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What is Masa Harina?

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Spend some time on our site and you’re bound to come across Masa Harina in a recipe, but what exactly is it?

Masa Harina is dried corn dough and is sometimes referred to as corn flour.  Here’s a pic of the most common brand you’ll find in the States:

Authentic Mexican Cooking Ingredients Part II mexicanplease.com

What is Masa Harina?

To fully understand where Masa Harina comes from it’s helpful to go back to the source.  Take a look at this pic from a supermarket in Cozumel:

Homemade Corn Tortillas so easy! mexicanplease.com

Cozumel, Mexico — Photo by Chloe Miller

That’s the corn dough used to make fresh tortillas.  Dried corn is soaked in calcium hydroxide and then put through a fine-grade grinder to make the corn dough — this is then used to make the morning batch of tortillas that you can buy in the markets of Cozumel (for less than a buck!).

If you dehydrate this corn dough you’ll get corn flour, or Masa Harina.   Make sense?

Then all you have to do is add water to the Masa Harina and presto you’ve got some corn dough at home (also sometimes referred to as masa dough).

You can find Masa Harina in most supermarkets these days, and if not there then you’ll definitely find it at Latin or gourmet markets.

Here are the most common brands of Masa Harina you’ll find:

Maseca, Bob's Red Mill, and Gold Mine masa harina comparison.

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

So how do I use it?

The most common use is for Homemade Corn Tortillas.   All you need is 2 cups of Masa Harina, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1.5 cups of warm water.

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

You can see all the details for this process in our corn tortillas post, but basically you are just rehydrating the Masa Harina into a cohesive dough:

Homemade Corn Tortillas so easy! mexicanplease.com

And then flattening golfball sized rounds of this dough using a tortilla press, or even a flat-bottomed casserole dish:

Homemade Corn Tortillas so easy! mexicanplease.com

Cook these for 1-2 minutes per side over medium-high heat and you’ve got some real deal tortillas on your hands.

Homemade Corn Tortillas so easy! mexicanplease.com

Yum!

We also use Masa Harina when making homemade masa.  If you take the shortcut of using a food processor to grind your masa then you’ll need to dry out the dough before using it.  Adding some Masa Harina is the perfect way to do this.  (More details in our Masa Dough post.)

This masa dough is a great starting point for homemade corn tortillas, tamales, and pupusas. We're taking a shortcut by using a food processor to grind the corn and so far the results are fantastic! mexicanplease.com

You can also use Masa Harina to make tamales and gorditas at home.  Gorditas are masa cakes that are a bit thicker than traditional tortillas.

Got more questions about Masa Harina?  Here are some other posts on my site to fill in the gaps (links include recipes):

Homemade Corn Tortillas

Organic Masa Harina Options

Easy Tamales

Gorditas 

Homemade Masa Dough

Corn Tortillas Using Homemade Masa Dough

Corn Tortillas Made With White Olotillo Corn

Buen Provecho.

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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

 

Update:  I recently made a batch of Masa Harina Cornbread and thought it was awesome. 

I used Masa Harina instead of cornmeal in this batch of cornbread and it was delicious! I also used chipotles in adobo for some kick 🙂 mexicanplease.com

 

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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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