Brazilian Cheese Bread (Pão de Queijo)

One of the best things about living abroad as a foreigner is that you get to meet people from all over the world. You learn about different cultures, languages, and food through these new people you meet that you might not otherwise know. One of my friends in Denmark is from Brazil, and one day she made Pão de Queijo for me. It is a Brazilian cheese bread that is typically made with cheese, tapioca flour, egg, milk, and some kind of oil. It is a really popular snack in Brazil and can even be found at supermarkets, and bakeries. It can be eaten for breakfast as well as just as a snack. It has a very unusual texture. The outside is crunchy, but the inside is soft, and has this cheesey firm gooeyness to it that is hard to describe, but really tasty. They are like these little light puffs of cheese. 🙂

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There are several different methods and variations of ingredients to making Pão de Queijo, as I found out by searching for a recipe online. Some people blended all of the ingredients together in a blender, poured the very liquidy batter into mini muffin tins, and baked them. Some people used mozzarella cheese or cheddar, some cooked the ingredients before baking and some didn’t, but I wanted to make them like my friend did. She used parmesan cheese, and formed the dough into balls before baking them. Rather than ask her for the recipe (since I think she just googled it) I just searched for one online as well. I found a recipe similar to hers here

I decided to make half of the recipe, and I substituted salted butter for oil. I also reduced the salt. So this is the recipe I came up with in the end and the Pão de Queijo came out perfectly. Try it out if you want, and remember that they are best eaten warm. :o)

Brazilian Cheese Bread (Pão de Queijo)

Yield: 12

Brazilian Cheese Bread (Pão de Queijo)

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup whole milk
  • 57 grams butter
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 - 1 1/4 cups tapioca flour/starch
  • 1 egg
  • 3/4 cups parmesan cheese

Instructions

  1. In a small pot, combine milk, salt, and butter. Then, bring it to a gentle boil.
  2. Remove pot from heat.
  3. Stir in the tapioca flour, and mix until combined.
  4. Cool for about 15 minutes.
  5. Then, add the egg to the flour mixture, and mix until combined. You might have to use your hands
  6. Next, stir in the cheese, and add more flour, if needed. Again, you might have to use your hands to make sure it is well mixed.
  7. Then shape the dough into balls, and place on a baking sheet lined with baking paper.
  8. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes at 350F/176C.
  9. Serve warm.

Notes

When shaping the dough into balls, you might want to lightly oil your hands to prevent sticking.

Also, I thought the dough was too wet so I added more tapioca flour so it was easier to handle bringing the total amount of flour used to around 1 1/4 cups. I think if you add too much flour (so the dough is very dry) then the dough will be over worked and end up too hard once baked. So the extra amount of flour I added made the dough still wet but easier to handle and shape into balls.

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If you live in Copenhagen, Denmark you can find tapioca starch/flour at Kabul Market outside Central Station. I could not find it when I was there so I had to ask and it’s no wonder I couldn’t since it’s mostly written in Thai? 🙂 I don’t know. It looks like this:

 

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Hope you like them. Pretty easy to make. This was my first time making them and I imagine the next time will be easier. 🙂 I also made a video which I will upload soonish.

Swedish Cinnamon Bread (Klippt Kanellängd)

This morning I made Klippt kanellängd for breakfast. It is a Swedish pastry made with cinnamon, butter, milk, egg, sugar, salt, and cardamom. You roll it out, add a cinnamon filling, and roll it back up like you are making cinnamon rolls, except, you then take a pair of scissors, and cut the dough to make it’s signature design. It’s a really pretty bread. The name translates literally as long cut cinnamon….so I just renamed it to Swedish Cinnamon Bread hehe.

There is a similar pastry in Denmark called Kanelstang (Cinnamon Stick) but the ingredients are a bit different, and there’s a sweet icing on top. I don’t mind sweet things, but I am just not a fan of this sweet icing found on top of several Danish pastries. It is way too sweet, it hurts hehe.

Anyways I found this recipe on a Swedish website, and translated it below. I changed some of the steps, and doubled the filling recipe. So my version of this recipe is what is listed below. This was the first time I made this bread, and it turned out really pretty, and so good, but needed more filling, as the cinnamon sugar flavor was a bit too mild for me.

For the topping I just sprinkled the top of one with a coarse sugar found in Sweden called pearl sugar, but you could put chopped almonds on top, or powdered sugar (after it’s baked) like the recipe suggests. I also made the dough the night before, and let it rise at room temperature, then put it in the fridge to rise over night. That way I could make this bread for breakfast the next morning. So when I woke up I took the dough out of the fridge to let it come to room temperature, then continued the recipe after a couple of hours.

I hope you like this recipe. :o)

 

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Swedish Cinnamon Pastry (Klippt Kanellangd)

Swedish Cinnamon Pastry (Klippt Kanellangd)

Ingredients

    Dough
  • 25 g fresh yeast or 2.5 tsp dry yeast
  • 3 ½ dl milk, lukewarm
  • ¾ dl granulated sugar
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • ¾ tsp ground cardamom
  • 1 egg
  • 75 g butter, unsalted
  • 9 - 11 dl flour
  • Filling
  • 80 g butter
  • 1/2 dl granulated sugar
  • 4 tsp ground cinnamon
  • Glaze
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • powdered sugar (optional)
  • pearl sugar (optional)
  • 3/4 dl chopped almonds (optional)

Instructions

  1. Dissolve yeast in a cup with lukewarm milk.
  2. In a separate large bowl, whisk the dry ingredients together - salt, cardamom, sugar, and flour.
  3. Then, add the butter, and mix with your hands until it resembles bread crumbs.
  4. Then, pour the milk/yeast mixture, and egg into the bowl with the dry ingredients, and mix together until a dough starts to form.
  5. Knead the dough on a clean surface dusted with flour until it is smooth, about 5 minutes.
  6. Cover the dough, and let it rise for 45 minutes.
  7. Roll out the dough in a rectangle shape, about ½ cm thick. Spread the butter, for the filling, on the dough with a knife, and sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top.
  8. Cut the rectangle in half.
  9. Roll each rectangle (like you are making cinnamon rolls) and place each rolled dough (with space between them) on a baking sheet lined with baking paper.
  10. Take a pair of kitchen scissors and cut the rolls (about 13 snips or centimeter-thick slices) along the middle of each roll, but not too deep. You want each piece to still be attached to the bottom, about 1 cm thick.
  11. Then, drag each piece you cut to the side - left side, then right side, and continue alternating, pulling them a bit apart so each piece is bent backwards.
  12. Brush each cinnamon pastry with beaten egg, and sprinkle with almonds (optional) or coarse sugar (optional).
  13. Cover it and let it rise for 30 minutes.
  14. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees C or 400 F.
  15. Bake the pastries at the bottom of the oven for 25 - 30 minutes.
  16. Let them cool, and dust with powdered sugar before serving, if you like.
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Rustic Italian Bread

Yesterday I bought Manitoba flour at my local grocery store in Copenhagen, and I noticed a recipe on the back for manitoba bread. It was so simple just yeast, water, flour, and salt. I decided to try it, and was blown away by the results. This is just the kind of Italian bread recipe I have been searching for, and it’s so simple. It has a crunchy crust, but it’s soft in the middle, and tastes pretty amazing. Not only that but I was surprised how pretty it came out, with little effort.

If you want to see how I made a Rustic Italian bread with Manitoba flour check out my video here:

        


Rustic Italian Bread

Prep Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours

Yield: 1 baguette

Rustic Italian Bread

Ingredients

  • 3 g dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
  • 2 dl warm water (.84 US cups)
  • 240 g manitoba flour (1 - 1 1/2cups)
  • 5 g salt (1 tsp) regular or sea salt

Instructions

  1. Combine the yeast and water in a tall cup, cover with plastic wrap and let stand for 5 - 10 minutes.
  2. Combine the salt and flour in a large bowl.
  3. Add the yeast mixture to the flour/salt mixture.
  4. Stir together until a dough forms.
  5. Place dough on a lightly floured surface and knead it for 10 minutes.
  6. Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover and let it rise for 1 hour.
  7. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface to shape.
  8. Pre-heat the oven to 230C/446F.
  9. Pinch the sides of the dough together to create a smooth surface on top.
  10. Hand roll the dough to form a baguette or shape it into a round ball or any way you want.
  11. Dust the dough in flour, and cut slits in the dough with a sharp knife (optional).
  12. Bake the dough for 20 minutes at 230C/446F and an additional 8 - 10 minutes at 200C/392F.
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Pretzel Bread Recipe

Yesterday I decided to make Pretzel Bread. I had never made this before, but I got inspired by a friend’s Facebook post of his adorable son munching on some pretzel bread at a restaurant. Yep, that’s all it took for me to find a recipe and try to make it myself, and I am so glad I did.

This bread is so delicious. It is firm on the outside and chewy and soft on the inside. I even decided to use two of the larger buns to make Philly Cheese steak sandwiches for dinner, and it worked out really well.

The recipe is below and if you want to see a video on how I made pretzel bread check out the video I made here:

Pretzel Bread Recipe (Makes 8 large buns)

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Yield: 8 large buns

Pretzel Bread Recipe (Makes 8 large buns)

Ingredients

    For the dough
  • 1 ½ cups warm water
  • 1 tblsp active dry yeast (1 package)
  • 2 tsp sugar
  • 4 ½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp sea salt or kosher salt
  • 4 tblsp butter, melted
  • For the poaching & glazing
  • 1/4 cup baking soda
  • large saucepan of water
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • pretzel salt or sea salt

Instructions

  1. Combine the water, yeast, and sugar in a cup, cover, and let sit for 5 - 10 minutes.
  2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, and salt.
  3. Add the yeast mixture and melted butter to the flour mixture.
  4. Stir together until a dough forms, then knead on a surface for 5 - 10 minutes or until smooth.
  5. Place in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise for at least 1 hour or until double.
  6. Divide the dough into 8 if you are making large buns or 16 if you are making small rolls.
  7. Roll each dough into a ball by pinching the bottom of the dough and turning it, then lightly coat it with flour, and place on a baking sheet lined with baking paper.
  8. Cover the balls of dough with a kitchen towel, and let rise for 30 minutes.
  9. Meanwhile bring a pot of water (2 quarts) to almost boiling, lower the heat to medium, and add in the baking soda. Stir it altogether.
  10. Then, place a ball of dough in the pot (pinched side/bottom side down), and let it sit for 30 seconds. Then, carefully flip it over and let the other side sit for an additional 30 seconds.
  11. Place the dough back on the baking sheet (bottom side/pinched side down).
  12. Repeat this until all the balls of dough have been in the warm water. You can do two at a time or more if you want, depending on the size of your pot.
  13. Brush the tops of the dough with a beaten egg, and then sprinkle a bit of salt on top of each bun.
  14. Take a sharp knife and make a slit on the top of the dough. I put two on the larger buns and one on the smaller rolls. This just makes them look nicer, so it's optional.
  15. Bake them in a pre-heated oven set to 425F/218C for 15 - 20 minutes.
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That’s it. Hope you like this recipe. I’m not sure how to get the bread darker in color, maybe the water needed to be a little warmer or the buns needed to be in the water for a slightly longer time, but regardless the flavor and texture of the bread buns were really good.

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Soft and Light Dinner Rolls

I love homemade bread, but it’s rare I find a recipe I love. Today, I found a really good recipe. I got the recipe from a home cook who shared her mother’s bread recipe online. I will definitely be making this recipe again. The dinner rolls were light, soft, and really yummy. I think this recipe would be great as sandwich loaf bread too. I filmed how I made them, and you can see the video below.

                                    

If you want to make this recipe here it is!

Best Soft and Light Homemade Dinner Rolls

Prep Time: 2 hours

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes

Yield: 16 large/medium dinner rolls

Best Soft and Light Homemade Dinner Rolls

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp yeast
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1/2 cup warm water
  • 5 cups flour
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 tbsp salt
  • 1 1/2 cups warm water
  • 1/4 cup oil
  • 1 tbsp butter (for brushing)

Instructions

  1. Mix yeast, sugar, and warm water together in a tall glass, cover, and set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, mix flour, salt, and additional sugar together.
  3. Then, add the yeast mixture, additional warm water, and oil to the flour.
  4. Stir together until a dough forms.
  5. On a lightly floured board, knead the dough for at least 5 minutes, or until it comes together. I had to use an additional cup of flour when kneading. 
  6. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, and cover and let rise for 1 hour.
  7. After it has risen, shape the dough into rolls, and place them on a baking sheet lined with baking paper.
  8. Brush the tops of the rolls with melted butter.
  9. Cover with plastic wrap, and a tea towel, and let rise for 30 minutes.
  10. Pre-heat the oven to 375F/190 C.
  11. Bake the rolls for 30 minutes or until golden.

Notes

The original recipe is a lot larger. I scaled it down in half, which made 16 large/medium dinner rolls. So the recipe written above is half the original recipe. If you want smaller rolls you can divide the dough into 32 pieces to make 32 small rolls. Also, I changed a few steps in the recipe, such as brushing the rolls with butter before you bake them, and not after. I hope you enjoy it.

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