Tortilla manufacturers can purchase a mixture of the micro-ingredients, commonly called a base, batch pack or pre-mix, to make flour tortillas. These dry mixtures often contain baking powder, preservatives, salt and some dough conditioners. Each lot should be tested to confirm quality and uniformity. Specifically, the opacity of the tortillas and the ending pH resulting from the ingredients in the batch pack can change during storage. A convenient method is to substitute grams for pounds in the formula, for instance, a 200 lb flour batch transforms into 200 grams flour, 110 lb water into 110 grams water, 18 lb oil into grams of oil, etc. The dough can be mixed in a kitchen type bowl mixer and the tortillas hand pressed with a rolling pin. An electric griddle can be used for cooking the tortillas. This method will however, not predict the quality of the formula or how it will run on a tortilla line. It will tell you what pH you can expect and possibly how long the tortilla will last before molding. This method is relatively inexpensive and quite adequate as a quality control test for the pre-mixes and experimental formulas.
(C) 2010
