IMUSA USA Cast Iron Tortilla Press 8-Inch, Black

After reading all the reviews, I started to regret ordering before having read them.As it turns out for me, all the worry was totally unnecessary =DI've never made tortillas before but the press worked perfectly, my tortillas came out symmetrical, round and pressed beautifully flat with smooth edges and were about 1/8th of an inch thick. Through a little bit of trial and error, I was able to make this work really well. I'm impressed with how easily this press worked and made the job quick and easy.A couple of tips, make sure you add enough water to make a soft dough, and let it rest a bit before pressing. I think the dough continues to absorb the water and the resulting tortillas are soft, smooth and have a lovely texture.I followed the directions on the box but used parchment paper instead of plastic to protect the tortillas from sticking to the press.Make the dough into balls that are about the size of a large lemon, or just larger than a golf ball. Here's where the trial and error came in. The first one I made was about the size of a golf ball per previous reviews. The resulting tortilla was very small, about the size of a tea saucer & the edges were ragged.I made them bigger (as recommended above) and that solved my problem of ragged edges & of course, resulted in a larger, more normal sized tortilla that we're all used to. The size was just shy of filling up the whole press, so I'm guessing about 7" in diameter and perfectly round.Be sure to roll into a ball, place between 2 sheets of plastic or parchment and press down with your hand to make a flattish round disc. Press as directed on the box & if you pay attention, you'll feel when you should stop applying pressure. Let the press do it's job and only continue to apply pressure until the gadget meets resistance. I was careful not to 'over press' it for fear of breaking the handle as many people complained about.I didn't find it flimsy but I was careful to pay attention to when to stop pressing.Good luck, hope this helps =)These tortillas are not as thin as store bought ones, but, they cook up beautifully, remain soft and pliable for filling with good stuff and even better, they puff up when cooked, steaming the inside. I cooked them on one side until I saw the dough start to change color slightly, then little air bubbles start to appear. At that point, I flipped to the other side and it puffed up. If you press gently with a heat proof rubber spatula or clean kitchen cloth, you will notice it puffs more. I wait till the whole thing puffs (pressing here and there) and then flip to the other side, take off the heat when golden brown (not dark brown) spots appear.To sum up, this press works exactly as the manufacturer and other successful reviewers described.It's easy to use and I used it not only to make corn tortillas for my kids, but I also made a keto 'quesodila' that called for eggs, coconut flour and of all things, mozzarella cheese. The resulting dough is supposed to be rolled out flat, well, this tortilla press worked just as well with this recipe as it did with the corn tortillas.I'm going to try flour tortillas, though I've read it's not meant for it...I don't see why it wouldn't work if the dough is allowed to rest.UPDATE:So I've made several dozen corn tortillas with this press I'm still super satisfied with this item. Make sure you're using masa harina, not cornmeal. I used P.A.N. but Maseca is another very common brand.Additional findings, I've made them with less water and made a stiff dough, those did not puff as well or press as flat. They were kind of hard and not really in a good way.The ones I made with more water, made a stickier dough at first, but upon letting it sit for about 30 minutes, turned out much more to my liking. They all pressed very thin, puffed up with steam all the way to the edges and were very tender even when toasted till brown spots appear.For the sake of uniformity, I used a regular ice cream scoop to portion out the dough. Then, I rolled each piece in my hands to make a smooth ball. If it's resistant to rolling to a smooth ball, add a couple of drops of water, squish in your fist a few times and re-roll into a ball.Press tortilla. You'll find the more water you use, the less pressure needs to be applied to get it flat & you'll get thinner tortillas.Pop your freshly pressed tortilla onto a hot comal (I use a non-stick comal) and I touch the tortilla lightly while moving it around the comal. I do not want it to brown yet, so I'm touching to test to see when it is no longer tacky. When it is no longer tacky or sticky, carefully flip. Takes about 30-60 seconds.Do the same thing on the other side, you don't want brown spots yet. Flip it again, if you let it sit for too long on one side, it will get hard and it won't steam and puff up to the edges.Now, when you see bubbles forming, flip it. It should start to puff up now and I allow it to puff on both sides. If you press gently with a paper towel or clean kitchen cloth it will increase the steaming action.Once it's puffed to your liking, now you can toast for golden brown spots. This is the texture my family prefers when it comes to homemade tortillas. Tortillas are soft, pliable and very very good. My dad kept asking me what kind of fat I added to them to make them so soft, he didn't believe me when I said it was just masa and water and thinks there's some secret ingredient I'm not divulging, haha.Left over tortillas are rolled up with chicken or ground beef filling and secured with a toothpick, then toasted in a pan on each side with a spritz of coconut or canola oil (from a can) to brown and then into the freezer for a quick snack at a later date.Can't tell you how that later date works out as the kids keep eating them before they get to the freezer n_n

I started making my own corn tortillas, and at first used a glass pie pan (put dough inbetween two pieces of zip lock plastic, and then squash with the pie plate.) I would have to press hard, and rotate the round pie dish to get the dough to squish out to the right size/thickness. It worked well, but I was afraid I would break the glass dish and cut myself I had to use so much pressure. It was sort of a rocking swirling motion to get it to press out right. It worked, but I had to lean on the plate too much. I had used a skillet bottom, but you couldn't see how big/thin the tortilla was, so if you don't buy this, try a pyrex pie pan on two plastic sheets of ziplock material.My husband purchased this press for me, and it is so easy to use. I use two pieces of ziplock plastic, cut to fit the press, and my flour (Masa Harina) has a recipe on the back for 4, 8 and 12 torillas. These make balls about the size of a ping pong ball or golf ball. They squeeze out perfectly every time, and I use no pressure at all.I have read that there are two types of presses: cast iron and aluminum. The aluminum is lighter, but requires more force. The cast iron is heavy, and comes with a "shiny paint job" that comes off with time, according to internet reveiws, but my dough does not touch the press with the plastic sheets, so this is simply cosmetic in my opinion. I did notice some grease on it, but I assumed it was to keep the product from rusting, being that it is iron....you put oil on your cast iron pans for this purpose. It was minimal oil.To protect my granite counters, I put felt stick-on feet onto the bottom since it is heavy and iron. May not be needed, but it makes me feel better. I could not be more impressed with it, and I can whip out fresh tortillas in about 2 minutes. I had at first told my husband not to get me one, I'd continue with the pie plate, but now I am thrilled to have it. It is effortless. I hate to see that some people had theirs break, or not make thin tortillas, but I imagine it is just a problem with their particular unit. If my tortillas were any thinner, you couldn't get them off of the plastic sheet. If they were thicker, they wouldn't be "right." Hope that makes sense! I like the press, and hope that it lasts. I received it in November, and have used it almost daily, and it is now in January...I haven't seen any issues with the product in that amount of time.6 MONTH UPDATEProduct is still working great after 6 months. I am going to try wax paper as was suggested by a fellow Amazon shopper, in lieu of the zip lock. I have slowed down making tortillas, so it is not getting "as much use" as it was, but this is merely for waist-line purposes! I'd make them all day, everyday if I could, without getting as big as an ox. It has held up well, and makes excellent tortillas with ease.