Danny Mena is the author ofMade in Mexico: Classic and Contemporary Recipes From Mexico Cityand chef/owner ofLa Loncheriain the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. I recently got him on the phone to talk tortillas: specifically, how to makeflourtortillas. In addition to sharing his method forthe best homemade version, he schooled me on why you should make your tortilla dough hours (or even days) in advance, gave me tips on storing tortillas, and told me why you should never, ever, use a tortilla press for a flour tortilla. Here's the rundown.
Joe Sevier: What's the best fat for making tortillas?
Danny Mena:My personal preference ispork lard. Spaniards introduced pork to Mexico and we quickly took to it, using all parts of the animal. Lard really became the fat of choice because it was readily available and it has a strong flavor.
If you can't use lard, I like vegetable shortening as a substitute. Lard and shortening are both solid at room temperature so they're interchangeable in your tortilla recipe; and unlike butter, there's no water content in shortening, which would affect your ratio of fat to flour. Same goes for vegetable oil—or other fats that are liquid at room temperature—when you start using a liquid fat, it messes with the ratios in your tortilla recipe. Youcanget good results with other fats, but you really have to know what you're doing.
So let's talk about that: what's the process for making flour tortillas?
So first you mix the flour and salt with the fat—I like to do it by hand—until the consistency is like coarse sand. Then you add hot, but not scalding, water. You want the dough to be on the sticky side. If you're working it in with your hands, it should feel almost too sticky—almost uncomfortable. And then you just want to work it until the dough is homogenous—this isn'tpizzaor pita, it's not a yeast dough; you don't really want to develop the gluten.
Once it's mixed, cover it, and let it rest for about an hour at room temperature. That gives the wheat time to fully hydrate so that when you go to roll it out, the tortillas won't be so tacky.
After the dough rests, divided into pieces. For a 6- to 7-inchtaco, I like a golf ball–sized piece of dough. If you want a smaller taco, you can divide the dough into smaller portions; or if you want aburrito, especially in America, thetortillas for thatcan get very big, so you can make bigger portions too. Then let the dough balls rest, covered in plastic so that they don't form a skin, for at least 20 minutes before you start rolling them out.
Can you let them rest longer?
Definitely. I like to let them rest for two or three hours in the refrigerator, and then I let them sit out at room temperature for another 20 to 30 minutes before rolling them out.