Matteo Cooks - Masa & Dough
Masa & Dough: The Hands That Shape the Meal
Ciao Ragazzi. Before fire, before flavor, before anything else, there is the dough. In Mexico, it is masa. In Italy, it is flour and water, eggs or olive oil. But the idea is the same. Hands pressing, shaping, turning something soft into something strong. Bread, pasta, tortillas—this is where cooking begins. It is where patience lives. It is where respect is earned.
Masa: The Taste of the Earth
Masa is not just ground corn. It is history. It is the smell of a mill grinding nixtamal, the sound of hands pressing dough into a perfect round. It is a tortilla puffing on a comal, soft but strong, ready to hold something beautiful. Good masa smells like rain, like warm stone, like the fields where the corn grew. It is not just an ingredient. It is a foundation.
The Ritual of Dough
In Rome, my grandmother made pasta by hand. No machines. Just flour, eggs, a wooden board and time. In Mexico, it is the same with masa. You press, you stretch, you feel when it is right. A machine can do the work, but it does not understand. Dough must be touched. It must be known. This is why food made by hand tastes better. Because hands remember what the mind forgets.
Strength & Softness
Good dough is both strong and soft. A tortilla must hold its shape but fold without breaking. A tamal must be tender, but firm enough to wrap. A good pasta dough must stretch but never tear. This is the balance. Too much flour, too dry. Too much water, too weak. You must learn to feel it. Not just see it. Not just measure it. Feel it.
Cooking with Time
Masa rests before it is pressed. Dough rests before it is shaped. If you rush, you ruin it. People today want speed. They want shortcuts. But food does not work that way. Good dough takes time. It needs patience, warmth, breath. It is alive in your hands. Treat it well and it gives you everything.
The Soul of the Meal
A taco is only as good as its tortilla. A meal is only as good as the hands that made it. In Mexico, in Italy, anywhere in the world—this is true. If you respect the dough, you respect the meal. This is where real food begins. Simple. But never easy.