Saturday, June 07, 2008

Pão de Queijo- Brazilian Cheese Buns


picture taken at El Rodizio, Madrid-Spain (12/25/07)

Last year, i had the BEST Christmas dinner EVER! JLo and I were in Madrid, and my aunt (who has been to Madrid a zillion times) made reservations for us at "El Rodizio" restruant. This place isn't just any ordinary res truant-- it was a Brazilian barbecue buffet (emphasizing on "Brazilian" and "buffet", haha). Back in Paraguay, we used to go to Brazilian barbecues almost all the time. What makes Brazilian buffets special is that the food comes to you rather than having to get up 2-3 times throughout the meal. There's tons of waiters walking around from table to table with huge skewers of meat (picture 1, picture 2, picture 3, picture 4). They serve different cuts of beef, pork, chicken, chorizo sausages...etc, and they ALL taste DIVINE! If you're not a meat person, no worries, you can always pig out at their crazy salad bar + Brazilian food buffet (picture 1, picture 2, picture 3). I can honestly say, without the slightest speck of hesitation, that South American barbecues are THE BEST. I can't even find words to describe how great it is so I'll stop here. Back to my Christmas dinner at "El Rodizio"-- I had like 3 rounds of buffet food... and what i mostly got were these cheese breads called: Pan de Queso (in Spanish), Pão de Queijo (in Portuguese), or Cheese buns (in English). I was overwhelmed with joy when i saw these. Ohhh, the good old Paraguayan days when i would pop these little buns like Skittles. Sigh... I couldn't help the nostalgia so I searched up a recipe and made them myself. And ohhh gosh... they tasted just like home :)

Pão de Queijo - Pan de Queso
from brazilcook.com
INGREDIENTS:
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/4 cup oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup tapioca or manioc starch(225 grams)
    (i used potato starch)
  • 1 egg
  • 100g of grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Bring to boil in a big pan the water, the milk, the oil and the salt.
  2. Remove the pan from the heat and add the tapioca starch. Mix well with a wooden spoon and let it cool down.
  3. Put the mixture in a bowl, add the eggs and knead well.
  4. Add the grated cheese and keep kneading until the dough is smooth.
  5. Roll 1 tablespoon of mixture into small balls.
    (Tip: Grease your hands with oil if it's too sticky.)
  6. Place the balls onto a greased baking tray.
  7. Bake the cheese buns in hot oven (350 degrees) for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.
  8. Put the cheese rolls in a basket and serve them warm.


Pão de Queijo - Pan de Queso - Cheese Buns

14 comments:

  1. I love these! Thanks for posting the recipe.

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  2. I like this bread alot.. but apparently i don't know what went wrong when i baked this.. it didn't fluff up as it should in the photo.. it sort of like ice melting in the oven...

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  3. @ Anonymous: I'm so sorry to hear that! I've made this recipe many times and they've all puffed up pretty well. Hmm, sounds like your mixture wasnt firm enough if it started to melt. Try adding more starch to it next time and see how that goes.

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  4. Great recipe! Unfortunately, I don't bake so I have to resort to getting my Brazilian Cheese Bun fix from bakeries. Thanks for sharing!

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  5. I'm in the process of making these now, but right away, I can say your dough mixture seems FAR DRYER than mine does.

    Are you sure your amounts are correct here? You've adapted from the other, larger recipe, but what I've got is a very gooey, gummy mess.

    What you've got in the photos is much chunkier and dryer.

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  6. If you're using potato starch, that could be why the density is different. May take more manioc starch to equal the same water absorption as potato starch?

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  7. Also, looking at your photos, you seemed to use Potato FLOUR rather than Potato STARCH.

    They're vastly different. This is why your dough sort of looks like mashed potatoes and my dough looked like slimey globs of snot once the egg was added.

    I'm going to try this recipe:

    http://southamericanfood.about.com/od/breads/r/paodequeijo.htm

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  8. @Anonymous: The original recipe calls for Tapioca/manioc starch, but potato STARCH is what i used-- I am pretty sure of that. Starch is lighter and gives the buns it's "bounciness". If you used potato FLOUR, then the dough'll probably turn out denser once baked.

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  9. dovresti correggere le quantità non sono proporzionate , soprattutto se usi la tapioca

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  10. hi angelica!i bought wayyy to much potato starch. what else can i make with it?

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  11. Fabulos! Lovin` it. My girlfriend and I loved it. My girlfriend took some to her mom when she came home.She almost kissed me when I opened the oven to take out the cheese breads. When my dad tried it,he asked "Did you make all of them for me"? he asked. No dad I made them for my girlfriend. Sincerly, My Capitalized Girlfriend & I.

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  12. oreo oreo yoka yoka dorato dorato ,

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  13. my mom's friend makes them and man there good.

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  14. my brother asked for the recipe ,but when he tried he failed.

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