Alex Stupak’s Mexican Corn Tortilla

2015-01-21

This Recipe
Chef: Alex Stupak
Cuisine: Mexican Cuisine
Course: Base, Tortilla
Difficulty: Easy
Category: Base
Yield: 10 Tortillas
Preparation Time: 10 Minutes
Cooking Time: 10 Minutes

This Post
Chef : François
Category: Recipe
Posted on: Wednesday January 21, 2015
Comments : No Comment
Languages : English | Français

Ingredients
Masa,

Book
Tacos: Recipes And Provocations

La version Française se trouve ICI

The corn tortilla by the chef Alex Stupak

Source of the recipe

I got this recipe in the book "Tacos: Recipes and Provocations" by Alex Stupak.

Alex Stupak has become an expert in tacos after opening his restaurant and learning the Mexican cuisine in Mexico.

To purchase online, see HERE

In his book, Stupak offers recipes "new wave", as he puts it : "to declare that the only good Mexican cuisine is 'authentic' also assumes that the cuisine has ceased evolving"

Tacos: Recipes and Provocations

Ingredients

1 ½ Cup Corn Masa Flour (168 grams)

1 Cup Water (232 grams)

Steps

We need

Corn Masa Flour

(1 ½ Cup or 168 g), widely available in our supermarkets. Masa harina is different from Corn Flour, in that it's made by soaking corn grains into a slaked lime, a process termed nixtamalization which will loosen the hulls from the kernels and softens the corn.

Sounds odd, but that's exactly how the ancient and wise Aztecs made their Masa Harina. I say wise because they understood that this tedious process would not only enhance the taste but also produce Niacin, a vitamin that was not available in their surroundings - this saved them from a lot of diseases.

Stupak shows in his book how to make Nixtamal, but honestly unless you are bored to death there is no point making it (Making it yourself will not produce a fine flour either) and in the defense of industrial Masa Harina, it can be easily found in supermarkets. You may find organic masa as well.

Let's knead the two ingredients (

Corn Masa Flour

(1 ½ Cup or 168 g) and

Water

(1 Cup or 232 g)) together by hand

Mixing the ingredients is easy, the masa absorbs the water like a thirsty hiker

Stop mixing as soon as the dough stopped sticking to your hands

Cover the masa with a damp towel

The Tortilla Press

To make the tortillas you may want to use a tortilla press, a cheap instrument that you can buy anywhere, like HERE

Take a ziploc bag or freezer bag and cut two squares

Grab a small handful of masa

Make a ball about the size of a golf ball and gently flatten it

Open the press, position the masa in the center and press, folding the top and pushing on the handle

Peel off the plastic and you will get a perfect rounded shape tortilla

You will notice it's fun to make corn tortilla, and easier than the Flour Tortillas

The tortilla is about 5.9" (or 5 29/32" or 15 cm) wide and less than 0.11" (or 1/8" or 0.3 cm) thick

You need to cook the tortillas right away (as they dry fast)

Cook one side, flip it and cook the other side

a few seconds

Storing the cooked tortillas

You may store the cooked tortillas on a plate sitting on a double boiler

Stupak mentioned that it's best if you use the tortillas right away. After cooking them, garnish them and serve your tacos, they will taste better when they are freshly cooked.