Tortillas — Pressing & the Comal

Mexican Cookery

Chapter 4 · Tortillas: Pressing & the Comal

A properly cooked tortilla puffs slightly on the comal — the same real trapped-steam physics behind Indian Cookery's own dramatic roti puff, but a genuinely lighter, more modest effect, for a real reason grounded directly in Chapter 3's own no-gluten lesson.

Pressing the Masa

Portion the masa into small balls, keeping the rest covered under a damp cloth as Chapter 3 describes. Place one ball between two sheets of plastic on a tortilla press, and press down in one firm, even motion — several partial presses tend to produce uneven thickness or ragged edges.

Without a press, the traditional method is patting the ball back and forth between the palms, rotating it as you go to gradually flatten and widen it into an even round — a real skill that genuinely takes practice to master evenly, but a real traditional technique in its own right.

Cooking on the Comal: A Real Three-Flip Technique

  1. First side, on a dry, hot comal Cook until the tortilla releases cleanly from the comal on its own and shows light colour or spotting — roughly 30-60 seconds.
  2. Second side Flip and cook the second side a little longer, developing a bit more colour.
  3. Flip back to the first side, briefly This final flip is what encourages the tortilla's own light puff.

Why the puff is genuinely lighter than Indian Cookery's roti

The underlying physics is the same one Indian Cookery's own roti chapter describes — trapped steam, built up between two sealed layers, pushing them apart. But gluten's own real elasticity is exactly what lets a wheat dough stretch into roti's full, dramatic balloon without tearing. Masa has no gluten at all — its more crumbly starch structure can only inflate lightly before it would tear rather than stretch further, so a corn tortilla's own real puff is a modest bubble, not a full balloon.

A direct, physics-grounded payoff of Chapter 3 This is a genuine, concrete consequence of masa's own gluten-free structure, not a separate technique fact to memorise — the same real distinction Chapter 3 established now shows up directly in how the finished tortilla behaves on the heat.
Too hot or too long makes a tortilla brittle A properly cooked tortilla stays soft and pliable, folding without cracking. Overcooking it — too high a heat, or leaving it on too long — dries it out and makes it stiff and prone to cracking when folded, genuinely different from the soft, foldable texture a real tortilla should have.

Keep finished tortillas wrapped in a clean cloth or a tortilla warmer as you cook the rest of the batch — the same real principle Indian Cookery's own roti chapter uses to keep flatbread soft.

Kitchen Practice

Kitchen Practice 1
Press (or hand-pat) and cook a full batch of tortillas, using the real three-flip technique on a dry comal, checking for the light puff and a soft, pliable, fold-without-cracking texture.
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Kitchen Practice 2
Press one tortilla deliberately unevenly — noticeably thicker on one side — and cook it the same way as a properly even one. Compare how each cooks and puffs.
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Kitchen Practice 3
Cook one tortilla properly and one deliberately left on the comal far too long, then fold both in half and compare — does either one crack?
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Quick Reference — Tortillas

  • Press masa in one firm motion, or hand-pat it, keeping the rest covered while you work
  • Cook first side, second side, then flip back to the first side briefly to encourage a light puff
  • The puff shares roti's own trapped-steam physics, but stays modest since masa has no gluten to stretch into a full balloon
  • A properly cooked tortilla stays soft and folds without cracking — overcooking makes it brittle
  • Keep finished tortillas wrapped in a cloth to stay soft while cooking the rest of the batch
Next — Chapter 5: Dried Chiles — Toasting & Rehydrating
Briefly toasting whole dried chiles on a dry comal to develop flavour without scorching, then rehydrating in hot water before blending.