Pão de Queijo -- Brazilian Cheese Puffs
Date: 2011-01-01
Makes about 30 balls (?)
Based on:
 http://www.food.com/recipe/pao-de-queijo-cheese-puffs-brazilian-68293, 
 http://www.sonia-portuguese.com/recipes/pqueijo.htm

These turn out much like gougeres, and were very popular.

Using a Kitchen-Aide stand mixer makes the mixing/kneading process
easy.  Since Manioc has no gluten, extended kneading won't cause it to
get tough or chewy like bread dough.

Cooling the mixture before adding Eggs prevents them from setting up.
The dough is very wet, almost batter-like; chilling should help in
forming the balls, but we ended up dolloping with a disher -- they
puffed up into beautiful rounds.

The commercial ones are a bit gooey in the center.  My first ones
(350F for 20 minutes) came out crispy on the outside and partly hollow
in the center. After chilling, I baked in a convection oven at 350F,
but you could use conventional at 375F or 400F.

1 1/2	cup	Milk
1/2	cup	Butter (1 stick, 8 Tbs, 1/4 pound)
1 1/2	tsp	Salt
3	cup	Manioc Starch, sour
2 1/4	cup	Grated Cheese (mixture of Parmesan, Mozzarella, Mexican farmer)
3	whole	Eggs, beaten

Bring Milk, Butter, Salt to boil.
Pour mixture into Kitchen Aide mixer bowl with paddle.
Slowly mix in Manioc Starch, increase speed and mix thoroughly.
Allow to cool.
Mix in Cheese, Eggs; knead until smooth.
Chill to make it easier to form into balls.

Preheat oven to convection 350F (or 375-400F conventional).
Grease or line baking sheets with silpats.

Use a #70 disher or tablespoon to scoop out ball or dollops.
Place balls or drop dollops onto nonstick sheetpan.
Bake at 350F for about 20 minutes, until golden brown.

Serve hot immediately.

Next time, try a hotter oven to get more browing, while leaving the
center a bit more gooey.


2012-03-03 Simple Blender recipe

This recipe is insanely easy, no boiling the liquid and burning out
motors blending in the tapioca starch. The surface doesn't come out
quite as crusty as the naked-baked ones above but it's so easy you can
do it in 30 minutes, start-to-finish, without using the stovetop. You
only need a blender, and a couple mini-muffin tins, and an oven.

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/easy_brazilian_cheese_bread/

1               egg
1/3     cup     olive oil
2/3     cup     milk
1 1/2   cups    tapioca flour / manioc starch (170 grams)
1/2     cup     (packed, about 66 grams) grated cheese (queso fresco preferred)
1       tsp     salt

Preheat oven to 400F (375F convection).
Grease two 12-cell mini-muffin tins (about 1 1/2 inch diameter holes).
Blend all ingredients in a blender.
Pour into muffin tins.
Bake 15-20 minutes until golden to golden brown.

The center should be slightly gummy, not completely dry, similar to a
pop-over or gougere.