Tortillas de maiz... the corn tortilla.

Corn tortillas are something that I often took for granted. It seemed no matter where I went in the U.S. I could find good to fantastic corn tortillas. Norway has few options: import tortillas or make your own. I had originally been bringing masa and tortillas from the US but I was not quite satisfied with the results from masa. Therefore I decided to start from scratch.

Corn tortillas are made from corn yet the process is not so straight forward. As a kid I tried making them from corn flour/meal with unsuccessful results. The reason for my failure was that the corn had not been treated/processed before it was ground. This process is called "nixtamalization" and this can be done at home. Nixtamalization utilizes an alkaline solution to denature proteins in the corn to make them bio-available (digestible) to us humans. It also makes the resulting dough sticky, allowing it to be used for a tortilla. For this process you can use calcium hydroxide (CaOH) also referred to as pickling lime (this is what I use) as well as wood ash (I have not tried this yet).  Here is the process:

Nixtamalization (for tortillas, tamales, sopas...)

You'll need:
1kg or 2lbs Dried corn (not popcorn nor sweet corn)
CaOH 1 tablespoon
Water

Combine a tablespoon of CaOH (careful this is caustic) with a few oz or a dl of water mix in a stainless bowl and set aside. In a stainless steel pot add the corn and enough water to cover the corn by 1.5 volumes (for example if you have corn filling the pot to 1 liter then fill with water to 2.5 liters).  Add the CaOH solution and set on the burner and bring to a boil for 10-15 minutes. Cover and let the corn sit overnight, 12+ hours.

White corn after sitting overnight in CaOH solution.

White corn before nixtamalization (left) and after (right).

Now the corn is treated the next step is wash the corn and remove the shell. This is done by rubbing the kernels together until most of the shell (the shell should be like peeling skin from a sunburn) is removed (below). 

Grinding the corn 

So this was a bit of work finding a grinder/mill but I ended up finding an antique that works pretty well, although you can also purchase a Corona Corn Grinder at brewer supply companies in Norway or a good food processor might work. Here's a short video of mine at work: 

Here is the resulting flour:

After ground I take warm water and dissolve enough salt until the water tastes like sea water. Here is an important note: too much water and your tortilla will stick to everything and won't stick to itself. So add water slowly until the dough just comes together.

finished dough

Almost there.

Preheat a griddle or pan, you may want to lightly oil the surface to begin with. Next take make a small ball (golfball size) by rolling between your hands. The place between two pieces of plastic and press to a thin tortilla (see below).

Carefully peel back the plastic and set on the very hot griddle

when the tortilla begins to bubble, flip once for another 30-60 seconds depending on heat and remove

Done... here is the basic corn tortilla. We will come back to these in the future to make a variety of  tacos, chips, tostados and other dishes. 

I will next be adding some other basic staples such as beans, rice and salsas so you can start putting together some dishes.