250 g queijo minas meia-cura (semi-cured Minas cheese)
Method
01
Boil the liquids Put the milk, water, oil and salt in a saucepan and bring it to a full rolling boil over medium heat.
02
Scald the starch Put the sour cassava starch in a large bowl, pour the boiling liquid over it all at once, and mix hard with a wooden spoon until no dry powder is left. It will look lumpy and crumbly, which is correct.
03
Let it cool Leave the mixture to cool until it is warm but comfortable to touch.
04
Preheat the oven Heat the oven to one hundred eighty degrees Celsius and line two baking trays with baking paper or lightly grease them.
05
Add the eggs Add the beaten eggs a little at a time, working each addition in with your hands until the dough is smooth before adding more.
06
Knead in the cheese Add the grated cheese and knead for about five minutes until the dough is smooth, soft and slightly sticky and holds its shape.
07
Shape the balls Rub a little oil on your hands and roll the dough into balls about the size of a walnut, placing them on the trays with a gap of about three centimetres between each one.
08
Bake Bake for about twenty five minutes, until the rolls have puffed up and are light golden on the bottom and lightly coloured on top.
09
Rest and serve Let them sit on the tray for a few minutes, then serve warm with coffee.
Small baked cheese breads from Minas Gerais, made with sour cassava starch and cured Minas cheese, crisp outside and chewy inside. They are eaten all over Brazil at breakfast and with the afternoon cafezinho.
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Method
1
Boil the liquids
Put the milk, water, oil and salt in a saucepan and bring it to a full rolling boil over medium heat.
It must be properly boiling, not just hot. The heat partly cooks the starch and that is what makes the bread puff and stay chewy.
Boil the liquids · 5 min
2
Scald the starch
Put the sour cassava starch in a large bowl, pour the boiling liquid over it all at once, and mix hard with a wooden spoon until no dry powder is left. It will look lumpy and crumbly, which is correct.
If you cannot find sour cassava starch, use plain tapioca starch, but expect smaller, denser rolls. Mixing half sour and half sweet starch also works.
3
Let it cool
Leave the mixture to cool until it is warm but comfortable to touch.
If the dough is still hot when the eggs go in, they will scramble.
Let it cool · 15 min
4
Preheat the oven
Heat the oven to one hundred eighty degrees Celsius and line two baking trays with baking paper or lightly grease them.
5
Add the eggs
Add the beaten eggs a little at a time, working each addition in with your hands until the dough is smooth before adding more.
6
Knead in the cheese
Add the grated cheese and knead for about five minutes until the dough is smooth, soft and slightly sticky and holds its shape.
If the dough is too stiff to roll, add a tablespoon of milk. If it is too runny, it needs a little more starch. If you cannot find Minas cheese, use half Parmesan and half a mild semi-hard cheese.
Knead in the cheese · 5 min
7
Shape the balls
Rub a little oil on your hands and roll the dough into balls about the size of a walnut, placing them on the trays with a gap of about three centimetres between each one.
Shaped balls freeze very well. Freeze them on a tray, then bag them, and bake straight from frozen with five to ten minutes extra.
8
Bake
Bake for about twenty five minutes, until the rolls have puffed up and are light golden on the bottom and lightly coloured on top.
Do not open the oven in the first fifteen minutes or they can collapse.
Bake · 25 min
9
Rest and serve
Let them sit on the tray for a few minutes, then serve warm with coffee.