Pão de Queijo: Brazilian Cheese Bread

Cleo Santos was the organist I hired at the Sunrise Presbyterian Church in 2000.  She was from Brazil and provided me with a recipe for Brazilian Cheese Bread.  Brazil is well-known for its pão de queijo, which is a cheese roll with soft chewy center.

Pão de queijo smell wonderful when they are baking, and plump up into perfectly round balls. This recipe calls for regular farmer’s cheese but if you can find the Brazilian cheese queijo minas in your local Brazilian market, your pão de queijo will be even more authentic. Otherwise, any firm, fresh cow's milk cheese will work well in this recipe.

The recipe calls for tapioca flour, also known as tapioca starch, which is a white flour that has a slight sweet flavor to it.  Tapioca flour is extracted from the South American cassava plant.

Ingredients

·         2 cups whole milk

·         Salt (to taste)

·         1/2 cup vegetable oil

·         8 tablespoons butter (melted)

·         4 1/4 cups tapioca flour

·         4 eggs

·         2 cups grated farmer's cheese (or any firm, fresh cow's milk cheese)

·         Optional: 1/4 cup cheddar cheese (grated)

Steps to Make It

1.     Preheat the oven to 350 F.

2.     Mix milk, salt, vegetable oil, and butter in a pot, and bring to a boil. As soon as it boils, remove from heat.

3.     Stir tapioca flour into the milk and butter mixture.

4.     Stir in the eggs and the cheese, and mix well.

5.     Let mixture cool for 15 to 30 minutes so that it will be easier to handle. (You can chill it in the refrigerator for 15 minutes or so).

6.     With floured (tapioca flour) hands, shape the dough into golf ball-size balls and place them on a baking sheet.

7.     Bake rolls for 20 to 25 minutes, until they are puffed up and golden. They will rise slowly and puff up mostly in the last 5 or 10 minutes.

8.     Serve warm.