Brazilian Cheese Ballsprep time: 25 minutescook time: 30 minutesservings: 25 - 30 cheese balls
- prep time: 25 minutes
- cook time: 30 minutes
- servings: 25 - 30 cheese balls
Delicious, cheesy dough balls with a special ingredient: tapioca starch!
Last modified: 08/11/2020
Today we have for you Guga's famous pão de queijo. In case you do not know Guga, he has two Youtube channels, Guga Foods and Sousvide Everything, where he cooks and experiments with all things meat. He has some great tips on how to prepare and grill meat, so make sure to check out his channels! One of our favorite videos is the "how to butcher picanha" video, where he explains in detail how to cut the most amazing steaks out of a piece of picanha. If you have not had these, you are missing out!
However, Guga also makes great sauces and side dishes. One of them are pão de queijo, which originate from Brazil. Instead of regular flour, these cheese balls are made with tapioca starch, an ingredient which cannot be replaced by any other kind of flour. Tapioca starch is not very commonly found in your regular supermarket, so we just order ours from Amazon.
Start of by mixing the tapioca starch with the salt in a large mixing bowl. Pour the milk and a neutral vegetable oil in a pan and heat over low to medium heat until the mixture starts bubbling. Add the liquid to your dry ingredients and carefully mix (the flour can be a bit dusty) until the dough comes together. At this point, the dough will pull strings from the side of the bowl and be quite hot. Let the dough cool slightly, until it is safe to add the eggs, and mix until incorporated. Add the grated cheeses, Parmesan and low-moisture mozzarella, in batches and mix until everything is well combined.
At this point, preheat your oven on the circulating air setting at 160 degrees Celsius. Prep a baking tray with parchment paper or a silicon mat and using two table spoons, drop golf ball-sized dollops of dough on the tray.
Do not worry, these do not have to look perfect, just make sure that you leave enough space between them. They go into the oven for about 30 minutes, until they have risen and are nicely browned. After baking, let them cool a bit before eating, but these are in fact best eaten warm.
Due to the tapioca starch, these dough balls turn out to be way chewier than regular dough balls, what makes them weirdly highly addictive. And they have a nice cheese pull to them when tearing them apart fresh out of the oven.
I like to enjoy mine plain and dipping them into Ranch dressing, or you can serve them as miniature burgers with your favorite cut of meat and sauce. This time round we had them with a homemade chimichurri sauce and of course picanha, reverse-seared to medium on our Weber.
Tip: Do not, whatsoever, use pre-grated Parmesan cheese. Buy a piece of good quality hard Italian cheese and freshly grate it at home. It will taste just so much better than using the packaged stuff.
prep time: 25 minutes cook time: 30 minutes servings: 25 - 30 cheese balls
- 625 g tapioca starch
- 2 large eggs
- 480 g of whole milk
- 120 g vegetable oil
- 30 g salt
- 225 g low-moisture mozzarella cheese
- 100 g freshly-grated Parmesan
Preheat your oven to the circulating air setting at 160 degrees Celsius.
Mix the tapioca starch and the salt in a large bowl. Pour the milk and vegetable oil in a pan and carefully heat the mixture on low to medium heat until it starts bubbling. Add the liquid mixture to your dry ingredients and mix carefully until well combined. The dough will be pulling strings from the side of the bowl at this point. Let the mixture slightly cool until it is safe to add both eggs and mix until combined. Afterwards, add both cheeses in batches and mix well.
Add parchment paper or a silicon mat to a baking sheet and by using two tablespoons, drop golf balls-sized dough balls on the sheet. Make sure to leave enough space between them. Bake for about 30 minutes, until they are round and browned.
Enjoy the cheese balls plain, dip them in ranch dressing, or make miniature burgers out of them.