How to Make Tamale Dough

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You can use this easy tamale dough recipe with nearly any filling you wish. The masa dough goes well with meats and vegetables as well as sweet fillings. Try this dough out with your favorite filling.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

Medium sauce pan
Above ingredients
Large bowl
6 cups Instant Corn Masa Mix
1 cup lard
4 ½ cups stock
1 tsp. salt

Step1

In a large bowl, add the masa mix and the salt. Evenly distribute the salt into the masa mix.

Step2

In a medium sauce pan, heat the stock over medium-low heat. The stock should be lukewarm when you use it for the dough.

Step3

Slowly add the stock to the masa mix 1 cup at a time, mixing well with each addition. When you have finished adding all of the stock, the masa mix should have the consistency of a thick pudding. If the dough seems dry, add more warm stock to the dough and mix well. Set aside.

Step4

In a medium bowl, add the lard and beat the fat until it achieves a light fluffy texture. Whipping the lard makes for a lighter tamale dough.

Step5

In ¼-cup increments, add the whipped lard to the masa mix and incorporate well after each addition.

Step6

The dough should have a glossy paste consistency when all of the lard is added.

Step7

You can store the dough well-wrapped in a refrigerator for 2 to 3 days.

Tips & Warnings

Try adding spices, like garlic powder and chili powder, to the dry masa mix to give the basic tamale dough an interesting flavor.
If you wish, you can use other fats, such as butter, shortening or oil, in place of the lard in this recipe. A combination of butter and olive oil is lovely in this recipe, if not traditional.
Masa dough needs to be used within 3 days of making before the dough goes bad.
This recipe will make approximately 12 tamales. Tamales are best made in large batches, so feel free to double this recipe.
When making the tamale dough, pair the type of stock with the kind of filling in the tamale. For instance, use chicken stock if making chicken tamale and vegetable stock with vegetable tamale.