Tortilla

Traditional tortilla making. The mother is grinding the maize with a stone mano and metate as the elder daughter pats the dough into tortillas. (El Salvador, c. 1900)

The Spanish language term tortilla [torˈtiʝa] can be used to mean several different dishes, depending on the area. In Mexican and Mesoamerican terms, a tortilla is a kind of unleavened bread, generally made from maize (corn) and with the introduction of wheat by the Europeans, also with wheat flour. This is the most common usage of the term in English.

In Spain, tortilla stands for omelette, and is thus made up of battered eggs, with other ingredients added at will. The terms Spanish tortilla, tortilla española or tortilla de patatas all refer to a common recipe in Spain, an omelette with stir-fried potatoes and chopped onion, often served as a staple food in Spanish bars and cafés.

As an easy solution to both the problems of handling food in microgravity and preventing bread crumbs from escaping into delicate instruments, tortillas (of the American flavor) have been used on many NASA Shuttle missions since 1985. [link]

Tortilla making

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The traditional tortilla has been made of corn or maize since Pre-Columbian times. It is made by curing maize in lime water, grinding and pre-cooking it, kneading it into a dough called masa nixtamalera, pressing it flat into thin patties, and cooking it on a very hot comal (originally a flat terra cotta griddle, now usually made instead of light sheet-metal).

Soaking the maize in lime water is important because it liberates the vitamin niacin and the amino acid tryptophan. When maize was brought back to Europe, Africa and Asia from the New World, people left out this crucial step. People whose diet consisted mostly of corn meal often became sick with the disease pellagra, which was common in Spain, Italy and the southern United States.

In Mexico, particularly in the towns and cities, most corn tortillas are nowadays made by machine and are very thin and uniform, but in El Salvador or Guatemala they are still often made by hand and are thicker. Corn tortillas are customarily served and eaten warm; when cool, they often acquire a rubbery texture.

Traditionally throughout Mesoamerica from Pre-Columbian times into the mid 20th century, the masa was prepared by women using a mano (a cylinder shaped stone like a rolling pin) and metate (a stone base with a slightly concave top for holding the corn).

Most people agree that the traditional stone-ground, hand-made tortillas taste better, but these have been supplanted by cheaper, less labor-intensive, machine-ground corn flour tortillas. Most restaurants proud of their traditional fare, however, will have at least one person bent over a hot comal, turning out an endless stream of piping-hot, hand-made tortillas.

The wheat flour tortilla was an innovation after wheat was brought to the New World from Spain while this region was the colony of New Spain. It is made with an unleavened, water-based dough, and pressed and cooked just like corn tortillas. These tortillas are very similar to the unleavened bread popular in Arab, eastern Mediterranean and southern Asian countries, though thinner and smaller in diameter. In China, there is the laobing (烙餅), a pizza-shaped thick "pancake" that is similar to the tortilla. The Indian Roti, which is made essentially from wheat flour, is another example.

Tortillas vary in size from about 6 to over 30 cm depending on the region of the country and the dish for which it is intended.

Among tortilla variants (without being, strictly speaking, tortillas) there are pupusas, gorditas, sopes, and tlacoyos. These filled snacks can be found in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. They are smaller, thicker versions to which beans, chicharrón, nopales or other ingredients have been added. They are customarily cooked on a greased pan.

In Argentina, Bolivia and southern Chile, the size of the tortillas is smaller, and they are generally more salty, made from wheat or corn flour and roasted in the ashes of a traditional adobe oven. This kind of tortilla is called Sopaipilla (not to be confused with a puffy fry bread of the same name common in New Mexico, United States). In Chile and Argentina it may also be sweetened after being cooked by boiling in sugar water.

Automatic tortilla machine ([media])

In commercial production and even in some larger restaurants, automatic machines make tortillas from dough.

Recipe for flour tortillas

450g wheat flour
225ml warm water
15ml sunflower oil
pinch of salt

Mix the ingredients together to form a dough, and leave to stand for around an hour. Roll the tortillas thinly and cook on a griddle or in a frying-pan with no oil. Makes approximately 10-12 tortillas.

Tortilla

Tortilla making

Recipe for flour tortillas

See also