A flour tortilla (or wheat tortilla to differentiate it from other uses of the word tortilla, which in Spanish means "small torta", or "small cake") is a type of soft, thin flatbread made from finely ground wheat flour. Originally derived from the corn tortilla, a bread of maize which predates the arrival of Europeans to the Americas, the wheat flour tortilla was an innovation by exiled Spanish Jews who did not consider corn meal to be kosher, using wheat brought from Europe, while this region was the colony of New Spain. It is made with an unleavened, water based dough, pressed and cooked like corn tortillas. In Spanish the word "tortilla", without qualification, has different meanings in different regions. In Spain it is a Spanish omelette of eggs and potatoes (and an omelette without potatoes is a "tortilla francesa", French tortilla); in Mexico and Central America it is a corn tortilla; and in many other places a flour tortilla.