Pandebono Vallecaucano

Ingredients

• 200 g sour cassava starch (almidon agrio de yuca)
• 60 g masarepa (precooked white cornmeal)
• 180 g queso costeño or firm feta, finely grated
• 100 g low-moisture mozzarella, finely grated
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp fine salt
• 2 to 4 tbsp whole milk

Before you cook

• Heat the oven to 200C and line a baking tray with parchment.
• Grate both cheeses on the fine side of a box grater so they almost powder.
• Weigh the cassava starch and the masarepa into a food processor bowl.
• Crack the egg into a small cup and beat it lightly with a fork.
• Measure the milk into a jug so it is ready to add a spoonful at a time.

Steps

1. Add both grated cheeses to the starch and cornmeal in the food processor.
2. Blitz for thirty seconds until the mixture looks like damp sand with no cheese shreds left.
3. Add the beaten egg, the sugar, the baking powder and the salt, then pulse ten times.
4. Add one tablespoon of milk and pulse again for five seconds.
5. Keep adding milk a spoonful at a time until the dough clumps into a single ball that feels smooth and slightly tacky but does not stick to your fingers.
6. Tip the dough onto the worktop and knead it for two minutes until it is completely uniform.
7. Let the dough rest, uncovered, for ten minutes so the starch hydrates.
8. Divide the dough into twelve pieces of about forty-five grams each.
9. Roll each piece into a smooth ball between your palms, pressing out any cracks.
10. Push your thumb through the centre of each ball and open it into a thick ring, or leave it round if you prefer.
11. Space the pandebonos well apart on the lined tray, because they spread as they puff.
12. Bake for sixteen to eighteen minutes, until they have risen tall and the tops are freckled gold.
13. Move them to a rack for five minutes, then eat them warm, because the stringy centre sets firm once they cool.