How to Make Pão de Queijo (Brazilian Cheese Bread) Cooking Lessons from The Kitchn

By nanasally4

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups (10 ounces) tapioca flour or sour cassava flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 - 1 1/2 cups Parmesan cheese
• Equipment
• 2-quart saucepan
• Long-handled spoon
• Standing mixer with paddle attachment (or mixing bowl and elbow grease)

Details

Servings 1
Adapted from thekitchn.com

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 450°F. Line a baking pan with parchment and set aside.

1. Boil the Milk and Oil:

Combine the milk, oil, and salt in the saucepan, and whisking occasionally, bring it to a gentle boil over medium heat. Remove from heat as soon as you see big bubbles coming through the milk.

2. Add the Tapioca Flour:

Add all of the tapioca flour to the saucepan and stir until you see no more dry tapioca flour. The dough will be grainy and gelatinous at this point.

Transfer the dough to the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. (Alternatively, you can do the next few steps by hand. Be prepared for a work-out.) Beat the dough for a few minutes at medium speed until it smooths out and has cooled enough that you can hold your finger against the dough for several seconds.

4. Beat in the Eggs:

Whisk the eggs together in a small bowl. With the mixer on medium, beat the eggs into the dough in two additions. Wait until the first addition has been fully incorporated into the dough before adding the second. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

5. Beat in the Cheese:

With the mixer on medium, beat in the cheese until fully incorporated. The resulting dough will be very sticky, stretchy, and soft with a consistency between cake batter and cooke dough.

Transfer the sheet with the puffs to the oven and immediately turn down the heat to 350°F. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the puffs have puffed, the outsides are dry, and they are just starting to color. Cool briefly and eat. Leftover puffs can be kept in an airtight container for up to a week and re-crisped in a warm oven or toaster oven.

Sour cassava flour or sour tapioca flour can be tricky to find in the United States. Look for it at Latin American markets. Plain tapioca flour lacks the slight sour, fermented flavor, but makes a fine substitute. You can find plain tapioca flour from Bob's Red Mill at most natural foods stores.