Anyone ever make them from scratch? I am a huge fan of freshly made tortillas and was thinking of trying to make some myself. I would like to try a cayene and spinach version in addition to the regular flour.
Seems like horn4life used to recommend the premade-but-uncooked tortillas you can get in the dairy case at HEB. You just take 'em home and cook them and they taste like homemade.
I saw a "tortilla maker" at Fiesta the other day. It looked like a waffle iron. I don't know if it would help, but I have to believe the recipe is probably dirt simple.
I lived with a family in Guatemala for a bit and the mom would always make homemade corn tortillas. I've never been a fan of corn tortillas (too chewy for me) but these were pretty good. She'd spend all day grinding corn, then when we'd eat, she'd get up from the table every 2 minutes to flip them around. It was a lot of work, but she did it every day.
Yeah try the ones @ HEB that are pre-packaged raw and you just gook. There are some with the other tortillas. You can also buy the 'just add water' but honestly there is no recipe. Making tortilla's from scratch is like an art form, some can and some can't.
Drive to the San Diego Tortilla Factory in San Diego, Texas, Duval county and buy a package of 10 for $3; buy several packages and freeze them until your ready to eat. Best I've ever had.
White WIngs Flour Tortilla mix is the way to go. Just add water. The hardest part of making homemade is getting the tortilla flat enough. I always seem to end up with a big thick breadlike tortilla. The flour puffs up quite a bit.
The H-E-B tortillas that are made in the store are pretty darn good. Especially if you get them just as they are being made.
The one's from HEB in the dairy/egg section are pretty sweet. I cooked some for my chorizo and egg tacos this morning and they turned out really well. It's probably as close to homemade as a gringo like me will ever get.
Do yourself a flavor and get a comal if you plan on cooking them:
You can pick one up as any Mexican flea market or on eBay:The Link
They're not expensive. You might even be able to pick one up at academy on the cast iron aisle. The cast iron heats more evenly and reduces bubble burns. Guererro has some raw tortillas called "Listas para el Comal" or "Ready for the Comal" and you can get them at just about any supermarket. They are damn tasty.
Reminds me of a Steak/TexMex restaurant I went to in Pennsylvania. I know, a brief moment of insanity. Anyway, they made a big deal about their tortilla machine "Imported from Texas" that was like the ones in Taco Cabana. Had it out in plain sight with a young lady feeding it dough balls from a cardboard box constantly. My initial thought was, hey, they might know what they're doing if they brought in one of those cool tortilla makers. Instead of chips and salsa, they brought tortillas and some odd condiment for the tortillas that I can't recall. Yup, they were fresh alright...but they tasted awful! 100x worse than any I've ever had. I almost choked. The whole meal went downhill from there. They did have a good Mexican beer selection, however, so all was not lost.