Colombian Cassava Cheese Bread (Pan de Yuca)

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Pan de yuca is a cheese bread made from cassava starch rather than wheat: three ingredients, no yeast, no rising time, and twenty-five minutes from start to finish. It comes out chewy inside with a thin crisp crust, and it is naturally gluten-free. This is not casabe, the flat cassava cracker. Makes 10 to 12.

Prep Time10

Cook Time15

Total Time25

Course: Breads

Cuisine: Colombian

Keyword: cassava bread

Servings:

Calories: 236kcal

Author: Angela Giraldo

Ingredients

300 g cassava starch sold as tapioca starch too; NOT cassava flour, which is the whole ground root and will not work here
250 g pressed cheese (queso prensado), grated queso costeño or any firm, salty fresh cheese; low-moisture mozzarella with a little feta is a common stand-in
150 g water about ⅔ cup; add it gradually, you may not need it all

Instructions

Heat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
On a work surface, mix the cassava starch with the grated cheese. Add the water a little at a time as you knead. How much you need varies with the starch, so go gradually: you may use all of the 150 g, or less, or need a splash more.
Stop when the dough is soft and holds together without sticking to your hands. It should not be runny, and it should not crack apart when you press it.
Divide it into 10 or 12 pieces, depending on the size you want. Roll each into a rope and join the ends to make a ring.
Lightly grease a baking tray and lay the rings on it. If you want them glossy, brush them with beaten egg.
Bake for about 15 minutes, until golden.
Take them out and eat them warm: this is bread that is at its best in the first hour.

Notes

Cassava starch and tapioca starch are the same thing under two names, so either label works. What does not work is cassava flour, which is the whole root ground up: the dough will not stretch and the bread will be dense. Some Colombian bakers use almidón agrio, sour cassava starch, the kind used for pandebono, which ferments the starch and gives a slight tang and a better rise. This recipe calls for plain cassava starch, and both are worth trying. Pan de yuca goes stale quickly; a few minutes back in a hot oven brings it most of the way back.

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