After some kitchen based experimentation, I think I've cracked the Chia Codex and can now go back to my much loved tortilla lifestyle.
With dough 'prepared earlier' -- making a tortilla is as quick/easy as heating a pan. Do this and you are less likely to fall victim to becoming a foodie snob as you can create your own processed food.
Google your ingredient requirements.
A Tortilla Press may be worth the investment. It makes production fast and seamless....and a lot of fun.
DIY:
I use a stick blender in a tall container, such as an old yogurt making jar. Otherwise they dissipate.After the grinding I use the same container to mix in the Masa and blend by shaking and inverting. Voila! I only refrigerate because I've cut the seeds and I'm not sure about shelf life that way. Given the Chia pet history -- they are also easy to grow, so I've planted a few hedges as an experiment. You can use any corn flour but the nixtamalized corn is so much more nutritious -- and almost all of that is imported. Relevant if you are planning on a taco lifestyle. I think the corn taco is the best thing since sliced bread. While you can use traditional Mexican greens in your tortilla mix if you want-- chaya or nopales -- the super greens mix (chaya, bitter leaf, aibika, katuk and moringa) I make up, dry and powder makes the +++ nutritional boost easy peasy. Fortunately, since chia seeds are also used in handicrafts as a lacquer, they make a very flexible tortilla in the context of the corn flour's own properties.(Irony: they were used in handicrafts before they were eaten and later sown.) On their own they make a brittle biscuit when dry fried --and I find un-ground chia in this blend has similar attributes. It also helps to make the 'dough' ahead and refrigerate. So you think ahead more than you'd do with plain corn tortilla making where you rest for maybe 30 minutes. So Monday's dough batch will serve you through most of the week.You also go for a slightly wetter blend -- but firm enough to make into dough balls. Unlike plain corn mixes, you can add extra water easily at any stage of the combining. Plain corn has a certain hydrostatic resistance. One advantage is that, I think you can make a bigger wider tortilla with this mix than what is manageable with plain corn. Just imagine that the glutinous nature of the Chia seed encapsulation substitutes for gluten. I haven't experimented in this way yet, but I suspect that this blend would make awesome Pide & Gözleme. Then there are all the Indian flat fried bread options....if you coat the shaped tortilla in oil before frying.
Comments
Well done mate. I feel very much gratified that I can hide my mad scientist persona amongst like minded peers on this site.