I started making my own corn tortillas, and at first used a glass pie pan (put dough inbetween two pieces of zip lock plastic, and then squash with the pie plate.)I would have to press hard, and rotate the round pie dish to get the dough to squish out to the right size/thickness.It worked well, but I was afraid I would break the glass dish and cut myself I had to use so much pressure.It was sort of a rocking swirling motion to get it to press out right.It worked, but I had to lean on the plate too much.I had used a skillet bottom, but you couldn't see how big/thin the tortilla was, so if you don't buy this, try a pyrex pie pan on two plastic sheets of ziplock material.My husband purchased this press for me, and it is so easy to use.I use two pieces of ziplock plastic, cut to fit the press, and my flour (Masa Harina) has a recipe on the back for 4, 8 and 12 torillas.These make balls about the size of a ping pong ball or golf ball.They squeeze out perfectly every time, and I use no pressure at all.
I have read that there are two types of presses: cast iron and aluminum.The aluminum is lighter, but requires more force.The cast iron is heavy, and comes with a "shiny paint job" that comes off with time, according to internet reveiws, but my dough does not touch the press with the plastic sheets, so this is simply cosmetic in my opinion.I did notice some grease on it, but I assumed it was to keep the product from rusting, being that it is iron....you put oil on your cast iron pans for this purpose.It was minimal oil.
To protect my granite counters, I put felt stick-on feet onto the bottom since it is heavy and iron.May not be needed, but it makes me feel better.I could not be more impressed with it, and I can whip out fresh tortillas in about 2 minutes.I had at first told my husband not to get me one, I'd continue with the pie plate, but now I am thrilled to have it.It is effortless.I hate to see that some people had theirs break, or not make thin tortillas, but I imagine it is just a problem with their particular unit.If my tortillas were any thinner, you couldn't get them off of the plastic sheet.If they were thicker, they wouldn't be "right."Hope that makes sense!I like the press, and hope that it lasts.I received it in November, and have used it almost daily, and it is now in January...I haven't seen any issues with the product in that amount of time.
6 MONTH UPDATE
Product is still working great after 6 months.I am going to try wax paper as was suggested by a fellow Amazon shopper, in lieu of the zip lock.I have slowed down making tortillas, so it is not getting "as much use" as it was, but this is merely for waist-line purposes!I'd make them all day, everyday if I could, without getting as big as an ox.It has held up well, and makes excellent tortillas with ease.
In order to avoid contact with the grease (which there from the manufacturing process to prevent the cast iron from rusting not necessarily a bad thing), we took a 1 gallon Ziploc bag (food grade plastic) and cut it at the seams to create two pieces of plastic.We then trimmed the plastic sheets to be slightly larger than the press.This works wonderfully, we only need to peel the pressed tortilla from the plastic sheet and lay it in to the griddle.
We would recommend this press to anyone interested in making their own tortillas, sopes, or other dishes requiring use of a press.
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The one I received had little grease on it, not that it would have bothered me much anyway.It also presses the tortillas paper thin.In fact, I had to be careful not to get them too thin at first.
Recommend lining each side with plastic when pressing. Then transfer pressed tortilla to a piece of wax paper then onto the grill.That's just the easiest way we found to tranfer them.
Served warm with some queso fresca yum!
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this product is great, i was reading all the reviews before purchasing and wondered about some reviews, because YES it comes with instructions,they are ON THE BOX , yes there is no extra paper, but why , the instruction is on the box in english and spanish! It recommends also to put a plastic bag/ paper between the press, so the dough will not stick. People who don't read the instructions will have a problem working with the tortilla maker. To get the tortilla off the plastic, you first lift it from one side off, put the plastic back on and flip it over , now you take the plasic of this side off, keep it off, turn it over and take the other already loosened up plastic off, now you can bake it in the pan. This whole procedure is important, so you don't ripp the tortilla since it is thin! frying no oil and about 50 sconds each side, heat up the pan first before you start, it frys better. if you take a piece of dough the size of a golf ball or little smaller, you get about a 5-6 inc tortilla, put the ball a little off centerlike somebody else already recommended more toward the back and the tortilla comes out more evenyou may have to try out a bit remember just when you started playing with play dough? trying out different things?:)One thing is trueit is time consuming,but to do it together as a family is the most fun! My whole family loves it! Hope this review is helpful!Want IMUSA VICTORIA-85008 Cast Iron Tortilla Press Pre-Cured 8-Inch, Black Discount?
My wife and I are very impressed with this tortilla press.My wife initially got a plastic press from a local store, and it was horrible.It wouldn't flatten out the tortillas at all because it would bend under pressure.Then we tried the 6.5 inch aluminum press that is also sold here on amazon.It was much better than the plastic one, but we were still disappointed at the size of the tortillas.
This lead us to the 8 inch cast iron press.It's true that it's a little greasy out of the box, but after a quick washing with soap and water, it is good to go.After putting plastic wrap on both pressing surfaces we gave it a try.It presses our tortilla dough as thin as we want it, even too thin if we decide to push it that hard.The size of the tortillas is much better as well.I would recommend this press to anyone that is looking for a quality tortilla press.
