Months ago I purchased a couple tostada shell pans and never got around to my tortilla shell experiment, but after making the soft corn tortillas from the Viva Vegan! cookbook, I just had to see if I could make gluten-free tostada shells with masa flour (corn flour treated with lime), without deep frying. So, a couple of weeks ago, I got to experimenting and I share with you my findings for making the shells for gluten free tostadas.
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Most masa flour packages contain a recipe for tortillas, but I altered the one I used. You usually fry deep fry tortillas to make a shell, but because of the size I did not wish to leave that much oil around for deep frying, as I rarely deep fry anything. So, I opted for baking them. If I were to have deep fried them I would have used a second mold on top of the dough and then deep fried each one separately, holding the 2 molds together.
Please leave a comment here if you perfect this recipe before I do so that all will learn from you!
Homemade corn tortilla bowls for use as gluten free tostada shells. All baked, versus deep-fried, for a healthier you!
Ingredients:
- 2 cups masa flour*
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- Olive oil cooking spray
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 425F.
- Spray oil or oil pan.
- Mix above ingredients in a bowl.
- Divide equally.
- Divide each portion into 3 or 4 tortillas, rolling or pressing as thin as possible between 2 sheets of plastic wrap.
- Line them in a tortilla shell pan and use the last one to patch the open spaces. Remove any heavy overlapping by tearing the extra dough away; and press each patch together, using a dab of water if necessary to smooth.
- Spray with oil.
- Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until slightly golden brown or hard.
Tips
(1) Masa flour can be found at most grocery store chains. Just make sure you purchase the type for tortillas, not tamales. *BE SURE TO CHECK WITH EACH MANUFACTURER FOR GLUTEN CROSS-CONTAMINATION IF YOU ARE GLUTEN INTOLERANT. (2) After experimenting with this recipe I found while reading "Gluten-Free Cooking For Dummies" that they have perfected this recipe, but it uses a pre-made gluten-free flour tortilla, like the ones that they sell at Trader Joe's. It looks very crispy, too, and you do not have to even purchase the pans! (3) For the chicken just tear up pieces of grilled or boiled chicken; add gluten-free taco seasoning, water and about 1/2 teaspoon or more of potato starch; and simmer for about 10 minutes. (4) If you do not have any gluten-free taco seasoning around use spices like cumin, paprika, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder and salt, along with some potato starch. (5) Next I would like to try using my other Gluten Free Tortilla Recipe.