Gloria, Tortillas are best served fresh. I usually only make enough for one meal. Although if you have a few leftover, the best way to heat them is to wrap in a damp towel, put them into a plastic bag (unsealed) and microwave on 50% power for a couple of minutes.

Are you making flour tortillas or corn?

We had dinner Monday night with our neighbours and I made Mexican. I made about 24 corn tortillas. I kept them warn in the tortilla warmer that Gina gave me in a swap. Keeps them hot for hours.

Leftover corn and flour tortillas can be cut into triangles and deep fried for "tortilla chips".
Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table

Flour Tortillas
===============

2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon to 1/4 cup lard/shortening
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup warm water (might need a bit more)

.

Place the flour, salt, baking powder in food processor and pulse to
mix. Cut in the shortening and then add the warm water and process to
make a soft dough. Dough should be soft but not wet and sticky. Wrap in
plastic and let rest for at least 30 minutes.

Divide dough into 10 or 12 pieces and shape into balls. Keep covered.

Roll each ball out into a 7 to 9 inch circle. Dough should be thin.

Cook on a dry hot grill or frying pan on medium heat, turning once. Do
not over cook or they will be hard. Butter and roll up and wrap in
teatowel to keep warm as you cook the other tortillas.

(I place the ones wrapped in the towel in a low 200 oven to keep warm,
while I am cooking the rest.)

gloria, Ann is the "tortilla queen" here, LOL. I also make them, but can never get them thin enough with the tortilla press so I end up rolling them out with the rolling pin anyway.

I keep any leftovers in a plastic ziplock bag and reheat in the microwave, just like Ann T heats hers. I do make tortilla chips, but I cut mine into wedges and bake them. Sometimes I spray with cooking spray and sprinkle with chili powder or herbs and parmesan. Ashley likes the flour tortillas brushed with some melted butter and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar and then baked.

Annie

Thanks for the information! Until I really learn how (by rolling)and can adjust the amount as needed, I think I will practice on my grandsons. That way I won't have to worry about leftovers!

Gloria

I'm just poking my nose into everything today. Just discovered this forum a few days ago. I'm usually in the gardening forums. Anyway, I'm not Mexican but my hubby is and I know a few Mexican cooks. They will often make a big batch of flour tortillas and freeze them. You really don't even need to separate them in the freezer bags because when frozen they *usually* just pop apart. Let them set a little while to thaw on the counter and reheat on a cast iron griddle or in a cast iron skillet, is how I do it. I don't ever make the flour ones, but I reheat the ones that are given to us. :)

I make corn tortillas sometimes, I don't like how the home made ones taste. The masa harina tastes different to me than the store bought corn tortillas. Anyway, hubby likes them. I don't have a tortilla press but I can get mine to be really thin by using a large freezer bag cut into two halves, and a heavy pot or skillet (I use my cast iron dutch oven). Just press down hard and you've got a thin one. The tortilla presses have some kind of gap or something, so they can only press down so far. Although, I've had some thicker type home made corn tortillas at restaurants that were fabulous!

ann t, how do you decide how much lard you will use? Is it just a calorie factor? Or do you need to judge the feel of the dough, somehow?

Trsinc, I use to use the "heavy pot/skillet" method for pressing out corn tortillas, but that was before I bought a new press a year or two ago. I had tried tortilla presses in the past that were made of aluminum and they just didn't press flat enough. My new one is

I still roll flour tortillas out by hand. And it is more of a feel factor than calories. If you use a little more lard/shortening the dough will be a little softer and roll out better. And it keeps the tortilla soft so it is easy to fold without cracking.

I second the recommendation to freeze leftover tortillas. You can just pull one out of the freezer and microwave it for about 15-20 seconds and it will become nice and soft again and fresh again! :) Just be careful where you put them in the freezer (don't stack anything on them) because they are brittle when frozen.

OK, I'll third that recommendation to freeze. Maybe our tastebuds aren't as well developed as others, but we like them fine from the freezer. In fact, I make probably 3 dozen at a time and freeze them for later. I don't always have the time to make things from scratch when I'm preparing a meal and these come in really handy.

That's a great idea about the iron skillet "press". I have an aluminum press and I'm not happy with the tortillas it makes. I usually start with that and then use my rolling pin a little. It goes faster if you have two people: one to roll them out, the other to throw them on the griddle, flip them when they're ready, and get them off before things go too far. It seems like most Mexican cooking is better done with several cooks working together. It becomes a family thing, and that's cool.

Baked tortilla chips are a good, low-fat alternative to the fat-laden things you buy in the stores, but it takes a LOT of tortillas to make what would equal a bag of tortilla chips you would buy. Be prepared to be in the kitchen awhile. We like sugar & cinnamon on the flour tortillas, and just salt on the corn. I will usually spray them with a little olive oil before putting on the salt, but the sugar sticks on without needing any oil.