A Kitchen Fail - Sao Paulo Style

In my last post, I promised you Pão de Queijo, a Brazilian cheesy roll that is often eaten for breakfast or for snacks.

What I got was an ingredient wild goose chase and little puck-like, salty biscuits.

If it sounds like there's a story here, it's because there totally is.

At first glance, the recipe looks rather simple:


From About.com:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole milk
• 8 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 4 1/4 cups tapioca flour (I used the same amount of self-rising flour. NOT a good idea!)
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups grated farmer's cheese, or any firm, fresh cows milk cheese
• 1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese (optional)
• salt to taste

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix milk, salt, vegetable oil and butter in a pot, and bring to a boil. As soon as it boils, remove from heat.
3. Stir tapioca flour into the milk and butter mixture.
4. Stir in the eggs and the cheese, and mix well.
5. Let mixture cool for 15-30 minutes, so that it will be easier to handle. (I like to chill it in the refrigerator for 15 minutes or so).
6. With floured (tapioca flour) hands, shape the dough into golf ball size balls (about 50 gram portions) and place them on a baking sheet.
7. Bake rolls for 20 to 25 minutes, until they are puffed up and are golden. They will rise slowly and puff up mostly in the last 5 or 10 minutes.
8. Serve warm.

Pretty easy sounding, right?

Full of confidence, I entered the grocery store and enthusiastically picked up all the ingredients except one: tapioca flour.

I looked everywhere. I asked for help from store staff, and was met with the same bewildered look I had been running around the store with for about 15 minutes of not finding it. I told the staff what recipe I was planning on baking, but that didn't help, either. Everyone I asked was very nice and helpful, but seemed confused and curious as to why a small American girl was trying to find a rare ingredient for Brazilian biscuits.

So, after some time, I resigned myself to the fact that this recipe just wasn't going to happen. And then, out of nowhere, like some epiphany sent from St. Tapioca, patron saint of impossible Brazilian recipes, I decided that self-rising flour would be a great substitute.

...Wrong.

I followed the directions, and after Steps 1-4, I ended up with this:

 

It was a sticky, goopy mess. I was less than excited about what seemed to be the gruel in my pan, but I went ahead and followed the recipe all the way to the end. The final product looked to be about what I had expected:

 

The taste, though, was not at all like what I had hoped it would be. I didn't add any salt to the recipe, but the rolls have a very potent salty taste. I wanted to call it a day and through them out, but Matt really seems to like them. I'll be sure to keep track of his blood pressure, since I am sure the sodium fairy came and dumped a pound of salt in my pan when I wasn't looking.

Next time, perhaps, Brazil. It's disheartening since this was the easiest, most doable Brazilian recipe I could find with what I had hoped would be easy-to-find ingredients in Lincoln, Nebraska. 

If there are any Brazilians out there who'd like to give me some ideas for recipes, I'd love to hear them!

For now, though, it's time to say goodbye to Brazil and hello to Mexico! Next stop: Puerto Vallarta!