Pão de Queijo, Gougére-style

OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD!

I love bread, and I love cheese. So one of my favorite things about Brasil was the Pão de Queijo, or cheese bread. Salty, dense, gummy (in a good way), cheesy, totally addictive. They are made with savory tapioca flour, which gives them the gumminess, and Minas cheese (or mozzarella, for the less traditional and in my opinion not-as-good ones). Hard to find the fresh ingredients or the frozen dough balls outside Brasil unless you have a Brasilian grocery store. Which we did in Ann Arbor, but there are very few here in Chicago and I haven't had the energy or time to venture out hunting.

I was feeling some serious saudades when one day my sister said, hey do you have any of those frozen cheese balls? I said, no but I could try making some even though all we have is Kraft shredded cheddar and regular flour. So I looked up a recipe for gougéres in -- what else -- the French Laundry cookbook, and used shredded cheddar and parmesan instead of the Gruyére. And 45 minutes later, we busted into these cheesey orbs of goodness!! I think we each ate three, including my 2-year-old niece. Even though the recipe is from the French Laundry Cookbook, I have changed (read: bastardized) it enough to post it as a different recipe. I'm sure Thomas Keller would cringe at the association. But these pão de queijo certainly mataram meus saudades...pelo momento...

Pão de Queijo, Gougére Style (inspired / adapted / bastardized from the French Laundry Cookbook)

1 cup water
7 tablespoons (3-1/2 ounces) unsalted butter
1 teaspoon kosher salt, or more to taste
Pinch of sugar
1-1/4 cups (5 ounces) all-purpose flour
4 to 5 large eggs
6 oz grated cheddar and parmesan, combined in about a 2:1 ratio

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with Silpats.

In a medium saucepan, combine the water, butter, salt, and sugar and bring to a boil. Add all the flour at once, reduce the heat to medium, and stir with a wooden spoon for 2 minutes, or until the mixture forms a ball and the excess moisture has evaporated (if the ball forms more quickly, continue to cook and stir for a full 2 minutes).

Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle and beat for about 30 seconds at medium speed to cool slightly. Add 4 eggs and continue to mix until completely combined and the batter has a smooth, silky texture. Stop the machine and lift up the beater to check the consistency of the batter. The batter in the mixing bowl should form a peak with a tip that falls over. If it is too stiff, beat in the white of the remaining egg. Check again and, if necessary, add the yolk. Finally, mix in the majority of the cheese, leaving about 1/4 cup for sprinkling on top of the dough.

Spoon a golf-ball sized round of dough onto the baking sheet. Each sheet should hold about 12 dough balls. Sprinkle the top of each gougère with about 1 teaspoon of the remaining grated cheese and bake for 9-10 minutes, or until they puff and hold their shape. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees F. and bake for an additional 30 minutes. When the gougères are done, they should be a light golden brown color. When you break one open, it should be hollow; the inside should be cooked but still slightly moist. Remove the pans from the oven and serve the gougères while hot.