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Flatev gives tortillas the pod treatment

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The Flatev makes fresh-baked tortillas from individual dough pods
The Flatev makes fresh-baked tortillas from individual dough pods
Dough choices will include flour, corn and blue corn
The Flatev on display at a recent PR event
The whole tortilla-making process takes less than a minute
Inventor Carlos Ruiz with one of the pods
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Say what you will about the wastefulness of Keurig coffee-makers, you've gotta admit that the things are convenient – you just stick a K-Cup in the top, and a single serving of coffee comes out the bottom. Well, inventor Carlos Ruiz is now hoping to bring that same convenience to freshly-baked flatbreads, with his Flatev tortilla-maker.

Users start by inserting a K-Cup-like pod, that contains a ball of tortilla dough – Ruiz plans on offering choices of flour, corn and blue corn. After the user presses a button, the machine then breaks the pod open, presses the dough flat, cooks it, then deposits it in a tray at the bottom. The whole process reportedly takes less than one minute.

The pods have to be kept refrigerated, and should sell for less than a dollar each. Down the road, plans call for other types of flatbreads to be available, such as roti, chapati and naan.

The Flatev ("Flatbread Evolution") machine itself should cost under $300, although it isn't expected to be ready for retail until 2015. You can preorder one now, though, via the first link below.

Source: Flatev via CoolHunting

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8 comments
Grunchy
Keurig is a fad appliance, similar to how breadmakers were a few years ago. Today I can buy all the breadmakers I want at the thrift store for a couple bucks each. It costs more to make pop with Sodastream than to buy name-brand pop. A pod-style tortilla maker? I could more easily buy pre-made tortillas than tortilla pods.
The downside to these devices (besides the backwards value proposition) is the space they consume for the limited function they provide. At least the breadmaker used raw materials you could buy cheaply, the Keurig uses bulky & pricey single serve cups.
thk
Certainly not for people who prefers to make from scratch and who, when short of time, would certainly rather buy pre-made. I don't see a market for it. Bad concept.
The Skud
I agree Grunchy - much too single-use for the space it would take up. Now if they could make a tiny bread/tortilla dough mixer and combine the two, you could add a cup of mix to a little hopper and wait for your tortilla at the end. That way you could buy cheap ingredients to store till use, freeing space in the fridge as well!
Michael Crumpton
Really? Spend half an hour and make your own pile of raw tortillas and freeze them. Pop them in the toaster oven to make them ready to eat.
Rt1583
@ Grunchy - What, exactly, is the backwards value proposition you perceive?
A regular coffee maker takes up just as much space as a Keurig style maker and is just as limited in its functionality. If you are the type of person who drinks an entire pot of coffee at one sitting then the standard style of maker is the best value for you. For those of us who only drink one cup of coffee at a time or even only one cup of coffee per day the Keurig style maker is the better value for us.
Would it really be a better value for me to use a standard maker and wast 3/4 of a pot of cheaper (per serving) bulk coffee than to use a Keurig style maker and have no wasted coffee?
As far as the Flatev, it will have an audience however limited it might be. Which is the better value if a person only needs a couple of tortillas at a time? Go out and buy the smallest package available (generally a 10 pack) and waste those not needed or have something like what is offered by the Flatev?
pmshah
Well he must have stolen the idea from "Roti Maker" already on the market for more than a decade. Roti Maker goes further in that it also makes Khakhras, a typical Gujarati wheat flat bread made from thin rotis coted with ghee and also roasts Paapad. Just google on those words to find out what they are.
David Bell
At least with the Keurig you can buy refillable K-Cups (or use the abominable piece of crap Keurig supplies) and use your own bulk ground coffee. With Flatev, you have to buy 2-week life dough pods that make what looks like a 3-inch diameter "tortilla", for $1 each! Far better to buy that 10 pack and toss out 6 or 8 of them after a week if you don't eat them...
Robert Meurant
Another bench top space devouring kitchen device! Who has room for them all?