What is Ultimate Corn Masa Crust? It is a crust that yours truly created a few years back. I wanted a crust with bits of corn, tender, versatile for savory pie crusts, hand pies, etc. With a few “bombs” my Ultimate Corn Masa Crust came to life and I LOVE it! Flour, corn masa, a little cornmeal, butter and pureed corn! Those little bits of corn in the crust make my heart sing.
Recently, this heavenly corn crust was used with Mexican Street Corn Hand Pies. However, it also is a fabulous tart crust for Heirloom Tomato Tart, Chicken Bacon Ranch, and Fried Green Tomato Tart. And my all time favorite, Tomato Bacon Zucchini Pie (and Tomato Bacon Zucchini Hand Pies).
Pictured Above: Tomato Bacon Zucchini Pie. Below: Chicken Bacon Ranch. But, don’t stop there, use your imagination, any type of veggie, meaty, savory pie or tart would welcome Ultimate Corn Masa Crust!
Three Steps for Ultimate Corn Masa Crust
- Combine all dry Ingredients.
- Cut in butter until crumbly pea-sized.
- Puree corn with water, stir into dry ingredients, the dough comes together and that’s it!
Dry ingredients above with butter cut in and crumbly. Pureed corn and water poured in all at once below.
And the finished dough below.
Another HUGE plus with this dough recipe is that it is easily adaptable to gluten free and vegan (Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 GF flour blend and Earth Balance Butter).
It’s now ready to be rolled out for your favorite savory pie, tart, galette, etc.
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Ultimate Corn Masa Crust
Ingredients
Extra Small Batch (one 9 to 10-inch tart pan)
- 2 tablespoons corn meal
- 1/2 cup masa
- 1/2 cup flour (gluten free or regular)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon sugar
- 1/3 cup butter (cut in pieces)
- 1/2 cup frozen corn (thawed)
- 1/3 cup cold water
Medium Batch (one 10-inch pie)
- 1/4 cup corn meal
- 3/4 cup masa harina
- 1-1/4 cups flour (gluten free or regular)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 cup butter (cut in pieces)
- 1 cup frozen corn (thawed)
- 1/2 cup cold water
Large Batch (16 hand pies/two 10-inch pies)
- 1/2 cup corn meal
- 1-1/2 cup masa harina
- 2-1/2 cups flour (gluten free or regular)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 cup butter (cut in pieces)
- 2 cups frozen corn (thawed)
- 1 cup cold water
Instructions
For 10-inch pie or Tart Crust
- In a large bowl, mix all dry ingredients to blend.
- Using a large tine fork, cut in butter until crumbly.
- In blender or food processor pulse corn and water together for a few seconds, and stir into crumbled mixture, it will come together easily to make a pliable ball. (Do not knead.)
- With extra masa (or flour) roll dough out to fit a 10-inch pie plate, fold under and crimp edges, and fill with favorite meat or vegetable filling (tomato-bacon, chili, empanada, shepherd's stew, etc.).
- Bake as directed for pie. *
For Hand Pies
- In a large bowl, mix all dry ingredients to blend.
- Using a large tine fork, cut in butter until crumbly.
- In blender or food processor pulse corn and water together for a few seconds, and stir into crumbled mixture, it will come together easily to make a pliable ball. (Do not knead.)
- Divide dough into 16 balls (a little larger than golf ball size).
- With extra masa or flour, roll each ball into a 5 to 5-1/4 inch circle.
- Fill with about 1/3 cup filling of choice. Fold over edges about 1/2 inch over filling, or accordion fold edges.
- Bake as directed per hand pie instructions. *
would this crust recipe work for a sweet galette? i would love to have a gf galette filled with peaches for a dinner party.
Yes! Sorry for such a LATE reply! When things hit the fan… However, back to the crust. I am a firm believer in corn lending itself to sweet things, as corn in itself has a lot of natural sugar and is sweet. Think cornbread, Johnny cake, etc.
Hi there, can’t wait to try this! Could this piecrust be deep-fried?
Yes it can. I have fried it before, but the results did not get posted to the blog as I was experimenting. Fry and be happy!
Hello Pie Lady. I have been looking for a savory pie crust recipe for years, and in my mind it would be somewhere between tamale wrap and papusas, but able to be filled and hold its shape for hand pies. If I left out the corn and sugar in your recipe, how much more water would you add? I’d like to make hand pies filled with cajun and tex mex fillings like jambalaya, or pulled pork, or a thick chili .
As the corn is the liquid, but also adds texture, I would need to experiment. My ratio for liquid is usually 1/2 cup liquid per every 2 cups dry. I would try that and then as you stir it with a fork, if there’s too much dry around bottom, add a 1 to 2 tablespoons cold water. Don’t worry about adding anything for omitting sugar.