A sweet potato version of one of Brazils most beloved recipes !

Brazilian cheese bread (also known as Pão de queijo) is a popular snack or breakfast food in Brazil and for a very good reason! They are cheesy, stretchy, gooey and utterly addictive. I love having them with some butter or with a warm soup in the winter as a side.

The secret to this bread unique texture is in the tapioca flour, not only it makes it completely gluten free but also adds a stretchy and mochi-like texture thanks to its high starch content. Tapioca starch is derived from cassava/yuca root and is produced by extracting only the starch content from this tuber. Although it has similar properties when cooking to cornstarch, it becomes stretchy once it reaches a high temperature which is the secret behind the amazing texture of this cheesy breads.

And those darker dots on the surface? They are from the added mozzarella cheese which helps to give a lovely crispy golden skin!

This version with sweet potato is a great twist that adds a beautiful golden colour and some extra vitamins and nutrients to the recipe!

🌱Vegetarian

🍽️ 6 breads

Ingredients

• 205g tapioca starch

• 170g cooked sweet potato

• 160g shredded mozzarella

• 30g Parmesan cheese, grated

• 45g vegetable oil (or butter)

• 45g milk

• 1 egg

• 1 tsp salt

Method

• Pierce the sweet potato with a fork and cook in the microwave until tender (about 6-8min depending on your microwave). Alternatively you can wrap it in tin foil bake it in the oven for 1 hour. Once cooked cut open in half and remove the flesh (it should be very tender and easy to scoop out with a spoon)

• Bring the milk and oil to a boil in a sauce pan

• Add the tapioca starch to a bowl and then pour the hot milk and oil mix over and quickly mix with a wooden spoon until obtaining a dough. Add 170g of the cooked sweet potato, egg, salt and mix again. Finally add grated mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses and knead until obtaining a dough, it should be a bit sticky but firm enough to shake it into balls

• Divide the dough in 6 equal pieces. Take each piece of dough and shape into balls with your hands. Place balls onto an oven tray covered with parchment paper. Brush each ball with some oil (or melted butter)

• Bake in a preheated oven at 180C for about 20 min until they get a light golden brown colour

FAQS and Tips

• You can make the dough in advance and keep it in the fridge until ready to bake

• You can use other cheeses instead of Parmesan such as manchego