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    Home » Most Recent

    3 Different Masa Harinas To Choose From

    January 30, 2019 By Patrick 45 Comments

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    There's a good chance you've cruised past the Masa Harina in your local grocery store without realizing the potential you just left in your wake -- but no more!

    Most likely you've got one of these 3 options on your supermarket shelf:

    From left to right:  Maseca, Bob's Red Mill, and Gold Mine.

    Maseca is by far the most common and it's the Masa Harina that I started with -- you'll frequently find it in the Latin goods section of chain supermarkets.

    I've been meaning to test out a few other options and I'm glad I did as the results were a bit surprising!  But first, here's some quick backstory on Masa Harina...

    Start with some dried field corn:

    Here's the recipe for a recent batch of homemade corn tortillas I made using some White Olotillo Corn. I used a food processor to grind the corn down and added in some Masa Harina to get the right consistency. mexicanplease.com

    And soak it in an alkaline agent like calcium hydroxide.

    This will improve the nutritional content of the corn and make it easier to grind up -- it will also make it taste better!

    Here's the recipe for a recent batch of homemade corn tortillas I made using some White Olotillo Corn. I used a food processor to grind the corn down and added in some Masa Harina to get the right consistency. mexicanplease.com

    After a good rinse you can grind it up and just like that you've got some masa dough on your hands.

    Here's how it looks in Cozumel's supermarket:

    Homemade Corn Tortillas so easy! mexicanplease.com

    Photo by Chloe Miller

    Producers will take this masa dough and dehydrate it, resulting in Masa Harina, sometimes referred to as corn flour.  It's a powdered version of masa dough and all you need to do is rehydrate the Masa Harina and you've got a quick batch of masa dough on your hands that you can use to make corn tortillas, tamales, gorditas, etc.

    So let's do that and give some homemade corn tortillas a taste test using the different Masa Harinas.

    You can see details on making homemade corn tortillas in this post, but I'll go over the key details here as well.   You'll need:

    2 cups Masa Harina
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    1.5 cups warm water

    Stary by combining the Masa Harina and the salt.

    Adding salt to Masa Harina.

    And now add only 1 cup of the water and combine as much you can with a spoon.

    I usually dump the mixture onto a work surface and add the rest of the water incrementally while kneading it into a cohesive ball.

    Kneading masa dough into a cohesive ball.

    Sometimes it can take some fiddling to get the right consistency and that's why it can be helpful to add the final bit of water incrementally.

    If the dough is crumbly and won't form into a ball then you need more water.

    If the dough is wet and sticky then you've added too much water; simply add some additional Masa Harina to return it to a consistency that can be handled with no sticking.

    Masa Dough made from Masa Harina.

    Eventually you'll end up with a cohesive ball of masa dough -- nice!

    I used to let this dough rest for an hour or so but I don't worry much about that step anymore.  Flour tortillas benefit from resting as it allows some of the gluten to relax, but I'm not convinced it's necessary for corn tortillas.

    To prove that anyone can make corn tortillas at home we'll be using a casserole dish to flatten the dough balls -- no tortilla press needed!

    Pull off a golfball sized round of masa dough and roll it between your hands.

    Single ounce golfball sized round of masa dough.

    You'll need plastic on either side of the dough ball to prevent sticking and I find it's easiest to use a large Ziploc bag with the top cut off.

    Placing dough ball between ziploc sides.

    Place the dough ball between the two sides of the Ziploc and smoosh it with a flat-bottomed casserole dish (or skillet).

    Using casserole dish to flatten dough balls.

    I like to make these super thin and that can be easiest if you're using a dish, or skillet, that has a slightly convex bottom.

    You'll also know if the consistency of your dough is correct when you peel the plastic away.

    Peeling plastic away from flattened dough balls.

    If the dough sticks to the plastic then it's a bit too wet -- simply incorporate a dusting of Masa Harina to the dough before pulling off another round.

    These will need approximately 60 seconds per side to fully cook in a dry skillet or comal.  I put my stove at just over medium heat and this will have brown spots forming in about a minute.

    Corn tortilla puffing up in a small skillet.

    I usually use the quick flip method -- add the tortilla to a non-stick pan and once it starts sliding around (5-10 seconds) give it a flip and then cook each side until light brown spots are forming, approx. 60 seconds per side.

    This quick flip will help seal in some heat and cook the insides quicker, it will sometimes even puff up the tortillas if they are thin.  Note:  I use a pan with sloped edges so I can just use my fingers to slide up the tortilla and give it the quick flip.

    And that's homemade corn tortillas in a nutshell.  Easy right?

    So I went ahead and made the masa dough using each of our Masa Harina choices:

    Masa dough using three different masa harinas.

    From left to right:  Maseca, Bob's Red Mill, Gold Mine.

    But don't read into the color of the masa dough too much -- most of these producers will produce both white and yellow corn flour.  The yellow Masa Harina from Maseca is rare in my neck of the woods so I used white corn Maseca.

    And now the important part...taste testing corn tortillas made from the masa dough!

    Maseca, Bob's Red Mill, and Gold Mine Masa Harina tortillas.

    All three of these options will give you tortillas that are a step up from store-bought tortillas, but Bob's Red Mill was the clear winner in this batch.  It has a more savory and concentrated corn flavor and the tortillas made with Bob's were super satisfying hot off the skillet.

    Corn Tortilla made using Bob's Red Mill masa harina

    The tortillas made with Maseca and Gold Mine, while still tasty, seemed to have a milder flavor.

    I also had an easier time making the tortillas super thin using Bob's Red Mill.

    When you flatten the tortillas micro thin they will sometimes break apart when you pull the plastic off of them, but I found that this happened less often when using Bob's Masa Harina -- it just seemed to have a consistency that held together better.    You might notice this right off the bat as the granules of Bob's are a bit coarser out of the bag.

    Bob's Red Mill Masa Harina 1.5 lb. bag

    And what about the cost?

    Maseca is by far the best deal as it usually comes in 5 lb. bags for $6-10.   Bob's Red Mill was $4 in my local market for a 1.5 lb. bag.

    You'll get about 12 tortillas from 2 cups of Masa Harina, and there are 6 cups of Masa Harina in a 1.5 lb. bag, i.e. 36 tortillas.

    So yes, even Bob's which is the more expensive option comes in at $0.11 per tortilla -- yes, 11 cents!

    And they taste better than store-bought tortillas.  Tough beat to that combo eh?

    Take a bite out of a corn tortilla.

    Okay, keep an eye out for these different Masa Harinas in your neighborhood.  Yes, I will now choose Bob's Red Mill first and that is a change for me, but Maseca and Gold Mine are still going to make some tasty tortillas in your home kitchen.

    (Update:  I recently tested out the Masa Harina from Masienda and thought it was on par with Bob's Red Mill.  See the post here.)

    Here are some links to recipes on this site that use Masa Harina:

    Homemade Corn Tortillas

    Easy Tamales Recipe

    Gorditas Recipe

    And if you want more details on the masa world then I have a few more articles that will fill in the gaps.

    Homemade Masa Dough Using Yellow Field Corn

    Corn Tortillas Made With White Olotillo Corn

    Nixtamal

    What is Hominy?

    Buen Provecho!

     

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Chris

      December 27, 2022 at 3:34 pm

      Can I mix two brands of masa together?

      Reply
      • Patrick

        January 02, 2023 at 4:32 pm

        Yeah go for it Chris, should be fine. Cheers.

        Reply
    2. Tom Wirt

      August 10, 2021 at 7:39 am

      I accidentally fell into a rabbit hole a couple of days ago, sourdough tortillas. Turns out there is such a thing. I haven't worked out water-flour proportions since a lot of your water comes from the ory. Illa dough yes, you can use white flour starter or get a masa harina based starter which will be lots wetter, reducing the amount of water in mixing the final tortilla dough.

      Reply
    3. Melissa Morales-Rodriguez

      May 11, 2021 at 10:26 am

      Hi! Great post and details! I am hoping to male them tomorrow. Would tge tortillas be good from one day to the next? Would I be able to make a batch to give to a friend the following day?

      Reply
      • Patrick

        May 14, 2021 at 3:08 pm

        Hey Melissa! I think they are always best right off the stove, but they do keep for a few days in the fridge. Just be sure to recommend a reheat if you are giving them to a friend as that will bring them back to life. Cheers.

        Reply
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    Hey, I'm Patrick! I spent 2 years living in Cozumel and got obsessed with Mexican food. I built this site to share all the recipes and techniques I've learned along the way. Read More…

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