Make Your Own Tortilla/press

yes, tortilla's are easy to purchase and make into great food...but why not make it even better? Do you want to make your own tortilla's but don't have a press?

Inspired by "Tortilla Press" by kuhldad on instructables...with some great design inputs from my son (soon to be a graduate chef from Culinary Arts of America, please hire him!) and my father in law...it only took 1 trip to Home Depot and about an hour of assembly.

Recipe:

Mix masa with water and salt...it should be like play dough. When you smash a ball down it shouldn't crack on the edges.

The world's easiest recipe!

Roll the dough into balls, press and determine if the size is correct for the dish you are making...I am often the victim of overstuffed tortilla's, so I advocate large diameter...something like 10".

Line the bottom and of the press with cellophane, deli paper, or other food safe material that will keep the tortilla's separate and prevent sticking to the press. Place the ball nearer the hinge side, if you are too far away from hinge you will get a wedge shape (not even thickness).

From there it doesn't get any easier, close, the middle layer, then close the top. The weight of the wood will press the tortilla.

So how do you make your own press?

We went to Home Depot and purchased 3' of 12" wide, and 1" thick poplar. Make sure the board is flat. I realized afterwards that the saw operator probably could have cut us the 3 individual pieces.

The only other items we needed were hinges. Because the wood is actually 3/4" thick we got 4 hinges that were 1.5" and also 2 - 3" for the triple side. See the sketch for how these are attached.

From there I used 2 different "things" from Thingiverse:

A handle:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:670763

and knobs on the side to open the middle layer:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:600955

what will you have with your home made tortilla's?

Making and food does go together!