Easy Brazilian Cheese Bread (No Oil)
A cheesy puff bread, crisp yet with a soft chewy porous centre that soaks up curries and stews wonderfully. Super easy and made with absolutely no oil.
Servings: 6 portions
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup tapioca flour
- 2/3 cup all purpose flour
- 150 ml milk ~175g
- 2 eggs ~ 98g without shell
- 1/2 cup shredded cheese
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- Optional: more cheese for topping
Instructions
- Put tapioca flour, milk, eggs and salt in a blender and pulse till smooth ~ 30 seconds.
- Add in the cheese and pulse just a few times to blend it in. You would want the cheese to still be chunky and not completely mixed in.
- Pour the batter into the cupcake tin, filling each mould almost fully. Optional: sprinkle more shredded cheese on top of the batter and bake @ 180C for 15 min until fully risen and golden brown. Serve immediately.
Video
Notes
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This Brazilian Cheese Bread can be prepared in just 3 simple steps:
Step 1 - Mix all the ingredients (except the cheese) in the blender until smooth.
Step 2 - Add in the cheese and pulse just a few times so that it is still chunky.
Step 3 - Pour into cupcake moulds, top with more cheese (optional) and bake @180C for 15 minutes until fully risen & golden and serve immediately.
Note 1: Equipment - the key to success for this recipe is essentially a good blender or food processor. A good blender does all the work and makes this Brazilian Cheese Bread a quick, easy and No Fail recipe.
Note 2: Type of flour - I substituted half of the tapioca flour with all purpose flour in this recipe to get the texture that I like. Tapioca flour gives the cheese bread that chewiness but using 100% tapioca flour made it too gooey for our taste. To make it gluten free, I also tried substituting using rice flour instead of wheat flour but sadly the rice flour was not able to give it that structure and only made it more dense which was a FAIL. Thankfully today, one has the luxury of wheat flour which was not available during that time to the folks when Brazilian Cheese Bread was created; so by all means, use 100% tapioca flour or tweak the proportion with wheat flour, a little more, a little less, if you like a more chewy texture. For the Sugar Crumble household, a 1:1 ratio of tapioca and wheat flour is our sweet spot.
Note 3: Type of cheese - I used red and white cheddar for this recipe but any combination of cheese can work. Mozzarella melted would give it a soft cheesy centre whilst Monterey Jack, cheddar, parmesan, gouda or even blue cheese adds a nice salty bite with a bite of oomph. I usually like to sprinkle a lot more cheese on top just before baking, in fact we like it the cheesier the better! Whatever the combination, go with your preference - be generous and add with exuberance!
Note 4: Oil or no oil? - When I first tried the Tiktok recipe, it called for 1/3 cup oil which turned out to be way too much. As I adapted this recipe, I decided to replace the oil with more milk to make it completely oil free and the cheese bread turned out beautifully. The moisture in this Brazilian Cheese Bread comes mainly from the fats in the eggs and cheeses and we like it that way. The only caveat may be that because this Brazilian Cheese Bread is oil free, it doesn’t store well as the cheese bread does not stay as moist when re-heated. Which is why we only serve this Brazilian Cheese Bread freshly baked! (See Note 5 and 6) If you would like to add a little oil, simply reduce the milk by the same amount.
Note 5: Make ahead - this Brazilian Cheese Bread is a great make ahead. The batter can be easily prepped a couple of days ahead and kept chilled in the fridge. Just before serving, pour the batter into moulds, top off with more cheese (if you like) and pop in the oven for 15 minutes. And Voila, you are serving up simply divine 5Star cheesy bread puffs, fresh from the oven!
Note 6: Do not store - this Brazilian Cheese Bread is made without oil and IMHO not suitable for storage. It loses moisture when re-heated and the texture becomes rather tough and too chewy. Because it is such an easy prep and the batter can be made ahead and stored in the fridge, we only serve this Brazilian Cheese Bread freshly baked at the table, and it never fails to be amazing that way.
Step 2 - Add in the cheese and pulse just a few times so that it is still chunky.
Step 3 - Pour into cupcake moulds, top with more cheese (optional) and bake @180C for 15 minutes until fully risen & golden and serve immediately.
Note 1: Equipment - the key to success for this recipe is essentially a good blender or food processor. A good blender does all the work and makes this Brazilian Cheese Bread a quick, easy and No Fail recipe.
Note 2: Type of flour - I substituted half of the tapioca flour with all purpose flour in this recipe to get the texture that I like. Tapioca flour gives the cheese bread that chewiness but using 100% tapioca flour made it too gooey for our taste. To make it gluten free, I also tried substituting using rice flour instead of wheat flour but sadly the rice flour was not able to give it that structure and only made it more dense which was a FAIL. Thankfully today, one has the luxury of wheat flour which was not available during that time to the folks when Brazilian Cheese Bread was created; so by all means, use 100% tapioca flour or tweak the proportion with wheat flour, a little more, a little less, if you like a more chewy texture. For the Sugar Crumble household, a 1:1 ratio of tapioca and wheat flour is our sweet spot.
Note 3: Type of cheese - I used red and white cheddar for this recipe but any combination of cheese can work. Mozzarella melted would give it a soft cheesy centre whilst Monterey Jack, cheddar, parmesan, gouda or even blue cheese adds a nice salty bite with a bite of oomph. I usually like to sprinkle a lot more cheese on top just before baking, in fact we like it the cheesier the better! Whatever the combination, go with your preference - be generous and add with exuberance!
Note 4: Oil or no oil? - When I first tried the Tiktok recipe, it called for 1/3 cup oil which turned out to be way too much. As I adapted this recipe, I decided to replace the oil with more milk to make it completely oil free and the cheese bread turned out beautifully. The moisture in this Brazilian Cheese Bread comes mainly from the fats in the eggs and cheeses and we like it that way. The only caveat may be that because this Brazilian Cheese Bread is oil free, it doesn’t store well as the cheese bread does not stay as moist when re-heated. Which is why we only serve this Brazilian Cheese Bread freshly baked! (See Note 5 and 6) If you would like to add a little oil, simply reduce the milk by the same amount.
Note 5: Make ahead - this Brazilian Cheese Bread is a great make ahead. The batter can be easily prepped a couple of days ahead and kept chilled in the fridge. Just before serving, pour the batter into moulds, top off with more cheese (if you like) and pop in the oven for 15 minutes. And Voila, you are serving up simply divine 5Star cheesy bread puffs, fresh from the oven!
Note 6: Do not store - this Brazilian Cheese Bread is made without oil and IMHO not suitable for storage. It loses moisture when re-heated and the texture becomes rather tough and too chewy. Because it is such an easy prep and the batter can be made ahead and stored in the fridge, we only serve this Brazilian Cheese Bread freshly baked at the table, and it never fails to be amazing that way.