Tried this out last week and they aren’t bad. Plus saves me from making them by hand or buying them for outrageous prices at Florida bakery. Did that once. Never again.
I got a package of dan bing pi from my local noodle maker. He makes his own and freezes them. They are ten for $40nt. They are very thin and have green onions in them, but not a lot. They are machine rolled, not rolled out by hand.
To cook, I let them come to room temperature, lightly flour both sides, and cook them in a hot dry wok. They brown and puff up quite nicely. They are also dry to the touch. Cooked this way, they are not oily, wet or chewy like the dang bing you get at the breakfast shops.
I don’t know what “momma made” flour tortillas made with lard taste like, but these taste fine to me.
Anyone else try this out?
Ah, real corn tortillas, how much I miss you. Florida Bakery’s ones are a valiant attempt at a semi edible frisbee. Dough tortillas from Costco are very versatile, way cheaper, freeze - and unfreeze- rather well. Dangbin at home doesn’t have to be a soggy mass. Has anyone tried, though, the one from the breakfast place at Chengda’s entrance? Glorious crispy awesomeness.
On Florida’s flour tortillas: they don’t seem that expensive to me - at around 130 for a dozen, sure, they’re not as cheap as the danbingpi, but the price is fine and the quality is OK. Plus they’re moderately easy to find at the import supermarkets.
Florida’s corn tortillas, yeah, I guess I’m glad that they’re available but I’ve failed to make anything particularly good with them. Plus they often develop mold spots long before the best-before date.
Thanks for the tip however. I’ll have to try this one of these days.
You can make amazing tortillas yourself at home in about 5 minutes. It’s seriously easy, especially corn tortillas. Try this recipe for corn tortillas:
500g corn flour
320g water
Mix, knead for a few minutes until smooth, roll it into tortilla sized pieces, and fry in a very hot, dry pan for about ~30 seconds.
For wheat tortillas, slightly more ingredients:
500g flour
350g water
25g butter
10g baking powder
5g salt
I’m looking for a tortilla press. Love making whole wheat by hand, but the rolling out process takes a lot of time. Anyone know where a tortilla press can be found in Taiwan? Might have to order one online…
You can get real masa harina here online, and at Wellman’s last I looked, so I’m making my own corn tortillas routinely. (Previously I hauled masa harina back in my luggage on trips home.) I had a friend bring my tortilla press. If I didn’t have it I’d be using a rolling pin and a cut open gallon-size Ziplock bag to make them.
[quote=“Dragonbones”]You can get real masa harina here online, and at Wellman’s last I looked, so I’m making my own corn tortillas routinely. (Previously I hauled masa harina back in my luggage on trips home.) I had a friend bring my tortilla press. If I didn’t have it I’d be using a rolling pin and a cut open gallon-size Ziplock bag to make them.
I usually make the masa at least an hour ahead, i.e. let it rest. I doubt it’s necessary, and maybe I’m imagining it, but it seems to be well behaved afterward. I think the starch particles have more time to fully absorb the water or something. Anyway, every step you’ve done in advance makes the later cooking process feel shorter.
You have to get the hydration just right, so they neither crack nor stick. With experience, you just know what feel it should have. The recipe on the masa harina bags are right IME, but I usually withhold a tablespoon or so of water per cup whenever I make doughs, and then add only as needed, also adding extra (slowly) as needed to get the consistency I want. If they’re cracking, add another 1-2 tsp of water and knead, and try again. If they’re sticking, add another 1-2 T of masa, knead, and try again. With the exact right consistency, the pressing, transferring and cooking should go without a hitch.
Make the tortillas as big as practical, so you’re not cooking tiny ones one by one.
Heat the comal (griddle – and use two if you have two), get your tortilla basket and liner cloth ready, then press your first golf-ball-sized lump in the press, between the halves of the heavy duty (freezer weight) Ziplock. I cut the sides open and cut the top zipper off, but leave the bottom hinge in place. Using the bag makes it easy to quickly pick up the tortilla and transfer it to your dominant hand. You then slap it on the hot comal, time your 60 - 90 seconds or whatever depending on your temperature (I use a timer so I can get busy with other things like pressing out the next tortilla and not forget and burn the first one) then flip it. So while one cooks, I’m busy prepping the next one, and doing other prep in the kitchen like the chopping of salsa ingredients etc., rather than just standing there. When one finishes cooking, the already pressed out next one is ready to hit the comal within seconds. Doesn’t take too long that way.
Thanks! It sounds like it’s the consistency that’s messing me up - getting the flattened tortilla out of the ziploc bag (or I’ve also used wax paper as well) always seems far more awkward than it should. I guess I just need more practice. Oh darn, an excuse to eat more Mexican food!
Guys, use what we do in the old country: two plates and plastic wrapping.
Now I know what to get you guys when I go back. I have a light wood tortillas press that does the trick. Though everyone swears by the metal ones. However, keep in mind traditional Central American tortillas are small and thin, while Mexican style tends to bigger gorditas.
As long as it’s corn masa harina, that’ll work, or a rolling pin. If it’s a flour tortilla, the rolling pin is needed, as the glutenous dough won’t press well and needs rolling (with possibly rest periods for the gluten to relax).
Some Mexican presses or at least the tortillas are small, like 4.5-6" (114mm-152). The Tex-Mex style is bigger (supersize, duh). Mine’s an aluminum press, 230mm, or about 9".
Oh no, mine is one of those veggie roll skins, no tortillas here in at least a year.
The only tortillas I ever knew as a pup were machine made, they look just like the ones they sell in Costco (I guess) but soft and warm, coming out of the machine.
But yeah in the town of my first wife, in Mexico, they make the tortillas on hand, bare handed, no extra instruments, a little bit ticker and larger. They have this saying for young girls “you want to have a boyfriend but you don’t even know tortilling” (terrible translation of “quieres andar de novia y no sabes ni tortear”).
Florida Bakery used to sell fresh masa, but for tamales, we all depend on imported. Don’t get me started on the ones for arepas, that is also “imported” -thank goodness for the batch of Venezuelan pilots- and for the life of me, never seen the on used for pupusas here. My dream of setting up a pupusa stand in Shilin depends on being able to import enough of that, which is silly. Taiwanese corn is very nice and sweet and fresh.
What I have seriously considered is bringing my own molinero, you know, the machine where you put the corn husks and all and out comes grinded masa base, then add the “holding” agents.
Florida Bakery used to sell fresh masa, but for tamales, we all depend on imported. Don’t get me started on the ones for arepas, that is also “imported” -thank goodness for the batch of Venezuelan pilots- and for the life of me, never seen the on used for pupusas here. My dream of setting up a pupusa stand in Shilin depends on being able to import enough of that, which is silly. Taiwanese corn is very nice and sweet and fresh.
What I have seriously considered is bringing my own molinero, you know, the machine where you put the corn husks and all and out comes grinded masa base, then add the “holding” agents.[/quote]
I also want to get a molino! But I read that making freaking Mexican masa take more than that like mixing with a “cal” alkaline solution and other things… sigh…
