2 cups masa harina

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon mustard powder

2 tablespoons lard

1¼ cups warm water

• Add the masa harina, salt, and mustard powder to a large bowl; mix well. Add the lard and warm water. Use your fingers to work the mixture into a soft dough. Knead the dough until it is no longer sticky. Divide the dough into 16 balls; cover with a cotton towel and let rest for 20 minutes at room temperature.

• To use a tortilla press, place a small square of wax paper on the bottom part of the open press. Place a corn tortilla ball almost on the center of the wax paper — a little more toward the hinge of the press than the handle. Place a second wax paper square on top of the ball and press to flatten slightly. Close the press firmly until the tortilla measures about 6″ in diameter. Alternately, roll the tortillas by hand: Flatten each ball between 2 pieces of wax paper and roll out with a rolling pin; or place each ball on a lightly floured surface, dust the top of the ball with some flour, and roll out with a rolling pin. (Try to use as little flour as possible.)

• Place the tortilla on a moderately hot griddle treated with nonstick spray. Quickly, the edges of the tortilla will begin to dry out. At this point, turn the tortilla. Allow the second side to cook for a slightly longer period until it is slightly browned. Flip it back onto the first side and let it finish cooking. Allow about 2 minutes total cooking time per tortilla.

Tortilla Tip

You can use a mixer with a dough hook or a food processor to mix corn tortilla dough. Like bread, the dough needs to be kneaded until it's no longer sticky. One southwestern cook says she kneads the dough for 3 minutes when she mixes flour tortillas using her Bosch mixer; those 3 minutes would be about the equivalent of about 10 to 15 minutes of heavy-duty hand kneading.