Blue Corn Tortillas

Blue corn tortillas are easy to make at home using only two ingredients. You'll be surprised at how quick they are to whip up. Freshly made tortillas taste better than anything you can buy at the store.

There is so much to love about this recipe. Along with my Irish potato bread, and piragi recipe, homemade blue tortillas rank in my top three favourite bread recipes to make at home.

I love that they are a pretty unusual looking tortilla and aren't that easy to find in the stores, especially for us Aussies. A bit of a statement piece on taco night.

Store-bought tortillas will never compare to warm freshly made ones. Plus homemade is far healthier for you as they don't contain added salt or preservatives.

I use a tortilla press as we make a lot of these, but I share how you don't have to. Have a go at making them yourself. You will be impressed with how easy it is and taste difference.

Sara xxx

Ingredients

There are two ingredients to this recipe, flour, and water. The flour in this case is blue masa harina, blue corn flour. Don't be confused with superfine white cornflour/cornstarch that is a common pantry item. It also shouldn't be confused with cornmeal or polenta.

Blue masa harina is made using blue corn. The blue corn contain a polyphenol pigment called anthocyanin, and it is this pigment that makes it blue.

Blue corn kernels are dried and then cooked with lime. A process that is called nixtamalization. The kernels are then ground in a mill to make a rough dough (masa). The dough is then dried, made into a powder, and then packaged as flour.

How to Make Blue Corn Tortillas

Scroll to the bottom of the page for a printable version of this recipe.

Place masa harina in a large bowl. Add hot water and stir with a spoon until combined, or you can't stir anymore.

Knead the dough in the bowl with one or two hands. Keep kneading for a couple of minutes until the dough is no longer sticking to your hands and is smooth.

If you feel the dough is sticking to your hands more than it should, add a little sprinkle more masa harina, but not too much.

Shape the dough into a ball and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes.

While the dough is resting, cut a zip lock bag across the top (removing the zip part) and down the sides to create a plastic folder. Grab a fresh tea towel to cover the tortillas once cooked.

Pull off a large walnut sized piece of dough from the dough ball. Roll the dough into a smooth round ball.

Alternatively, roll the dough ball into a long log and cut the log into 12 pieces. Roll each dough piece into a rounds smooth ball.

Open the tortilla press and lay the prepared zip lock bag open over it. One half centred on the bottom part of the press and the other half folded open over the top part of the opened press.

Place a dough ball in the centre of the press on top of the single layer of plastic bag. Fold the other half of the bag over the dough ball and close the press.

Heat a non stick frying pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Remove the tortilla from the press and plastic. Place tortilla in the hot pan.

Cook for around 1 minute, or until a couple of little brown spots start to form. Then flip and cook for a further minute on the other side.

Wrap the cooked tortilla in a clean tea towel to allow it to steam. Press and cook the remainder of the dough, adding the cooked tortillas to the tea towel as you go.

Making them without a tortilla press

Using a tortilla press is the quickest and easiest way to make tortillas. Don't worry if you don't own one as tortillas are easily made with common kitchen items. If you are make them regularly a press is worth the investment.

There are a couple of methods you can use to flatten the dough balls into rounds. Still use a cut apart ziplock bag to prevent your dough from sticking with the methods below.

Heavy Object: Use a heavy object like a pie dish, heavy based frying pan, pot, or baking dish. Anything that is sturdy and has a flat surface is perfect. Place the dough ball in the centre of the zip lock bag and press down evenly until it is flattened.

Rolling Pin: Alternatively use a rolling pin to roll out the dough. Still have the dough ball in the zip lock bag as per the press instructions. Simply roll the ball out to size. The one downside to this method is that the edges of the tortilla may crack on rolling, and the shape may not be as uniformed as pressing.

Sara's Top Recipe Tips

Dough Consistency

Getting the consistency of the dough just right is important. If the dough is too wet it will stick to the plastic and your hands. It is a nightmare. If the dough is too dry it will crack when forming the tortilla, and you will end up dry cardboard like blue corn tortillas.

You know you have the dough just right when it feels like play dough in your hands. It is pliable, soft, and not sticky. Resting the dough is important to getting it to this stage.

Uniformed Tortillas

As you can see from my photos I simply rip off a piece of dough and form it into a ball. Having the tortillas all the exact same size isn't important to me. Plus once you have made them a few times you get the feel of how much to pull from the mother ball each time.

For perfect uniformed tortillas weigh the dough ball. Divide the weight by 12 and that is how much each dough ball should weigh. Shape the dough into a log and cut it into 12 pieces. Weigh the balls, adding and subtracting dough as you do to get the right weight.

Allowing them to steam

It is important to wrap the tortillas in a fresh tea towel once they are cooked. As you cook the tortillas add them to the tea towel in a stack. They will steam inside the towel which keeps them soft and flexible.

Serve them at the table in the tea towel or a tortilla warmer.

Cook them on the barbeque

If you have a flat plate barbeque it is perfect for cooking tortillas. With such a large cooking surface, compared to a frying pan, you will be able to cook quite a few at once.

Blue Corn Tortilla FAQs