How to make the easiest gluten free cheese bread (Brazilian style)

Pão de queijo or Brazilian cheese bread is a tasty gluten free treat. It’s a popular snack food that is usually eaten straight out of the oven accompanied by strong, sweet black coffee. 

Some traditionalists may cringe when they see this recipe, but it is the easiest way to make pão de queijo as you don’t have to roll neat little balls of dough.  This recipe uses a blender and is fast and efficient then you simply pour the batter into a muffin tray to be placed in the oven. Perfect for the busy mama or for someone that is starting out on a gluten free diet.

There are several different recipes where the ingredients and the type of cheese vary as well as the final result. This particular recipe uses tasty cheese to make a chewy cheese bread. You can also use mozzarella and parmesan cheese. In Brazil the more traditional ripened cheese is used.

The people from the state of Minas Gerais will happily argue that they make the best pão de queijo in Brazil 🙂

This recipe makes approximately 20 pão de queijo. First pre-heat the oven to 200 °C.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of milk
• 1/2 cup of olive oil
• 1 egg
• salt to taste
• 400 grams of grated tasty cheese
• 1/2 kg of tapioca flour

1. Place milk, olive oil, egg and salt to taste in a blender.
2. Add tapioca flour.
3. Blend on slow speed until you have a smooth mixture.
4. Place 1/2 of the grated cheese into the blender. Mix on slow speed. At this moment it doesn’t matter if the mixture is a little lumpy with cheese. Place in a bowl.
5. This is the moment where you can personalise your cheese bread. Traditionally, it would be placed straight into the oven. In this recipe, we added chopped olives, dried tomatoes and oregano. Cheese Lovers: Top the batter with extra cheese.
6. Pour batter into greased muffin tin.

Place in oven for approximately 30 minutes (200 °C). If you find that you have too much batter, simply pop it in the fridge for the next day.

• Start brewing some coffee.
• After 30 minutes, remove from oven.

Pão de queijo are at their crunchiest best when they are still warm from the oven. Eat and enjoy.

Pão de queijo soften over night. Store them in an airtight container in the fridge.

Tapioca flour is made from manioca/cassava. Tapioca flour is found cheap in most Asian supermarkets.  You can either use sweet or sour tapioca flour.