We admit that the tortilla press could be considered a kitchen unitasker of the worst sort — it's heavy and fits awkwardly among the pots and pans in the cupboard, and it can really only be used for pressing tortillas. And yet — while we gave you a few tips on making tortillas without a press earlier today, we also wanted to look at the press itself — we just can't get over how perfectly it makes tortillas!
Unitasker or not, a press like this makes complete sense of you eat a lot of tortillas in your house. You place a golf-ball-sized piece of dough between the two plates, squeeze them shut, and a perfectly round tortilla is formed (just like this). These homemade tortillas are sure to be better than buying the pre-made ones at the store.
All the presses we’ve seen follow this same design of two round plates pressed together by a hinged swing-arm. You definitely want cast-iron or some other heavy cast-metal that will be up to the challenge of pressing a zillion tortillas without buckling on you or sliding across the table.
These presses are also fairly inexpensive and easy to find at most kitchen supply stores:
• Cast Aluminum Tortilla Press, $19 from Williams Sonoma
• Cast Iron Tortilla Press, $19.99 from Sur la Table
• Victoria Cast Iron Tortilla Press, $19.99 from Target
Do you own a tortilla press? Or do you just make them by hand, without a press?
Related: How to Make Flour Tortillas From Scratch (and Without a Press)
(Image: Williams-Sonoma)
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I own one, but it's in storage at my in-law's house becuz we're still trying to sell our house. And um, I don't use it that often.
could you use one instead of a rolling pin to form pie crusts, so that it wouldn't be a total unitasker?
I have one and love it. Tried the manual method but these work great for food gatherings.
Though I have a tiny kitchen and a deep dislike of unitaskers, I love my tortilla press. I use it often enough to justify the shelf space, and would use it more often if I could just get the knack of cooking the tortillas perfectly.
melting, I've tried using it with bread dough to make pita bread and (unsurprisingly) found it totally unsuccessful. Pastry might be more successful, but I suspect the tortilla press is too rough for pastry.
Would you people please stop using the word 'unitasker', Alton Brown drives me nuts!
you can only use presses for corn tortillas right?
hey, you can use those presses for making gyoza skins! (it's why I want one)
i would LOVE a tortilla press! perhaps because tortillas themselves are so versatile, the press could be considered a multi-tasker by association?
We have a cast iron press and an electric one. We love and make tortillas enough that they are worth the space they take up in the kitchen!
The press is one of my few one/limit tasker tools I have, at least it works perfect for the job.
@shipwrecks this doesn't work for gyoza skins- they have a high gluten development that requires stretching. Pressing doesnt work on that.
I have one, but prefer rolling tortillas by hand.
Benefits of hand: I can make them in larger sizes, and they are more even (the press always makes it thinner by the handle).