Shanna Pacifico wowed Eat Retreaters with her Brazilian cheese puffs. These Pão de Queijo were made with Enzo Olive Oil, as well as local milk, eggs and cheese from Lancaster farm collective Oasis at Bird-in-Hand.
You can order Polvihlo Azedo (fermented cassava flour) online. If you can find a Brazilian grocery store in your city, you’ll find it for a fraction of the price. An aged cheese like parmasean or manchego is nice. It’s great to mix it up and try different ones. Remember these are 100% gluten free!
Put milk, water, extra virgin olive oil and salt in a pot and bring to a boil. Add in the cassava flour and mix it best you can with a wooden spoon. Remove mixture from the heat. At this point, the dough will seemed partially congealed and a lot of dry flour not incorporated. Don’t worry. You didn’t mess up. It’s supposed to look that way.
Once the dough has cooled for 10 minutes or so mix in the eight eggs by hand. Then mix in the grated cheese. I like to taste a small piece of the batter for salt and add more if needed. Sometimes it really depends on how salty the cheese you use is.
At this point the dough should feel slightly tacky, but if you lightly oil your hands you should be able to roll into 2″ balls with no resistance. If the dough feels dry with lots of loose flour add another egg or two.
Bake the balls in 350 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes until they are lightly golden brown on the outside.
Once out of the oven I like to top them with more finely grated cheese.