Agreed.

Lars, homemade flour tortillas are unbeatable. But they rarely make it to the table here.

I don't own a comal pan, so I use a cast iron griddle, but I'm intrigued by your Calphalon griddle. I presume it is lighter in weight?

Sol

Most of the store bought tortillas are just awful. I much prefer homemade, too.

Sol, yes the Calphalon griddle is much, much lighter, even than the smaller comal. I was concerned that it might not distribute the heat evenly, but it worked perfectly. My cast iron griddle only has about a 9" wide usable surface (because it has a channel on one side for grease), and so it was too narrow for large tortillas.

The only store bought tortillas I like are from Trader Joe's, and those do not keep well. Even in the fridge, they will get mold in a week unless I vacuum seal them, and then they are difficult to get apart.

I use corn tortillas much more than flour, and the ones I can buy are good enough, although I used to buy fresh masa (from a Cuban market) and make them myself. When I use dried masa to make tortillas, they are not significantly better than the ones from the store. My mother used to buy hard taco shells at the store, and those I do not like, but I tend to make soft tacos instead.

This is great. Between you, Lars, and Sol, I just realized my cast iron pizza pan is perfect for large tortillas. Thanks for the idea and the small recipe.

The only drawback (for me) for this recipe is that you have to let the dough rest before rolling it out. I let it rest for an hour, but you could probably get away with letting it rest 30 minutes. The flour does need time to absorb the liquid, the same way pasta dough does. You can also use all white flour if you prefer, but I like the flavor that the whole wheat adds to it, and I use whole wheat pastry flour.

Now I want to get a cast iron pizza pan! Do you heat your pizza pan before you put the pizza on it?

Lars, good to know the Calphalon griddle is much lighter. Thank you!

I had a few basic Calphalon pans years ago, but gave them all to Sam, while she was living in Nashville.

I have an arsenal of cast iron pans, including two griddles. One is an 11½-inch Griswold, the other is 9 inches in diameter. I use them for everything, from sweet to savory pies, to cakes, biscuits, etc. I find a cast iron griddle yields a darn good crispy crust. Cast iron is unparalleled in baking, compared to the more common aluminum, glass, or ceramic pie pans, although utilitarian and not as pretty ☺


For pizza, I rarely preheat the pan. But I do grease it with garlic-infused olive oil, or butter, or a combination of both. Place ball of dough into the greased pan, then gently stretch it out with the tips of your fingers. Add toppings and bake in a hot oven (My oven only reaches 550° F., so, my pizza normally bakes in 8-10 minutes).



This tomato tart baked in a cast iron griddle was posted on WFD a few years ago. I'll try to find one topped with pizza instead. The only drawback is the size of the pans. That's why I am curious about the Calphalon griddle, because I can't imagine wrestling with a larger cast iron pan.

Talking about tortillas made me hungry for enchiladas so that's what we had for dinner. But I cheated and used pre-made tortillas (corn) because I had an open pkg that needed to be used up. (That and it's another grey overcast day that has me feeling very lazy.) Best enchiladas I have ever made and now that I have the ingredient combination figured out, next time I'll make home made tortillas.

I agree that homemade are much better! unfortunately, I haven't yet found/created a gf version that I really like. :(

Sol, your tomato tart looks wonderful!!! It reminds me of an upside-down cherry tomato tart recipe I saw that I want to try this year. And if tripping over cats counts as exercise then I need to rest more. ;^)

Sol, here are the differences in weight:

12" Calphalon weighs 2# 7oz

10½" Comal weighs 4# 10oz

10½ Iron Skillet weighs 5# 6oz

The comal is better for tortillas than the skillet because it is almost flat, and it's difficult to turn a very large tortilla in the skillet. The flat surface on the comal is somewhat larger than that on the skillet as well. I've made pancakes in the skillet, but it is not ideal, and I usually use my large griddle (21"x11"; 24" with handles), but it has a cooking surface of 9-3/4" x 20-1/2", because of the drip area, and it weighs 10#14oz. Also, it does not heat evenly, and while I could fit three medium sized pancakes on it, the one in the middle would not cook evenly. If that were not the case, I would use this griddle more often, despite the narrow cooking width. Normally I only cook two pancakes at a time on this, centered above the burners. This is fine when I'm making okonomiyaki, as I do not make more than two at a time. The other side of the griddle has grill ridges, but I've not used this side, since I have two grill pans - one with narrow and one with wide ridges.

I'm still going to look for a 14" pizza griddle in stores.