A staple of México and Central America, tortilla is a kind of unleavened bread, made from corn or wheat flour.
Traditional tortilla making
The mother grinds the maize with a stone mano and matate as the elder daughter pats the dough into tortillas
El Salvador, c. 1900
The corn tortilla is made by curing maize in lime water, grinding and pre-cooking it, kneading it into a dough called 'masa nixtamalera', pressing it flat into thin patties, and cooking it on a very hot griddle. In Mexico, most corn tortillas are nowadays made by machine and are very thin and uniform, but in Guatemala they are still often made by hand and are thicker. Corn tortillas are customarily served and eaten warm; when cool, they acquire a rubbery texture and are less appetizing.
Traditionally throughout Mesoamerica from Pre-Columbian times into the mid 20th century, the masa was prepared by women using a mano (a cylinder shaped stone like a rolling pin) and matate (a stone base with a slightly convex top for holding the corn).
Most people agree that the traditional stone-ground, hand-made tortillas taste better, but because of the labor required to make these and the common availability of cheap, machine-ground corn flour, traditionally-made tortillas are increasingly less common.
The wheat flour tortilla is made with an unleavened, water-based dough, and pressed and cooked just like corn tortillas. These tortillas are very similar to the unleavened bread popular in Arab, eastern mediterranean and southern Asian countries, though thinner and smaller in diameter.
Tortillas vary in size from about 6 to over 30 cm depending on the region of the country and the dish for which it is intended.
In Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, filled tortillas (gorditas or pupusas) can also be found. These are smaller, thicker corn tortillas to which beans, chicharones, or other ingredients have been added. They are customarily cooked on a greased pan.
See also taco, quesadilla, tostada, enchilada and chilaquiles for examples of traditional Mexican dishes based on tortillas.
In Spanish cuisine, a "tortilla" is a kind of thick potato omelet, usually eaten at room temperature. It is usually referred to as tortilla española.
There is a novel by T. Coraghessan Boyle entitled The Tortilla Curtain.
