Maize tortillas
Fresh nixtamalized maize is ground into masa, pressed into thin rounds and cooked on a comal. This Mexican home formula uses food-grade cal viva and makes about 20 tortillas.
Traditional method
Nixtamal and masa
nixtamal · masa · lime-cooked maize
Whole maize cooked and steeped overnight in lime water, washed of its skins and excess lime, then ground into the moist dough used for tortillas.
Cooking the maize in lime
Nixtamalisation cooks whole maize in an alkaline lime solution. FAO gives the rural method as one part maize to two parts a solution of about 1 per cent lime, heated to 80 °C (176 °F) for 20 to 45 minutes, then left to stand overnight. The cooking liquor is poured off, and the grains are washed two or three times to remove the seed coats, tip caps, excess lime and impurities.
The cooking changes the maize into nixtamal, which can then be ground. FAO records a dry-matter loss of about 15 per cent in the process, within a range of 8.9 to 21.3 per cent.
Sources for this section
Grinding into masa
Traditionally the nixtamal was ground in several passes on a flat stone. Today a first grinding in a meat grinder or disc mill is followed by refining on the stone, as FAO describes. The sources give no guidance on the vessel material for the alkaline mixture, and a brewing kettle or a home mill is an untested adaptation rather than a documented route.
The moist masa is shaped into tortillas. About 50 g of dough is patted flat and cooked on both sides on a hot iron or clay plate.
Variation and what is not known
FAO cites a Guatemalan variant that cooks for 46 to 67 minutes at 94 °C (201 °F) with 0.17 to 0.58 per cent lime on the maize weight and a grain-to-water ratio of 1:1.2. Pre-soaking cut cooking time by 40 per cent in one study.
The lime quantity in grams and the grain endpoint for a home test are not given. The sources do not state how long fresh masa keeps.
Sources for this section
History
UNESCO's 2010 inscription of traditional Mexican cuisine names nixtamalisation together with grinding stones and stone mortars. FAO notes Illescas's 1943 description.
Ingredients
Scaling: source batch only
Whole maizeUse one part maize to two parts lime solution.
1 part
Proportion by weight as FAO gives it.2 part
Approximately 1 per cent lime solution; the lime quantity in grams is not given.Method
Risks and precautions · Standard risk
The cited work found that more lime cost more tryptophan: about 8 per cent lost at 0.2 per cent lime and over 25 per cent at 1 per cent.
- Add one part of whole maize to two parts of an approximately 1 per cent lime solution.
- Heat the mixture to 80 °C (176 °F) for 20 to 45 minutes, then leave it to stand overnight.
- Pour off the cooking liquor. The maize is now nixtamal.
- Wash the nixtamal two or three times with water to remove the seed coats, the tip caps, excess lime and impurities.
- Grind the nixtamal. Originally it was ground in several passes on a flat stone. Today a first grinding in a meat grinder or disc mill is followed by refining on the stone.
- For tortillas, pat about 50 g of dough flat and cook it on both sides on a hot iron or clay plate.
Conditions
Temperature80°C
Places
Mexico
Traditional preparation · Country evidenceUNESCO lists nixtamalisation within traditional Mexican cuisine. This is an association, not an origin.
Guatemala
Documented preparation · Country evidenceFAO cites a Guatemalan lime-cooking variant.
Related
What to make with it
Read more
Mills, presses and extractors at home
A blender, a stone refiner and a small screw press each replace hours of pounding or squeezing, but grinding, pressing oil and extracting a milk are different jobs with different limits.
More from Mexico
Atole agrio
A hot, sour maize drink from Tabasco made from maize that is not lime-cooked. The ground grain sours for half a day, then makers strain it and boil it until thick.
Birote salado estilo Guadalajara (Cardamomo home method)
A measured, commercial-yeast home method for Guadalajara-style birote salado, with a six-hour preferment, shaped rolls and a two-temperature steam bake. This formula contains no egg.
Bolillos (King Arthur Baking recipe)
Small, lightly enriched rolls with tapered ends and a scored top; this six-roll formula bakes on a hot stone with steam for a thin, crisp crust.
Conchas
Mexican sweet rolls with a soft enriched yeast dough and a separate scored sugar-flour topping shaped like a shell. This version makes 15 rolls and uses a chilled dough rest before final proofing.
Pan de feria, Larousse’s braid with pastry cream
A Mexican sweet, yeast-raised wheat bread shaped as a broad braid or closed zigzag, brushed with egg glaze and decorated with pastry cream and sesame.
Pan de muerto (Pati Jinich's orange-anise loaves)
Two enriched, orange-anise loaves shaped with crossed dough bones and a central round, baked for Día de Muertos and finished with butter and sugar.
Pan de pulque
Two Mexican loaves made with pulque, eggs and baker's yeast in a home-oven recipe.
Pan de yema (Oaxacan egg-yolk bread)
This Oaxacan yeast bread enriches wheat dough with eggs, extra yolks and butter, then shapes it into sesame-coated rounds for a long rise and a hot bake.
Related in the family
Abacha
Abacha is a fermented cassava-strip preparation from southeastern Nigeria, sold wet or dried and later rehydrated for meals such as African salad.
Aceda
Aceda is Sudan’s firm cereal porridge, commonly made from sorghum and shaped into a smooth mound. Some versions use fermented dough; fermentation is not universal.
Agbelima (Ghanaian fermented cassava dough)
Ghanaian sour cassava dough fermented with traditional inoculum and drained during fermentation. It is used as a base for cooked foods such as banku and akple; process variants and safety outcomes differ.
Appam and hoppers
Appam, or hoppers, are South Indian and Sri Lankan rice pancakes made from a fermented coconut-and-rice batter and cooked in a curved pan to a crisp lacy rim and a soft, spongy centre.
Attiéké
Ivorian cassava semolina: grated cassava is fermented overnight with a traditional inoculum, pressed, sieved into granules, dried and steamed. Documented in a 2006 field study; no sole original process is established.
Attiéké from fermented cassava pulp
Attiéké is an Ivorian staple of grated cassava fermented with a traditional inoculum, then pressed, sieved, granulated, dried and steamed into fine couscous-like grains.
Barley and oat porridge (Viking Age)
Crushed or milled barley cooked in water until the starch softens and the mixture thickens, the plainest way a northern household turned stored grain into a meal, here with apple and hazelnut.
Ben-saalga
A fermented pearl-millet gruel documented in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Whole grain is soaked, wet-milled and sieved; the settled paste ferments again before it is cooked with its liquid.
Community
No community contributions have been published for this entry yet.
Share what you made
Sign in to contribute. Published comments and photos are free to read.
Sources
FAOMethod · Science
Maize in human nutrition - Processing of whole maize: lime-cookingone part maize to two parts 1 per cent lime, 80 °C for 20 to 45 minutes, overnight, wash, grinding, 50 g tortilla, 14 to 15 hours, losses, tryptophan, Guatemalan variant
Cited in: Cooking the maize in lime; Grinding into masa; Variation and what is not known
UNESCOHistory
Traditional Mexican cuisine - ancestral, ongoing community culture, the Michoacán paradigm - UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritagenixtamalisation, grinding stones, 2010
Cited in: Grinding into masa