masa harina/ fine corn meal - tortillas???

the_other_mce

Hi everyone, I want to make some CORN TORTILLAS but the recipes I have found say I have to use MASA HARINA (?). I only have fine corn meal flour (for cornbread, polenta). Can I use this or is it ESSENTIAL to buy masa harina? - will the tortillas be ok???
Thanks!!

JayJay14

the_other_mce wrote: »

Hi everyone, I want to make some CORN TORTILLAS but the recipes I have found say I have to use MASA HARINA (?). I only have fine corn meal flour (for cornbread, polenta). Can I use this or is it ESSENTIAL to buy masa harina? - will the tortillas be ok???
Thanks!!

I think masa harina is just another name Masa - maize, harina - flour, so it should be ok.

Phudge

Do you have a recipe please? I can't eat wheat so the usual flour wraps are out for me but I'd love to be able to make some myself!

the_other_mce

Sorry - the recipe I found was rubbish! I couldn't roll them out without them falling apart. I ended up flattening them (by hand) on an oiled baking tray, spraying with oil and baking them. Sprinkled them with sea salt & called them MEXICAN CRACKERS!! :rotfl:
On the plus side my kids actually liked them and have been eating them all day!
If anyone else has a recipe for corn tortillas that does work I would be grateful!

Swan_2

the_other_mce wrote: »

Sorry - the recipe I found was rubbish! I couldn't roll them out without them falling apart. I ended up flattening them (by hand) on an oiled baking tray, spraying with oil and baking them. Sprinkled them with sea salt & called them MEXICAN CRACKERS!! :rotfl:
On the plus side my kids actually liked them and have been eating them all day!
If anyone else has a recipe for corn tortillas that does work I would be grateful!

it's probably not your recipe, my one & only try at making corn tortillas, quite a few years ago, ended up the same

I think Masa Harina is different from ordinary polenta/corn meal & that's why it doesn't work, I've never been able to find any so never tried them again


EDIT ... I've been Googling & it is very different (no internet when I first tried to make them ) if you read the page HERE it explains the difference & advises against using wheat flour or cornmeal

the_other_mce

Hi - thanks for that! At least I know that it wasn't me!! I wonder where you can buy MASA HARINA from though? - although I think I might have put myself off of making corn tortillas for a while.
WOULD ANYONE LIKE A MEXICAN CRACKER ???!!!:rotfl::rotfl:

champys

the_other_mce wrote: »

Hi - thanks for that! At least I know that it wasn't me!! I wonder where you can buy MASA HARINA from though? - although I think I might have put myself off of making corn tortillas for a while.
WOULD ANYONE LIKE A MEXICAN CRACKER ???!!!:rotfl::rotfl:

You could phone the Mexican Embassy, ask for the Agriculture department and ask someone there who sells masa harina in the UK?

editing to say I found an on-line supplier here

frivolous_fay

Random bump... I have 'maize meal' which I used once to coat something before frying. It's yellow, and has a texture similar to cornflour, but slightly coarser and with brown specks in it (no, not weevils )

Any recipe suggestions?

nanokitten

anyone looked in the speciality section of one of the big supermarkets?
If it's gluten free your after you could try using gram flour and making chapatis as I always think that taste very similar. However, The tortilla's you get in the supermarket in this country are often made with wheat flour (as probably are alot of chapatis).

nanokitten

Ok, I take it back, it looks like chapatis are made with wheat flour too (presumably a product of colonialism!).

jamesd123

Why would a chapatti be a result of colonialism? Do you think that the British invented flour and took it to India?

Flour is over 2000 years old, and so are unleavened breads such as chapattis and other flatbreads.