The artisan company incorporates fats like coconut oil, local butter and duck fat in its tortillas. Among this group, his are the most experimental, incorporating fats like coconut oil, local butter and duck fat.Ībove left: Xulo tortilla dough waits to be rolled out in Oakland. The difference is dramatic in the tortillas from Xulo, founded by de la Torre in 2019, who learned the craft from his Sonoran grandmother. De la Torre swears by Central Milling’s Type 70 flour, a semi-rustic blend with a rustic texture that he says bridges the gap between modern tortillas, made with fine all-purpose flour, and the original Sonoran white wheat milled in colonial Mexico hundreds of years ago. She and Michael de la Torre (Xulo) opt for organic flour from Central Milling, which also supplies Phoenix’s Tacos Chiwas, the Mill in San Francisco and Maiden Breads in Point Reyes. Norma Quiñonez of Semilla relies on Diamond Crystal kosher salt and organic cold-pressed vegetable shortening. For instance, Maria Marquez of MamaCuca exclusively uses a Mexican brand of super-fine flour and vegetable shortening, which she says makes more flexible tortillas than pork lard. Local makers treat the tortilla as such, and like the Bay Area’s many artisanal sourdough bread producers, they’re picky about ingredients. Xulo is an artisan tortilla company that uses coconut oil, duck fat and other flavors in its tortillas. Michael de la Torre (left), owner of Xulo, and employee Craig Murli prepare tortilla dough in Oakland. Rather than simply existing as a platform for other foods, the four- to five-ingredient dish demands attention as something complete in itself. A great tortilla is a comfort a warm wheaten cloth you might be inspired to lay on your face during a spa session. On a hot plancha, its outer layer forms a roti-like flaky texture while maintaining a tender interior. It won’t dissolve into a claggy mush and make you want to bust out a toothpick after you eat it. It can be life-altering: a plot twist that makes you re-evaluate everything that’s come before. When you get a good tortilla, you don’t necessarily have to load it up with ingredients you can eat it fresh off the griddle, unadorned, so you can savor the rich aroma of toasted wheat. Three such producers - Tortillas de MamaCuca, Xulo and Semilla - offer an experience that is a whole universe away from what you’ll find at the grocery store. But now, there is a burgeoning movement of local producers making flour tortillas the old-fashioned way, inspired by the regional traditions of northern Mexico. Instead, you might associate them with the utilitarian products sold in grocery stores: dense and tacky disks made to have cheese melted onto them in the midnight hours. Unless you had the good fortune to grow up in a household that made them fresh daily, a flour tortilla might not be something that you pause to think about much. It’s never been easier to get an artisanal flour tortilla in the Bay Area.
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