Colombian Pandebono Cheese Rolls: Rich, Salty, & Gluten Free in 30 minutes
Super easy and simple dinner rolls to serve tonight! This homemade traditional Colombian gluten free cheese bread can be made from start to finish in 30 minutes! This unique take on a dinner roll might surprise you! NO yeast, no gluten, no butter, no shortening! Whether you’re having a bread craving and want something quick or you’re making a meal with south of the border flavors for your guests, this bread hits the spot! Eat it for breakfast, as a snack, or as a meal accompaniment.
Servings: 12 rolls
Ingredients
- 1½ cups cassava flour aka yuca flour
- ½ cup precooked cornmeal Pan, aka masarepa
- ½ tbsp baking powder
- ⅛ tsp sugar
- ⅛ tsp salt use more or less depending on saltiness of the cheese
- 1 cup Mexican queso fresco or farmer's cheese
- 1¼ cup (1 block) feta cheese
- 1 large egg
- 1-5 tbsp milk/or water depending on dough consistency due to the amount of water in the cheese, you may NOT need any or you may need several tbsp!
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400˚F/204˚C and line a large (17x12-inch) baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a food processor, add the dry ingredients- flour, cornmeal, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Pulse until all the ingredients are well combined. Add both cheeses- queso fresco and feta. Pulse again until all the ingredients are mixed well. Then, while the food processor is running, slowly add the egg and run the machine. If the dough is too crumbly, add milk or water one tablespoon at a time and blend until you have a bread dough consistency. In fact, the dough will look more like sugar cookie dough.
- Scoop out the dough onto a work surface (no flour needed). Divide the dough into 12 relatively equal portions and roll each in your hands or on your work surface into a ball. TIP: I like to shape the whole dough into a log like a cinnamon roll and cut it in half. Then, cut each half in half giving 4 smaller logs. Then, cut each of the 4 sections into thirds. That will give you 12 relatively equal sized rolls.
- Place each ball on a lined baking sheet at least 2 inches apart. You can get all 12 rolls on a 17x12-inch cookie sheet.
- Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Serve warm.
Video
Notes
-Precooked cornmeal (aka masarepa) works better here than regular cornmeal. It is dehydrated during the precook process and ground down finely. It works best in bread-type dishes because it is smooth and doesn’t crumble like regular cornmeal.
-You may want to adjust the salt depending on the saltiness of your cheese.
-You may or may not need milk/water depending on how much liquid is in your cheese. At different times, I have used 1 tbsp and up to 5 tbsp. Be sure to read the dough. It should be tacky like a sugar cookie, but not too wet or crumbly.
-Pandebono rolls are best eaten the day you make them. You can store them at room temperature for a couple of days, but they WILL dry out quickly. Consider storing them in the freezer as soon as they cool and allow them to thaw for about 30 minutes on the counter. Then, heat them for about 20 seconds in the microwave for a hot roll. If you forget to thaw them out, just place a frozen roll in the microwave for 30 seconds. Perfect!
-Store the baked rolls in the freezer in a zip-top bag for up to a couple of months.