This post is going to be about masa harina and how to use it in a gluten free diet. But first I have a story.
When we first started traveling full-time we spent several months in the Hill Country northwest of San Antonio. We were in a small town – so small that the grocery store did not even sell fresh meat. Good grocery stores are extremely high on my list of what makes a great RVing location, so I was ready to leave until we found out the local secret.
The sole culinary bright spot for miles around was a family run Mexican restaurant where they handmade their corn tortillas. The only problem was that the restaurant was so tiny, that it couldn’t even fit all of the local residents that wanted to eat there. There was a line out the door every Saturday morning for the breakfast taco specials! It’s no wonder they tried to keep the place a secret from the snowbirds.
Last night, as I was making homemade corn tortillas for my family, I was mentally drooling as I remember all of the meals we ate there and eventually my stream of consciousness daydreaming led me remembering that I’d never written a post about the key ingredient in corn tortillas: masa harina.
What The Heck Is Masa Harina?
Masa harina is corn flour. But not just any corn flour. It’s made from corn that has been soaked in lime water and then ground into “masa” and then dried to make “masa harina”.
The process of soaking the corn in lime makes the vitamin B3 that is bound up in the corn available for use in your body, and it improves the amino acid quality of proteins in the germ.* I know that corn often gets a bad rap, but if you are going to eat it (and my family does) masa harina is a better option than cornmeal, from a nutritional standpoint.
Another interesting effect of the soaking process is that the chemical changes increase the corn’s ability to absorb water. This is why you can make a dough out of masa, but not cornmeal. This increased absorption is very important when it comes to considering potential substitutions when masa harina is included in a gluten free flour mix. More on that below.
Where In The World Does One Buy Masa Harina?
Masa harina can be found in the Hispanic section of most grocery stores. Even stores that don’t usually carry gluten free ingredients, will carry masa harina if there is a Hispanic community in the area. As we’ve traveled around the U.S. we’ve only had trouble finding it in St. Louis, MO and in New England. If you’re in an area without a Hispanic community, then Amazon is your friend. This is what you’re looking for–Maseca brand – Instant Corn Masa Flour:
You do not want Maseca Instant Corn Masa Mix for Tamales (shown below):
Both of the Maseca options are certified gluten free, but the masa mix for tamales is more coarsely ground. You can make corn tortillas with it, but I find the dough a bit harder to work with.
Is Masa Harina Gluten Free?
Yes and no. Masa harina is a naturally gluten free food and the Maseca products are labeled gluten free. Last week I noticed that Walmart has now come out with their own Great Value brand of corn tortilla and flour tortilla flours. These ARE NOT labeled gluten free, so choose the Maseca even if it has a slightly higher price. Bob’s Red Mill also has a masa harina, but it is NOT produced in the gluten free facility.
In short: just buy the Maseca.
Now That I’ve Bought It, What Do I Do With It?
I use masa harina in my kitchen for three things:
- homemade corn tortillas
- masa porridge
- in my Gluten Free All Purpose Flour mix
Homemade corn tortillas are beyond anything that you can imagine if you’ve only ever eaten store-bought tortillas. Â Even if you can buy GF labeled corn tortillas, you should still make your own. At least occasionally. They are that good. Â There is a recipe on the back of the Maseca masa harina that I recommended above, but if you’d prefer to see how it’s done and learn to make gluten free flour tortillas, which are a bit more complicated, check out my .
Masa porridge is one of my go-to Gluten Free Breakfast Recipes for my kids. Â It is tasty and my 7 yr old can make it himself. Plus, since the masa has already been soaked, I don’t have to remember to soak the grains for the porridge, like I would if I were using any other gluten free grain. (If you’d like to hear more about why I would soak any other gluten free grain, leave a note to that effect in the comments. It’s too much to go into here.)
Lastly, masa harina is the 4th flour in my Gluten Free All Purpose Flour. When I was creating my flour mix year ago, Â I did not realize the genius of including masa harina. Â (Warning: I’m about to show my geekiness!) Because masa harina is so much more absorbent than other gluten free flours, adding it to the flour mix means that I can use less flour and more water. So, for 1 loaf of bread, I only have to use 12 oz of my flour mix, whereas I would need 15 oz. of any other GF flour mix. Â Pretty cool, huh?
What Is A Good Substitute For Masa Harina?
Coconut flour is the only other gluten free flour that I’ve used that is of a similar absorbency as masa harina. Â That is the only flour that I would recommend as a masa harina substitute. Â You can use other flours, but you would need to be comfortable with decreasing the liquids in the recipe by sight. I know most of my students are totally cool with doing that after a few classes, but if you’re new to gluten free baking, I wouldn’t try it.
Obviously, masa harina and coconut flour have very different flavors. So, if you need to use a substitute for masa harina in one of my recipes, consider what that flavor switch will do. Coconut flour will work just fine in some recipes, but in others you might not want that sweeter taste. Â I don’t find the masa harina to be strongly flavored, but others do. Â Just another example of how we all taste things differently, and that we can each choose the gluten free flours that we want to create a custom taste that we love =)
Your Assignment:
Go to the comments and tell me if you’ve ever had homemade corn tortillas or how you use masa harina in your kitchen.
Have you had trouble finding masa harina? Let me know below, so that I can make sure to stock up before we visit that area?
If you’ve not made corn tortillas, think about it. If your mind raises any objections, post them below. I’d love to be able to help you with those because I truly believe that a few homemade tortillas can bring much happiness into your life!
P.S. I’m planning to post my masa porridge recipe next.
(Note: If you are excluding corn from your diet, there is no need to give other people a hard time in the comments for not doing so!)
*Nourishing Traditions, p. 454
I have never made corn tortillas before I live in a really bad area for trying to get gluten free ingredients, so I normally just buy the stuff that is already mixed. I’m not sure if the store out here has masa harina but I wouldn’t hold my breath hoping that they do.
Thank you so much for posting this. I recently bought some Maseca. I thought it would be something new to try for my family that has recently gone gluten free. But I have been struggling because I didn’t know what to use it for or how. I am excited to look through more of your recipes and learn how to effectively utilize this new tool. 🙂
Great read! Thankyou!!
Absorption in the gut of healthy proteins
with gluten or wheat intolerance is a must!
Couldn’t agree more with the love of a homemade
gluten free corn tortilla .
Mary…. You a great cook ( we all need in our
kitchen) and your family is surely blessed
with commitments and love for all…
Including food!
Barbie
I have masa in my pantry and even have a tortilla press though I use it rarely. I am happy with the tortillas I can get at the Aldi’s chain. And there’s no trouble finding masa harina in the Finger Lakes area as the Wegman’s chain has several ethnic food aisles. I am from southern CA and grew up on Mexican food and have resorted to making my own tamales in desperation but have recently found decent ones that I can have delivered to my home in the Schwan’s truck.
I’ll give you a tip that I’ve just discovered: coconut oil is the bomb for frying up crispy and flavorful tortillas! It makes the best tacos and tostadas ever.
I have never had homemade corn tortillas. I use masa harina instead of gf flour to make cornbread. It works wonderfully, and the cornbread is moist and delicious!
I tried making corn tortillas with Bob’s corn flour. Heh, turned out more like corn pitas but tasted good. That’s when I found out I needed masa instead. Haven’t tried making them again yet. Quick question about the brand you recommend: Is it non-gmo corn? I’m picky about that.
Please help me make good gf flour without rice. Rice really nails me! Enterolab says there’s been a spike in rice sensitivity the last year, so I guess I have company, and others will be looking for rice-free flours, etc., too.
I found your information on soaking corn and the nutritional value very interesting. Does soaking grain ever lead to a loss of nutrition?
Wow, thanks for the mini lesson on masa harina, I like your detailed explanations.
It has been something I have wondered about but never took the time before to learn.
You are SO RIGHT ON about homemade tortillas! Once I realized how simple they are I make them all the time. My tortilla press sits at the ready on my counter. For lunch I can whip two of them out quickly and they are so warm and nummy! They keep really well if I want to make a larger batch to just have them on hand. I use the MaSeCa brand which I find in my all of the regular grocery stores (Arizona 🙂
I just made a tamale “bake” this week. LOVE the Masa Harina and would love to try more recipes. The tamale casserole is so easy and a perfect option when you want tamales but don’t want to go to all the work!
Tamales, tamales, tamales… or if you’re in a hurry and don’t feel like rolling and steaming, tamale pie. Ah, and gorditas (a sort of fat tortilla). You can form the dough into a pizza crust shape in a cast iron skillet, bake for about ten minutes and then top it with all sorts of goodies and back into the oven for about 15 minutes to make what my kids always referred to as a Mexican pizza. You can even use it to make a hot drink with milk called atole.
I use Maseca Masa to make gluten free empanada dough…I found a recipe online. I do have to use more water than the recipe calls for. I add enough water to make the dough pliable enough to hold together which I press in a tortilla press. Because they are time consuming to make, I make lots to freeze, then I take a few out at a time to fry. I make a curry beef stuffing and my hubby loves them. I’ve been meaning to try making tamales and maybe tortillas, but haven’t gotten around to it yet. I live in SF, so I have no problems finding the Maseca Masa.
I’ve bought the Maseca brand but my 1 local store that carries it decided to move it next to regular flour. Since neither come in sealed bags it becomes CC. I was really trying to get cornmeal to make a crust for tamale pie and this didnt cut it anyway.
I’ve been looking for an organic mesa harana mostly because I dont want gmo corn. Do you know where we might find this?
Apparently, even if organic, non-GMO corn is used in making Masa Harina, the government definition of “organic” doesn’t permit the process of making corn into masa (soaking and cooking, then soaking again in lime or lye, rinsing, removing the corn hull, then grinding while soft and drying into flour). Traditionally, the soft, ground corn was used immediately. See: http://www.purcellmountainfarms.com/Masa%20Harina.htm
I’d love to hear about soaking other gf grains. This is what I love about your blog, website, and classes–I learn so much!
Thank you! So glad I stumbled onto this page, I have celiac disease and so does my three year old, I was just recently diagnosed and my dad had given me masa harina and it has been sitting in my pantry because I had no idea what to do with it! I love and miss eating cream of wheat so I can’t wait to try this recipe, thank you again! I am going to make it tomorrow morning!
I have a wonderful recipe from a Mexican cookbook for meatballs using masa harina.
I need to make it again soon. Living in TX, I can get the Maseca brand.