Masa Tortilla Chips Recipe

MASA FLOUR TORTILLA CHIPS

I was recently researching traditional foods in countries such as Costa Ricca and Mexico and came across masa flour tortillas. Masa flour tortillas are a staple with almost every meal and the corn is processed differently than regular corn meal or corn flour. It goes through a process of nixtamalization. This process involves the dried corn kernels being soaked in an alkaline solution such as water and calcium hydroxide (pickling lime).

The outer part of the kernel is removed and the inner part is made into flour. Cultures have been making masa flour this way for hundreds of years and for good reason! The nutrients are so much more available for your body to utilize increasing vitamins B3, calcium, and niacin absorption. I always feel our ancestors knew how to make foods the healthiest.

Masa flour is delicious too! I have always cooked with regular corn flour or corn meal. When I opened to bag of masa flour for the first time I was blown away at the fragrance. It almost smelled like a roasted corn, delicious! I have tried several different brands and colors of corn. They are all pretty similar. The King Arthur organic white corn masa flour was the finest ground, making very soft tortillas.

Masa tortilla chips

recipe:

Start by making your tortilla dough. Once the dough has rested for 30 minutes, form the dough into approximately 2 inch balls. You should get 14 to 16 dough balls.

Preheat the oven to 350°

Melt about 1/4 cup of coconut oil.

Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper. Brush the coconut oil on the side of parchment paper that is facing up.

Press 4 to 6 tortillas, the amount that will fit on on your baking sheet, and place them, not overlapping, on the oiled parchment paper. When pressing your tortillas for making chips, make them extra thin by rotating the tortilla a quarter turn and pressing again. Repeat this process turning the tortilla a quarter or a turn and pressing, until back at the start of the tortilla. This will help your chip be thinner and crispier.

Brush the tops of the tortillas was a generous amount of coconut oil.

Sprinkle with salt.

Using a pizza cutter or sharp knife cut each tortilla into quarters.

Place in the oven and bake for approximately 30 to 45 minutes. I start checking them at 30 minutes for crunchiness. If they don’t break easily, continue baking and checking every 5 minutes for the chip to break easily and not be bendy. Be careful not to burn.

You can repeat this process on another baking sheet to make the process go faster. You’ll have two batches in the oven at a time.

Once crunchy, remove from oven and cool on a wooden cutting board or plate with a paper towel to help absorb any extra oil.

They are ready to eat! Enjoy!