Masa Harina Corn Tortillas

If you've ever had the luck to peer into a traditional Hispanic kitchen, you'll know that the cooks shaping and cooking corn tortillas seem to do it too fast for the human eye to capture. Experience, repetition, and what looks like a superhuman resistance to heat might make you think that making tortillas requires a lot of work and technical skills, but in reality what it requires is attention to detail and a good tortilla press, or a humble rolling pin. You don't have to be fast to achieve great tortillas, and our recipe guarantees that your tortillas are going to be equally soft and delicious as the traditional ones. The key ingredient is just masa harina, a special flour made from dried corn that has been previously soaked in lime solution (calcium hydroxide) and then finely ground. Water and salt are the rest of the ingredients. Roll up your sleeves and prepare for this easy tortilla recipe so you can enjoy these homemade treats stuffed with your favorite ingredients. This recipe makes a dozen tortillas of 5 to 5.5-inch in diameter. These can be used immediately or frozen for later use.

Masa harina has a distinctive flavor stemming from soaking the grains in calcium hydroxide, so it's a different product than cornmeal or cornflour. A little sour and earthy, the soaked kernels are then dried and ground into flour. Because the grains used to make corn flour and cornmeal haven't been soaked in lime solution, these products, though made from corn, are not substitutions for the classic masa harina. The soft flour is then reconstituted with water to make all sorts of doughy preparations, from tortillas to arepas, gorditas to tamales. Some cooks use just salt and water to make the dough (masa) and some others add fat to make it smoother (butter, lard, oil). There are as many variations on masa as there are cooks, but ours is the basic standard for tasty tortillas. A thicker dough makes great arepas, a thinner dough is great for tamales as it will firm up when steaming. Some use more water, some use more fat, some add more salt, some add other spices. But no matter how it's prepared, this masa is a fundamental piece of the culture and tradition of Hispanic and Latin cuisines.

Add some grated cheese and fold for a quick quesadilla. Use grilled meats to stuff the tortillas and top with pico de gallo and avocado, or cut in triangles and fry for delicious corn chips. No matter how you eat them, know that making these is also a great way of celebrating the delicious traditions of the ancient and amazing cuisines from Mexico and further south. Find harina masa in the international aisle of most supermarkets, online, or in Hispanic and Latin Markets.