Easy Pão de Queijo
Photography by Simeon Crofts
DIETARY – Gluten-free, Vegetarian, Nut-free
Also known as Brazilian cheese bread, pão de queijo is a small, naturally gluten-free baked cheese bun similar to French gougère but made with tapioca flour. Pão de queijo is a traditional Brazilian snack food with a golden crust encasing a light, fluffy middle stringy with melted cheese and with a distinct tangy flavour, often washed down with a cup of coffee at breakfast-time. You can sometimes find them frozen in the supermarket, but they’re so easy and so delicious to make from scratch that I highly recommend you give it a go.
Pão de queijo is frequently made with a combination of mozzarella and Parmesan cheese but the traditional cheese to use is a handmade Brazilian cows’ milk cheese called quijo minas. If you want to make this recipe with another type of grated cheese such as Cheddar or 100% mozzarella, it does still work well, but you won’t have the same tart, sharp taste as you do from using a combination of mozzarella and Parmesan. Whatever cheese you use, the result promises to be lip-smackingly sumptuous.
The culinary roots of this cheesy bun can be traced back to the state of Minas Gerais in south-east Brazil. Originally the bread was made by slaves brought over from Africa in the 1600s, who discovered the land was not suitable for cultivating grains traditionally used in bread-making, so they turned to soaking and peeling cassava roots to produce a starchy pulp that could be pounded and used to make small balls of bread (sans cheese) to supplement their meagre diets. Over time the recipe has evolved into the cheesy, indulgent bread it’s seen as today, but it’s still simple at its heart, and easy to make even for a beginner baker.
Tapioca flour is derived from the roots of a cassava plant native to South America and the Caribbean that has been washed, shredded, spun, dehydrated and ground into a naturally allergen-free flour suitable for those with celiac disease or an allergy/intolerance to gluten, nuts and grains. Thanks to its starchy properties, tapioca flour is frequently used in gluten-free baking for its binding and thickening qualities, and is particularly effective when combined with other gluten-free flours such as rice flour and potato starch. Sometimes you will see tapioca flour referred to as tapioca starch, which is usually the same thing, though if you see a bag of cassava flour on the shelf, this is not the same thing and cannot be used as a direct replacement. This is because cassava flour is made from the whole root of the tuber, whereas tapioca flour is made from only the starchy part of the plant.
There are many suggestions on the internet that you can swap tapioca flour for cornflour or cornstarch when making pão de queijo, but I can confirm after two failed test batches that this does not work. You’ll be left with a flat, wet, unpleasant mess! Tapioca flour can be a little tricky to source in the UK (try Amazon, Holland & Barrett or your local health food shop) but it is readily available at most supermarkets and health food stores in the US, Canada and Australia. Though the cheese breads are truly wonderful eaten on their own, you can also enjoy mopping up soup with a couple or spreading with butter or chutney as part of a cheeseboard.
Easy Pão de Queijo
Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil, plus extra for greasing
- 1 cup whole milk
- 25g butter
- 300g tapioca flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 95g grated mozzarella
- 30g grated Parmesan (or alternate vegetarian hard cheese)
Method:
- Grease two 12-hole muffin tins (or use one like I did and bake a second batch after the first) with a little vegetable oil, or alternatively, line a baking tray with parchment paper. Pre-heat the oven to 190°C (170°C Fan)/375°F/Gas Mark 5.
- Add the vegetable oil, milk and butter to a small pan and heat gently until just boiling, stirring once or twice as it warms.
- In a separate bowl, measure out your tapioca flour and salt.
- Using a stand mixer or electric hand mixer, add the melted butter mixture to your flour and whip on medium speed until combined – I like to mix for a couple of minutes. The batter will seem quite stiff and should be pale, smooth and stringy.
- Add the beaten eggs and continue to mix for a minute or two – the batter will become smoother and more pliable.
- Finally, add your grated cheeses and mix until completely combined. The batter should be thick and sticky, able to hold its shape when scooped out with a spoon. If it’s runny, simply pop into the fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes, and it will firm up.
- Using a spoon, scoop out roughly 1.5 tbsp of mix into each muffin tin hole. You can dip your spoon into boiling water in between each scoop to help the dough slide off easier. If you want more of a round finish to your pão de queijo, dip your finger into some warm water and smooth over the top of the dough. This won’t affect the taste, of course, but you will achieve more of an authentic sphere shape when the buns are cooked.
- Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until puffed up and golden. They should be firm to the touch on the outside and sound hollow when tapped.
- Take your pão de queijo out of the oven and leave to cool in the tin for a couple of minutes before transferring to a plate or bowl. They are ready to eat within 5 minutes of coming out of the oven and are truly at their best when devoured warm on the day you make them.