Week 19 - Ecuadorian

As part of the AtWCC, I'm hoping to make some form of bread (or explore bread in some other way if I'm not making it myself for whatever reason) for each location. When the Ecuadorian challenge came up, the recipe I was most interested in at the time was for pan de yuca, a chewy, cheesy bread, so it looked like I found my bread for Ecuador! I found a recipe on Laylita, and the challenge was set. Although we'd never had pan de yuca at an Ecuadorian spot before, it sounded similar to the Brazilian pao de queijo that we love, so I was hoping this would come out well.

For the challenge, I made a full batch and tried to follow the recipe closely, although I did do a couple of ingredient modifications, using a mix of fontina, asiago, and parmesan instead of grated mozzarella, and substituting flax eggs for the "regular" eggs. I chose to prepare it by hand instead of using a food processor, and it was fairly easy. You basically mix all the ingredients together until smooth, adding a little bit of warm water if dry, form the dough into balls, and then chill them in the fridge for about half an hour. I baked them for about 5-8 minutes, and then broiled them.

I pulled them out from the broiler when they started looking more brown than golden, but unfortunately the insides were still a little gummy. I wasn't sure if it was how I made them or an effect of using flax eggs instead, but I was a little disappointed. They were definitely edible and had a nice crunch to the outside, but the inside just didn't feel right texturally to me.

I tried the recipe again a few months later, only making a partial batch this time (quartered most measurements). I tried to make them the exact same way, but with other things going on, I left them baking a little longer before broiling them, and then maybe broiled them a little longer too. They were more golden than the last time, and this time, the insides were just what I was hoping they would be, not gummy at all. Unfortunately, I don't know if I know exactly how long I baked them for, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to replicate it. I kind of just lucked into it because I was doing other things. I guess I'll just have to give them another try and take notes next time!