Pão de Queijo

It doesn’t take much to realize that the title of this post is not in English. And to figure out the language and country of this food. I’ll give you the flag of the country.

If you guessed Brazil, you’re right. Pão de queijo translates to ‘bread of cheese’ or ‘cheese bread’ in English. But before you go picturing the Parm bites from Domino’s or Pollock’s garlic and cheese bread sticks, these cheese buns are gluten-free. Brazilians make them with no flour, while recipes in English call for some tapioca starch or “polvilho azedo.”

I heard about pão de queijo from two friends: one lives in Brazil and the other was a missionary in Brazil. As I started learning Portuguese, along with the help of Google Translate, I became fascinated with two things: pão de queijo and abacaxí (pineapple). My Brazilian friend explained what they are and how they taste to me, in Portuguese, so some of the words get lost in translation.

Being a roast food, it forms a crust on the outside, but it does not get hard enough to crack (or crumble) when it bites. However, if the outside is crusty, the inside is soft; the filing is almost like clay. It’s cool that the shells on the outside may be cold, but the inside may be very hot.”

I asked my missionary friend about pão de queijo, and he said that you could buy frozen ones, just like we buy frozen bread dough. There’s also a place, Casa do Pão de Queijo, where you can buy fresh “cheese bread” with fillings such as chocolate or doce de leite (caramel).

The ingredients to Brazilian pão de queijo are Parmesan cheese, eggs, milk, oil, water, and salt. A recipe I found online calls for tapioca starch, milk, oil, water, eggs, salt, and cheese. The steps of making this savory bread are still the same.

Melt the milk, oil, water, salt on the stove-top. Then add in the flour, if you’re using it, and stir until smooth, just like making a choux pastry. Let it cool. Then add in the eggs and cheese and mix until a dough forms. Scoop the dough into your hand and shape into rolls. Bake on an ungreased baking sheet at 375 for 15-20 until lightly browned. Click here to go the recipe I found in English.

This is eaten during breakfast or as a snack throughout the day.

This Brazilian recipe originates in the south of Brazil, from the state of Minas Gerais. My Brazilian friend’s mother is from that state, so she makes very traditional pão de queijo. The story has it that African slaves created this traditional food, just like they did with many other foods.

This is the first of five foods around the world that I would love to try. From my two friends who have had them, pão de queijo seems like such a great treat to have, especially ones that have fillings in them.

In the next couple of weeks, I’ll continue showing you different foods native to their home country, just as pão de queijo is to Brazil. If I ever have the chance to go to Brazil, I’m definitely going to have some pão de queijo.

One thought on “Pão de Queijo

  1. I really enjoyed reading about this Brazilian snack. As a person who isn’t too fond of cheese, most things I can’t help but shudder at, but your keen interest and passion in learning about this delicacy shined through. You provided a lot of key information about it: the fact that it’s gluten free, its recipe, history, and most importantly, your personal interest in it. That kind of passion is enough to draw any person in. You also managed to smoothly include details about yourself, pictures of the pao de queijo and relate it to your readers, who probably only mostly know about Domino’s or food from the commons. All in all, I really enjoyed this, keep up this style. : )

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