Pao de Queijo - Brazilian Cheese Bread
So yummy. So easy.
I recently found out that the cheese bread from Texas de Brazil (TdB) and Fogo de Chao etc. (Brazilian steak houses) is naturally gluten free! It has been a few years since I last went to TdB but I remember the cheese bread fondly.
It is made of tapioca flour - not wheat flour. It is soft, chewy and really good. When I say chewy I mean chewy! Sort of like fried cheese sticks - chewy in the middle, and crisp on the outside.
Here is the recipe I used - I modified it from another recipe.
Pao de Queijo - Brazilian Cheese Bread
Ingredients:
1/2 cup olive oil or butter
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp salt
2 cups tapioca flour
2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 eggs - beaten
Directions
-Preheat oven to 375.
-Heat butter/oil, water, milk and salt in a large saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Immediately when it comes to a boil remove and stir in flour until smooth.
-Stir in cheese and egg. It may be lumpy. Let rest for 15 minutes.
-Drop rounded tablespoons sized balls onto ungreased baking sheet.
-Baked until the tops are lightly browned - about 20-25 minutes.
Things that worked for me: I used a mix of butter and olive oil.
I had a hard time mixing the batter by hand so I stuck it in my Kitchen Aid mixer w/the dough hook - worked like a charm.
I used my Pampered Chef scoop sprayed with non stick spray to make the balls - it was a perfect tool and made for quick work - you could also use two spoons.
The original recipe called for much bigger balls/rolls - since I had bite sized rolls at TdB I wanted to recreate that - you could try it bigger if you wanted to - just adjust the cooking time.
These are great with dinner or would be a nice appetizer alone or w/with a dipping sauce (marinara?) Also - a purist may disagree - but I would think garlic or herbs would go well with it for something new.
Years ago I tried the frozen ones in a bag but when I checked the package they were made in Brazil and they had Maltodextrin in them - not safe enough for me now.
