Tortilla Press Questions

I have had hit or miss luck sourcing fresh real corn tortillas (not those cornmeal crapwraps that Old El Paso sells.)  So this weekend, I bought some masa harina, and made my own.  They were actually pretty good for a first attempt, but rolling them out was a bit fiddly.

Is a tortilla press worth the expense?  Do they last? I was looking at MexGrocer and they make it seem like they make fast and easy tortillas.  Is is really as simple as putting in a ball of dough, pressing down once and voila! A tortilla ready for frying?  I love corn tortillas and if a press means I could knock out a couple of dozen in an hour, then I would go for it.  As it was the rolling out of 10 tortillas took me almost an hour. 

I know nothing about tortilla presses (except the existence of El Machino) but assuming you're making small taco ones, not large burrito ones, could you use a pasta roller? I don't know that they're any cheaper (not knowing about tortilla presses) but a pasta roller wouldn't be a one trick pony.

Yeah, tortilla presses really ARE that easy. We make tacos maybe twice a month and I consider the £15ish we spent on ours to be well worth it. One tip I picked up from Thomasina Miers's book is to cut open a big ziploc bag and use that on either side of the press so the tortillas don't stick. Clingfilm is a real mess, but the ziploc bags are genius, they just peel right off them (we just reuse the same cut up bag each time).

I really don't think we'd make tortillas half as often if I had to get out a rolling pin each time! But yeah, as said, the presses make smaller, tapas-sized tortillas, like 6 inches across max.

Thanks squirrellypoo!  That is what I was hoping to hear.  I just didn't want to buy a piece of kit for the kitchen and find that it doesn't do what it says on the tin!

Noirem, you're right!  The pasta roller would be more multi-purpose, but I am not a pasta fan and the tortilla press seems more compact (and I have a tiny kitchen!) so I think I will go for that. 

I've been thinking about getting a tortilla press too. Are they available to buy in the UK? I'd envisioned lugging one back from California with me and it seemed a bit awkward. As it is, I bring a couple dozen corn tortillas back in my suitcase once a year and they're gone within the week!

I'd love to know where to buy one!

You can buy them here, here, or here, though I'm sure there's other places, too.

Tortilla press is definitely worth it.  I had my dad bring me one from the family that rents a shopfront from him for a Mexican store.  The bagged tortillas here are absolute rubbish and more white flour than anything.  Flour tortillas roll out by hand, but you need a press to make proper corn tortillas.

I LOVE the ziploc idea!  I use plastic wrap on mine, but the wrap is so thin, it is a bit of a pain.