise for 2-5 hours. Bake 10-15 minutes in 425F oven.
I also press it to "pound" chicken thighs into cutlets, and steak to cut into strips for stir fry or fajitas.
Make sure you cut open a plastic bag on three sides and insert the folded end near the hinge of the press.
I find the press a very useful tool.
They are great for corn tortillas but a the bottom of sauce pan works just as good, For flour tortillas you need a resident Mexican Grandmother living with you to do it fast and well. I use the sauce pan to get it circular, between parchment and then use a pin for flour tortillas. No press required around here and I bet my German baking apprentice has done more homemade tortillas of every kind than most non Mexican Grand mothers:-) Check out my corn masa recipe for tamals and tortillas found on TFL. They have Swiss Chard in them. Most folks don't know that many Mexicans are descended from the a very resilient Swiss stock :-)
If you go to get one check the gap between the top and bottom when fully closed. It can effect the evenness and thickness of tortillas made on it. The one we picked up had more of a gap in the back by the hinge. It does not work as well as it should in my opinion.
press and then lightly press again (easy to do between two pieces of thicker acetate), your tortillas will come out perfectly the same thickness everywhere. I've never seen a press made in Mexico, or anywhere else, that makes them perfect in one pass:-)
Hi All, thank you for your advice on tortilla presses.
I decided to make a batch of flour wraps using a rolling pin and it was a lot easier than I imagined. The resulting wraps were delicious too! much better than shop bought.
I used a really soft dough of flour, water, baking powder, virgin coconut oil, and water, which resulted in a dough which rolled quickly and thinly without much springing back. I don't think a press would have made it any easier, although I can see it would be useful for the corn tortillas.
I have a sourdough starter so will certainly try making wraps with that.
... the corn tortillas with swiss chard in sound interesting too dabrownman - I will check out the recipe! and maybe I should get a tortilla press after all.
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/28555/cinco-de-mayo-tomorrow-have-happy-one
and the affordable ones are only 8 inches and the very expensive ones were in what I would consider worthwhile size at 10 or 12 inches to make them flexible enough to comfortably fill with goodies. But what I learned here is that only corn-based dough would be good for these presses. As you can tell, I never got around to it. I was more into doing a great corn bowl shell for a taco salad and tried making them and they were horrible, so I immediately forgot about that endeavor.