Uno Casa Tortilla Press 12 Inch Cast Iron - Heavy Duty 12 Inch Tortilla Press with 50 Parchment Papers - Tortilleras Mexicanas Para Hacer Rotis, Empanadas, Quesadillas for Authentic Mexican Cooking

So this is going to be a long review, but if you want really good tortillas you may want to read it. This is a review of the 12 inch t-maker.Two key points: 1) Great cast iron. 2) Needs mods to make great, thin tortillas. The 5-star review is based on the relatively easy mods done to make this a great thin t-maker.Out of the box you will note that this is a very heavy, well made cast iron product. It has the industry standard "pre-seasoned" coating.To really season this product, get some flax seed oil and a brush. Unscrew everything, and coat all with a light coating of oil. Use a brush as there are a lot of non-square surfaces. Used the brush to get the oil inside the holes for the screws. Note: Only a very light coating -- no drips/pools. Pop into a 450F oven for an hour, and be sure to open all your windows and turn on all your exhaust fans. When the product cools you will see an incredible brownish-black new seasoned coating. This is the very best coating you can get.Now go to your local stores and buy the following: 1) A 4.5 x 1/4 stainless steel hex bolt with either matching stainless lock-nut, or a standard stainless nut (if you use the t-maker on the stove). 2) A 1/4 inch x 3 inch "Safety Coupler" lynch pin (see the picture). These are used for hooking up tractor devices to rear hitches so a "country" or "tractor" supply store will have them in stock. Both items should cost less than $3 each.Replace the back bolt with the 4.5 inch stainless hex screw, and replace the front screw with the lynch pin. Note that this will take all the "play" out of the t-maker. The Mfg suggests "play" is a good thing, but if you want thin tortillas this is not true. Despite the bolts being the same size the UCasa bolts are thinner and weaker than what you will replace them with. So if you use the packaged bolts you cannot make a thin tortilla, and will certainly bend/break the handle bolt (hence they give you a second one in the package). Again, impossible to get a tortilla that is less than 1/8 with the supplied bolts (1/8 may be over-stating how thin you can get -- there is a lot of "play").An upside of using the "safety coupler lynch pin" is that it gives a really handy "handle" to grab when moving the t-maker (I bought the rounded versino). This is pretty heavy product, and while there is a natural gap in the rear to grab, the front lies flush with the counter. Not that easy to move with the standard equipment. The lynch pin is a great salvation when moving the device. Also the pin is way, way stronger than the supplied bolt, so it will not bend/break.Changing out the supplied bolts removes most of the "play" between the plates and handle. With the standard bolts you can raise the handle fully to the open position with the top-pate flat without any issues because of the "play". With the replacement bolt/pin you cannot do this. You have to use two hands: one to raise the handle, and the second to lift the upper part of the t-makers to clear the handle as you lift it. This is simple and easy, but not quite as convenient when there is "play" available.Finally you need to change/spread the contact point of the handle. The t-maker has a small approximate one inch raised ridge that you leverage down with the handle. This is a significant weak point. First, it focuses the pressure at the very front of the t-maker. Despite it being a solid piece of iron it is very hard to get an even edge-to-edge pressure when pressing down. One side likely will thinner. Second this is a significant wear point. The fix is super-easy. Get a 12 inch long piece of 2x4 kiln-dried lumber, and use it to leverage the handle down (you need to hold it in place when you press down -- hence my added handle in the pic). Even without the handle I added, this is very easy to use, and works great to fix the problems with the 1-inch leverage point.To make a very thin tortilla you will need to do four cycles. For each cycle press down very hard, and pump the handle a few times. Open the t-maker, rotate the tortilla a quarter turn, and repeat. With 75-80 grams of masa you should get a 10-11 inch tortilla that is 1/16 or less thick.Here are some additional hints not related to this t-maker: 1) Use a napkin and some avocado/sunflower to lightly coat the parchment paper before spreading the masa. 2) Use a flat glass container to initially press the ball into a good round. If you do this, no need to offset the ball in the maker. 3) The top layer of parchment is easy to remove, so take if off and take the tortilla stuck to the bottom layer to your pan. 4) Center and drop the paper/tortilla into the pan. Use a silicon spatula to "free the initial edge" of the tortilla from the paper. You can then easily peel the paper away. Parchment does not burn easily, so no worries there.HTH, and GOOD LUCK.Months Later Update:I wanted to add an update given I have been working on my tortilla process ever since my purchase. I am now consistently making great 50/50 tortillas about 11 inches in diameter. Love, love the 50/50 flavor and "rollability". Insights: A) I bought a roll of 12 inch silicon baking mat and cut two 12x12 squares from it. Lightly coat these with Avocado oil prior to pressing each tortilla and they work GREAT & seem to last forever (still on my first pair). Peel off top, flip top onto removed bottom, peel off, fold over and drop onto the comal to cook (silicon spatula need to initiate the peel). Works fantastic. B) Had to go back to the thinner, original bolt in the back as an 11 inch gets too thin at the back with the thicker bolt. C) My recipe: --110 grams Bob's Redmill masa (uniquely good), --70 grams white flour, --1/2 Tablespoon vital gluten (mix these three in a bowl) --3/4 cup less 2 tablespoons water, --1 tablespoon duck fat, 1/4 teaspoon salt (add these three into a pyrex bowl and microwave for one minute). Stir heated mixture until salt & fat are dissolved. Add water mixture to flour and mix with a spatula (it is hot). Put final mix onto a wetted board, and knead for about 2 minutes. Wet your hands while kneading to get the texture pretty 'wet' -- the Red Mill masa will absorb quite a lot of this moisture. Cover with saran wrap and let sit for an hour or so. Separate into 3 balls by weight (should be about 123 grams each). Press on the maker rotating it three times -- press really, really hard to get an 11+ inch spread. Cook at 500 degrees for maybe 90 seconds per side (varies as my temp control on the comal is not that great). Store in an airtight container. Enoy.

A birthday present for my wife. She was making and rolling her tortillas by hand, then cooking them for a family of six. Quite a process. Now she makes the dough and simply puts the ball on the hot press, squeezes, and a minute later it’s done. The learning curve is figuring out how hot to initially make the press.

Excelente calidad

I have just gone through my 3nd batch and I suspect there is somewhat of a learning curve. First batch the balls were too small but pressed out fine and did not stick to parchment paper. They were more like NAAN than tortillas but since they are just for me it is easier than rolling them out and good enough. 2nd Batch they came out really thin. I thought since I used a tortilla flour mix that there must be something in it that makes it rise. They were not like what you get in the store but close enough that I was satisfied. 3rd Batch dough was much wetter which was a mistake I think because it stuck to the parchment paper. But since it is made to cook on I just put them on the skillet until the side cooked a bit and the paper came right off. A little bit of a time killer but it worked. Now this batch was probably in the middle. The size you make is really dependent on the amount of dough you put on the maker. My first ones were probably 4 inches at best. I never got to 10 inches because it is true that it just under 10 inch diameter. but close enough. I do not understand why anyone would have trouble putting it together. one bolt and wing nut. I guess I might consider getting a better bolt at the hardware store. But I do press hard I did not see any issues but I did not take the bolt out to see what the pressure does. I do press pretty hard.It is heavy, but it is cast iron what did you expect. It is pre seasoned so I forgot the parchment on top and the dough came off pretty easily. But since it is cast you can go through a seasoning procedure yourself and yes care of cast iron is a bit different than an aluminum pan. I am guessing you can press and cook on this press at the same time. I have not tried that and I may give it a shot on the induction cooker I have but not about to press that hard on my glass top electric stove. I think that make them and cook them on a pan. I use a cast iron frying pan to cook them by the way. No metal flakes but it has been used for a long time. I did not try rotating it and pressing again. I did not notice any difference in thickness in the ones I made. It is easier than rolling them out and way less messy. I guess if you took it off the press and did a quick roll with a rolling pin over the parchment the perfect thickness would be easy. Thinking back I am not sure why the ones that I let rest the longest were the thickest. I suspect that if I make the dough from scratch that thinner ones would be possible as would using flower that has less gluten in it and not working it too much. So all purpose or cake flour would improve on the thickness I suppose. For me the problem is where do I store it. I am going to try some different approaches to see if I can find a consistent way of making thin tortillas and if I find I can do that all the time I will change to 5. So this works good if you are OK with tortillas that do not look store bought but if you are trying to make those or make for others that would notice then I guess this is not the one for you.Revision 12/29/2022 As stated above I was OK for the tortillas being thicker than store bought but when making them today they were sticking to the parchment paper and trying to fix that problem I took each ball and patted and folding in to some extent more flour. I then rolled them in semolina that I hoped would insure that the paper comes off easily. At the same time I would press then rotate and press again. Some times 90 degrees sometimes just 45 degrees. They came out of the press really thin but still stuck to the paper. The first few I did this too came out really thin and I think thinner than you would ever roll them out. But they still fluffed up, not as much but more than the kinds you get in the store. Back to the dough sticking and I really worked a ball in the flour and made sure that even when pushing my fingers through there was no sign of sticking. Did the multiple press and sadly the parchemet that was no longer new stuck. But I noticed that the tortilla did not raise like the others it was still not as thin but only very slightly thicker. The next one same thing and maybe even a bit thinner because I pushed down on it as it cooked like you are not supposed to do on a hamburger. It came out very thin. So my conclusion is that yes you cannot just press once and you are good to go. I will rotate them and press again maybe 1 or 2 times. Secondly, I will make the dough much drier and I suspect the water turning to steam is what is providing the thickness. Lastly, I will think about one of those presses you can get that you put on food that might curl up. Lastly, I think the premixed flour is not the way to go so I am going to make the dough from scratch to see if that changes things as well. I made tortillas before with no press only a roller and I do not recall them puffing up like mine did and when you rotate the tortilla in the press you end up with a very thin raw tortilla. More so than I would ever do so it has to be the moisture in the dough that is at issue.

Works great. I almost got the 12 inch which would have been nice for bigger burrito style tortillas, but this is a good middle ground for what my family likes.

Heavy duty, and durable. Just what I was looking for. Turnover, pie crust, tortillas, it makes it all perfectly round. Would definitely recommend this product.

Makes tortillas as thin as you want, and also goes right on the stove to cook them.

The media could not be loaded. I love this tortilla press. It's very heavy, so it smashes the dough well. A little finicky for cleaning since it's cast iron. It did come seasoned already which was very helpful! You've got to wipe it down right away. I love and appreciate the provided, perfect size parchment paper. These are a must with this press.