Gluten-Free Breadsticks
Gluten-Free Breadsticks (aka Biscoito de Polvilho) are a Brazilian snack, similar to Brazilian cheese bread, made with tapioca flour and can be either baked or deep-fried. Serve with coffee, tea, or any other drink of your choice.
- Prep time
- 15 min
- Cook time
- 15 min
- Yield
- 22 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 4 cups tapioca flour (about 500 g (or more if the dough gets too stick to shape the breadsticks))
- 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil ((If deep-frying, you will need extra cold oil -- enough to deep-fry))
- 1/2 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 tablespoon dried rosemary (optional (skip the herbs and add ½ tbsp sugar if deep-frying the breadsticks))
- 3 large eggs (at room temperature)
Instructions
- 1
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (about 180 degrees C). Line two to three baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- 2
Meanwhile, stir tapioca flour and Parmesan cheese together until combined in a large heat-proof bowl; then set aside.
- 3
In a small saucepan, stir together the milk, oil, salt, and rosemary and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and pour the hot liquid mixture over the flour mixture, stirring well with a wooden spoon until combined. The mixture will be lumpy. Let cool enough to handle the dough with your own hands.
- 4
Add eggs to one side of the bowl, break them with a fork and give a quick stir. Then, using your hands, mix them with the lumpy flour mixture until obtaining homogeneous dough, about 3-4 minutes. If the dough is too stick to roll, add just a little more tapioca flour and mix well until you can form into balls and then sticks.
- 5
Lightly grease your hands with a drop of vegetable oil. Using a tablespoon as measurement, spoon 1-2 tablespoons of the dough onto your hands, mold into balls and then roll into sticks, 2-inch (mini breadstick) to 4-inch long each (medium breadstick).
- 6
Arrange them on the lined baking sheets, leaving a space (1 to 2-inches) between them.
- 7
Bake for about 13-15 minutes, or until tapioca breadsticks are puffy and lightly golden on top. Yield will vary according to the size of the tapioca breadsticks (22-45 breadsticks). Mine were approximately 4 inches long a piece, yielding about 22 breadsticks.
- 8
Serve while still warm accompanied by coffee, tea, or any other beverage of your choice. If desired, you can brush a bit of melted butter on top of the tapioca breadsticks. Enjoy!
- 9
Follow steps 2 to 5 above, but make the dough without the herbs and add about ½ tablespoon of sugar to the dough.
- 10
Place the shaped breadsticks in a pan with enough cold oil to deep-fry. These will prevent the dough to pop up while frying! Then, heat the oil on medium-high heat until bubbly. The breadsticks will float to the top!
- 11
At this point, turn the heat down to low and finish frying them until lightly golden brown. If you fry them in hot oil from beginning to end, they will pop up and may burn you.