Has anyone made homemade "wingin' it" corn tortillas before and how do you make them - mind you I live in Italy so getting hold of a tortilla press or the special corn flour is out of the question.

Perhaps I shall just nix the idea but they can't be that hard to make, can they???

You can check out this recipe and story I would use stone ground corn flour (we have it at the COOP here in Siena)instead of the Masa and see how that works. Or maybe Diva has a better idea.

With your left hand holding the bottom sheet of plastic, flip the tortilla again so your right palm is face up, the plastic is on top and the left half of the tortilla is dangling off the left side of your hand. Carefully pull back the plastic; it should release cleanly......

........ get it?? I don't but I may just have to make it todays after work activity - polenta is pretty cheap and if it doesn't work I can give it to the chickens.

I have a feeling that tortilla making is actually easy but its probably a good idea to have someone show you how to do it (as in how the dough should feel ect)

Thanks for the site Cristina -

Let us know, Kel. Amazing isn't it that they have flour tortillas here but not the corn?
I watched little old ladies make tortillas at Super Rica in Santa Barbara, and they [patted and rolled, no presses. Not big tortillas, but good ones. My friend's Salvadorean housekeeper made them, too, but they aren't like Mexican. Smaller and thicker. Good.
In the old days, they sold tortillas in tins, there were no plastic bagged ones. They weren't amazing, but I'd settle.
If you master this, I'll try making crema. I've had an idea of using live yoghurt and fresh cream. Then we can do a starving expat Latin pig out.

Look what I found! Sort of spurious compared to the masa recipes, but how bad could they be? And they have no impossible ingredients or tools.
Homemade Corn Tortillas
1 cup corn meal
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt (or more to taste)
2 teaspoons corn oil

In a mixing bowl, combine corn meal, baking powder and salt. Boil water. Mix boiling water and oil into corn meal. When mixture cools enough to handle, divide into eight equal balls. Flatten slightly. Place flattened ball on top of an 8-inch square of waxed paper. Cover with a second square. Roll into a 6-inch circle. Remove from waxed paper and cook on an ungreased griddle until lightly browned. Repeat until all eight balls have been prepared.

They came out ok - nothing to die for but it worked more or less -- as did my homemade sour cream --- I just use stracchino and add a little milk and whisk it together until it gets to a sour cream consistency.It works.
The salsa was "real" so that was good.

Hey!
I made flour tortilla's in mass production for a restaurant here, and have brought back MASA harina for corn tortilla's.
Masa harina is made from corn boiled in lye before befing ground and is not polenta..
I ahve made fluor tortilla's and added some polenta for a little more bite.. nice..
I will see if the food store here has masa.. but I am fine with flour only..
I don-'t fry them. but work ok for enchilada's.. can buy corn tortilla shells for taco's but even then I am a flour taco person too! that california stuff!

The strawberry jam I made today came out much better than my attempt at corn tortillas --- BUT I will find a way to make corn tortillas without having to go and buy them and without having to special order anything - I will I will I will (stamping my feet like a 3 year old fighting to get a square peg in a round hole.)

I figure I have a few more weeks until the cilantro is full grown to figure it all out.

are you going to fry them? is that why you need corn?
Judy