tortillas

Every taco household eventually faces the question. Corn or flour? We have heard the testimony. We have examined the evidence. We have, frankly, eaten too much of the evidence. The court is ready to rule.

The case for corn

Corn tortillas are the original. Nixtamalization, cooking dried corn in an alkaline solution of calcium hydroxide (cal), has been practiced in Mesoamerica for thousands of years. It unlocks niacin, improves the dough, and gives masa its unmistakable toasty flavor. Most taquerias in Mexico use corn for most tacos.

The case for flour

Flour tortillas come from northern Mexico, especially Sonora, where wheat grows well. A good Sonoran flour tortilla is thin, stretchy, and nearly translucent. In Texas, flour is the undisputed king of the breakfast taco.

	Corn	Flour
Flavor	Toasty, earthy, sweet	Buttery, mild, rich
Texture	Tender, can crack when cold	Soft, stretchy, forgiving
Best with	Al pastor, carnitas, fish, barbacoa	Breakfast tacos, carne asada, Sonoran-style
Weakness	Falls apart if not heated right	Can taste like cardboard from the supermarket
Tradition	Thousands of years in Mesoamerica	Northern Mexico, post-Spanish wheat

The tortilla should serve the filling. The filling should never have to apologize for the tortilla.
The Honorable Court of Tacos

The ruling

Corn wins for most tacos. Flour wins for breakfast and anything from Sonora. Anyone serving a cold, un-griddled supermarket tortilla of either kind is held in contempt. Case closed. Court adjourned. Someone go get more salsa.

Prep (min)

Cook (min)

Total

35 min

Serves

16 tortillas

Difficulty

Easy

Heat 🌶

🥄 Pairs well with: Salsa Macha

A fresh corn tortilla is a different food from the stiff, bagged kind. The good news: masa harina, dried and ground nixtamalized corn, makes excellent tortillas with just water and salt. Nixtamalization, soaking corn in an alkaline solution of slaked lime, is a technique developed in Mesoamerica thousands of years ago. It loosens the hulls, makes the dough hold together, and unlocks niacin.

What you need

2 cups masa harina (Maseca or a stone-ground brand)
1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups hot tap water
1/2 tsp salt (optional)
A tortilla press (or a heavy pan and a flat plate)
A plastic bag cut into two squares
A comal, cast-iron skillet or griddle

Method

Mix masa harina and salt, then add 1 1/2 cups hot water. Knead for 2 minutes. The dough should feel like soft Play-Doh and not stick to your hands.
Cover and rest for 15 minutes so the flour fully hydrates.
Heat your comal over medium-high heat. No oil.
Roll a golf-ball-sized piece of dough, place it between the plastic squares, and press to about 1/16 inch thick.
Peel off the plastic and lay the tortilla on the comal. Cook 30 seconds, until it releases.
Flip and cook 45 to 60 seconds, until spotted underneath.
Flip again. Press gently with your fingertips; if the tortilla puffs, you have done it right.
Stack in a towel-lined basket. They continue steaming and softening as they rest.

A handmade tortilla on a comal — Photo: Juan Daniel Flores Romero / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Troubleshooting

Problem	Likely cause	Fix
Edges crack when pressed	Dough too dry	Knead in water 1 tbsp at a time
Sticks to the plastic	Dough too wet	Knead in a little masa harina
Stiff and leathery	Comal too cool, cooked too long	Raise heat; cook faster
Raw in the middle	Pressed too thick	Press thinner or rotate the tortilla halfway
Never puffs	Heat too low, or skipped the final flip	Hotter comal; press gently after the second flip
Tears when flipping	Flipped too early	Wait until the edges lift on their own

The official tortilla hydration formula

For the engineers in the audience, we have reduced the process to science. Please do not cite this.

# tortilla_hydration.py  (results not peer reviewed)
water_cups = masa_cups * 0.8
           + humidity_penalty(kitchen)
           + 0.1 * abuela_is_watching
           - 0.05 * times_you_said_"it is fine"

if dough.cracks():
    water_cups += 1 / 16   # add a splash, knead, repeat
elif dough.sticks_to(hands):
    water_cups -= 1 / 16   # you went too far
else:
    return "perfect. stop measuring and start pressing."

Now go put them to work in some al pastor.

Corn vs. Flour: A Definitive Ruling