Why does my corn flour dough feel like wet sand?
I did corn dough empanadas and the dough felt almost like wet sand and was tearing apart in my hands, impossible to shape up.
What should I do better next time ?
I followed this simple receipe:
2 1/2 cup (290 g) corn flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup warm water (plus a splash or two of water)
2 teaspoons olive oil
I tried to add more water and/or more flour and it was the same.
I finally added weat flour to save the day as the clock was ticking but I really wished I could land that dough.
edit: I used the parchemin paper technique for shaping and it went well.
I really wonder about the texture of raw dough not about shaping technique. I couldn't achieve any of the shaping steps with my dough.
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Corn masa is what you need for this.
The process of nixtamalization makes the corn more easily ground and therefore the texture of doughs made with it will not be "gritty" in the way that a dough made with corn meal or corn flour will be.
Also, corn masa (or masa harina) is more nutritious than standard corn products due to the chemical changes that result from the nixtamalization process.
Corn flour is known in the US as cornstarch, it's not the right thing at all. You want corn meal. Corn starch is used as a thickening agent, it's not something you could use to make a dough. Depending on where you are in the world corn meal may be called Polenta or Masa if it's not called corn meal.
Just a few weeks ago, I was trying to make empenadas with a corn dough, and the dough didn't quite come together (as it was way too wet and sticky, even after I let it sit and hydrate for a while). I'm not sure what I did wrong, But I also had problems with shaping them. I got around the issue with the following technique:
Cut up a large zip-top plastic bag so you have a sheet of heavy plastic.
Spread the dough/batter onto the plastic
Place a spoonful of filling on the dough.
Use the plastic to wrap the dough around the filling. (pull one side over, peel it back, pull the opposing side over, repeat for the top & bottom).
Transfer to the baking sheet
Repeat 2 through 5.
Bake
It didn't look empenada-like. It was more like a naked tamale, as with the consistency of my dough, I didn't trust it to have the lip on it. I ended up frying them, as I already had oil going (and the oven was taken up by something that fell apart when frying).
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