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How To Make Gorditas With Maseca
Just Mexican Food

Gorditas With Maseca

Gordita literally translates to chubby. The reason for this naming is because this food item is essentially made up of shortened tortillas that make up for their size in girth. They are meant to be cooked on a large pan and filled with all manner of burrito-style ingredients. If you’ve walked around in Mexico, chances are that you’ve passed gorditas that were being prepared at stands atop a large metal ¨comal¨ skillet.  
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Servings: 4 guest
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

For the dough
  • 1½ cup Maseca cornflour
  • ½ spoon Salt
  • 1¼ cups Water
For the filling
  • 1 cup Refried beans
  • Salsa
  • Cheese
  • Onion
  • Cilantro All optional, and you're more than welcome to try any ideas that pop into your head

Equipment

  • Medium-sized mixing bowl
  • spoon
  • 3 kitchen towels
  • Napkins
  • Tortilla press (If not you can use two flat objects, a glass baking dish works great)
  • Small knife
  • Plastic wrap

Method
 

  1. Mix the dough. In the medium-sized bowl mix the flour with the salt. Then, add water little by little so that it maintains a certain uniformity. It should feel moist, so don't hesitate to add a little more water. Just make sure that you do this carefully with a spoon. The final product should feel both smooth, non-sticky and manageable.
    1½ cup Maseca cornflour, ½ spoon Salt, 1¼ cups Water
  2. Divide the masa. Break up the masa into 9 equally sized balls and cover them with a kitchen towel so that they lose as little moisture as possible.
  3. Heat up the pan. Heat up the pan on medium-high. Make sure it gets quite hot so that the masa doesn't stick to it.
  4. Flatten the dough. Place the plastic wrap on both sides of the tortilla press and add in a ball of dough. Softly press it to achieve a diameter of 10 centimeters. Open it and grab a side of the plastic so that you're holding the plastic in the palm of your hand. Then you just drop the masa onto your other hand.
  5. Cook the dough. Place it on the hot pan and continue to make more. Do it in this way so that they don't dry out. Cook them for two minutes on one side, at which point they should have brown spots. Once you see the spots you can flip them. You should flip them twice, and in the process, they should inflate a bit. Then place them within a kitchen towel.
  6. Cool the masa. Once it cools enough to be able to hold you can cut the border of one side to insert the filling of your choice, be it beans, cheese, salsa, or whatever else the mood strikes you. Make sure that you only open it up a bit and that once you fill it you cover it up in a napkin so that they don't get cold.
    1 cup Refried beans, Cheese, Salsa

Notes

Tips and Tricks for Gorditas de Maseca Recipe

Don't get frustrated if your gorditas don't come out all pretty on the first attempts, as it does take practice. If you find that they don't puff up, the problem might be that you made them too thick and simply need to press down more when you press the masa.