Pandebono is a bread made with masarepa, yuca flour, cheese and egg. This Colombian cheese bread is very popular, easy to make and delicious.
What is Pandebono?
It is a traditional Colombian cheese bread. I have been getting a lot of e-mails asking me for this recipe, so here it is my friends. I made these delicious Pandebonos last week and they came out perfectly and were delicious. For a minute, I did not miss Colombia while eating these fantastic cheese balls, accompanied by a cup of Colombian coffee of course. I ate so many of them, I could not get up from the couch for a while. Try them, you’ll thank me for it 🙂
Like many Colombian recipes there are many variations and every cook has its own.I am not a professional baker, but try to recreate the food I miss from my home country.
These wonderful Colombian pandebonos are perfect for breakfast or for an afternoon snack with a cup of coffee. This bread recipe is also gluten free.
Ingredients You will Need
All the quantities, baking directions and step by step video are in the printable recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Tapioca Starch: You will find here in the United States as Tapioca flour or starch in a lot of supermarkets or online.
Precooked Cornmeal: Also known as masarepa.
Queso Fresco: In Colombia we use quesito, but here in the US I use farmer cheese or queso fresco.
Feta Cheese: Mixing feta cheese with queso fresco gives the perfect flavor and texture to this pandebono recipe.
Egg: I recommend using cage free eggs.
How to Make Pandebonos
- Pre-heat the oven to 400°F.
- In a food processor, place the yuca flour, cheese and masarepa. Process until well combined. Add the egg slowly while food processor is running.
- Divide the mixture into 12 equal size portions, shaping them into balls.
- Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for about 15 to 20 minutes or until golden on top. Serve warm.
Baking Tips
*I like to use a food processor to mix the dough, but you can do it by hand if you prefer. Start by mixing the tapioca starch and precooked cornmeal in a bowl, then, in another bowl, combine the cheeses and the egg. Add the flour mixture to the cheese and mix well using your hands until well combined. If the dough is dry you can add a tablespoon of milk.
*The dough is sticky, I recommend oiling your hand to roll the bread.
*You can bake the pandebonos immediately after making them or store them in the fridge until ready to bake. I like to keep them in the fridge to settle for at least 15 minutes before baking.
*If you want the pandebono to have a more round shape use a muffin pan to keep them in shape.
More Colombian Style Breads:
Pandebono (Colombian Cheese bread) Recipe
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup cassava starch or yuca flour
- ¼ cup precooked cornmeal or masarepa
- 1 cup Mexican queso freso or Colombian quesito
- 1 + ¼ cup feta cheese
- 1 large egg
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 400°F.
- In a food processor, place the yuca flour, cheese and masarepa. Process until well combined. Add the egg slowly while food processor is running.
- Divide the mixture into 12 equal size portions, shaping them into balls.
- Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for about 20 to 30 minutes or until golden on top. Serve warm.
maria
pandebonos con chocolate caliente que rico!.
Amalia
Erica thanks for the recipe, this is my daughter favorite bread, i will make some for her, shes going to be so happy
Amalia
Sandra g
I bought some yuca flour I saw at the supermarket, but I had no idea of what to do with it, now I know for sure, thanks! this looks great!
Mireya
These look so good and incredibly soft!
Angie@Angie's Recipes
These unleavened cheese bread still look very fluffy and DELICIOUS!
Anonymous
The egg is the leavener in this and many other recipes like it. For best results have eggs at room temperature. You can do that very quickly with a 10 minute bath in warm water (not hot).
Chef E
Yum, I have not heard of these, but they look like you might have to hold me back! I would be popping those in my mouth till I looked like a squirrel on an acorn feast!
Christine @ Fresh Local and Best
This looks like quite an intriguing recipe! I've never had pandebono, it looks delicious!!!
GregYohn
WOW!
We eat these all the time for breakfast in Cali! I like the taste and know how to pronounce them in Spanish at the local panderia! My wife lets me go there without a translator!
Alanna
Lovely! There seems to be no leavening, however? I actually think that I can get all the ingredients --
my boyfriend cooks for me
This recipe looks really easy (provided I can find yuca flour!), and the final product looks delicious - everyone wins!
Harold alvarez "el caleno "
Bob's Red Mill brand has it at supermarket shells under ' finely ground Tapioca flour ; and happy holidays
Anonymous
Look on amazon, there are good brands on it with strong packages.
Iris
Otto;s Yuca Flour, on Otto site
Also on Amazon
Or try latin markets. Goya has a small bag in the Goya aisle of some supermarkets, also called manioc flour.
I'll try this recipe, using the yuca flour (I bought Otto's at Whole Foods, on sale for $14, regularly there about $18). I am intrigued by the addition of cornmeal (which I love). Believe it will add another textural dimension.
Anonymous
Yuca flour is tapioca starch.
Anonymous
They aren’t quite the same thing.
Tapioca starch is made only from the starchy part of the root. Cassava , or Yuca flour is made from the whole root .They behave differently when cooking due to Yuca flour’s higher fiber content
Deb Marquez
Asian stores sell tapioca flour for very cheap!
Erica
Thank you everyone for visiting my blog!
Connie Thomson
My daughter in law is columbian and i suprise her with your great recepice she loves it :-)). Thank you
Anonymous
*Colombian
Anonymous
Colombian !
Kas
Can these be frozen and then baked a week later?
Anonymous
1/4 feta cheese or 1-1/4 feta cheese??
Erica Dinho
1 + 1/4 cups
Lisa
One and one quarter cup of feta
Patty
Sounds easy to make. I miss my Colombian food. Wants to eat it all the time but after a 2nd brain surgery I am disabled.
Luz jimenez
I made that recipe but, I don’t know why mine came out dry & little hard
anncoo
I would like to make this cheese bread, looks so good and easy recipe. Thanks!
luigi
Sounds absolutely delicious. Many cultures have similar breads, very interesting.
Pilar
Try them with hot chocolate!! Pandebono con chocolate caliente! So good...yum
David
I did not make one of those because I was doing some homework.
momgateway
Yum!!!This is similar to Brazilian cheese bread!
Anonymous
The Brazilian cheese bread is delicious!!!
Iliana carvajal
Our pandebonos are the best! 100% better than Brazilian cheese bread!
Anonymous
I have attempted to make this recipe twice with poor results. Question. Why did you not mention that recipe requires a leavening agent. Mine hv come out dense and hard. Also, the texture was off because of it. I hv found another site that listed, baking powder.
Erica Dinho
Hi, my recipe does not include a leavening agent. Sorry if they didn't come out to your liking. We love them!
Claudie M Laratta
The temperature is key to the softening. The oven needs to be at 400 even higher temperature and less time yields better results. If the oven is not at temperature the pan will end up flattened and harder.
Lisa Garwood
I haven't seen any authentic South American cheese bread that uses leavening. Are you using masarepa or masa? There's a difference, so make sure it's masarepa. Delicious!!
Lisa
No leavening agent is needed at all. I wonder, are you using masarepa or masa? They are two different ingredients. I can't think of any other reason you would be having such a poor result. I've made them 4 or t times with no problems. Good luck!
Tim
This is not pandebono at all. This is pan de yuca. Pandebono requires sour cassava starch (fermented starch), which will give it some leavening properties.
Sour cassava starch is obtained by drying the starch in sunlight, in small plants called "rallanderías" in the Cauca Valley of Colombia, which will lead to natural fermentation.
Whatever
I’m headed there now to dry out my starch. Thanks
Zalman Sandon
You have a point which I would have agreed with, and we both may have been wrong. My wife (and I) tried a good variety of recipes, and still cannot equal the results we consistently get with a commercial product, that sold by "La Fe" (I have NO connection with them). The results using their mix are absolutely spectacular: the end product is light, airy, incredibly delicate, almost ready to float away. The color is very appealing - neither too light not too dark - and the texture is the very opposite of dense.
We were absolutely convinced it has some chemical leavening agent(s) such as baking powder or baking soda, yet the ingredient statement has NONE. The odds of their deliberately omitting these agents are small, and the trouble to check them is too much. It seems probable there's some other secret involved, but it's not in the recipe on this page. It's not the cheese, the commercial product remains great using a variety of cheeses.
Christian H.
We used Erica's recipe (My wife if from Cali Colombia) and we love it- with a couple small changes- we use Cotija cheese instead of Feta, add a tiny bit of milk to the dough to help ease mixing by hand, and a tiny bit of baking powder. they come out wonderfully, like the ones I've had in Cali, Tulua and other cities in Colombia.
Maria
I am about to try this. I have everything else except the feta. The cheese that I got is the queso content. Will that be enough?
Anonymous
What cheese did you use?
anon
I'm a Norteamericano blessed with a new Colombian aunt who inspired me to make homemade pandebono. A few experiments led to adding a half tsp or so baking powder, a few splashes of milk, & a pinch of sugar to the mixture, and a bit of melted butter to the top to aid in browning while adding a final layer of flavor.
Divina
There's no place like home. Thanks for sharing the recipe. These cheese bread looks fantastic. The texture is perfect and I would love bite into it now. And I thought they're complicated to make. But looking at the procedure, it's actually simple which is great.
Anonymous
Can you use all purpose flour instead of the other flours ?
Erica Dinho
No
shaz
In case this helps- yucca flour/cassava flour is tapioca flour in stores near me and masa corn but it is NOT corn flour or corn meal. its ... masa. You can probably make it without the masa, but the texture will not be the same and you can probably make it with wheat flour, but it WILL NOT come out anywhere near the same flavor texture lightness...CAN YOU...yes...SHOULD YOU...maybe if you like to experiment, but not if you want pandebonos.The chemical reactions f baking will be different- the proteins in wheat will require levening that cassava flour doesn't.
LR
To source tapioca or yucca flour go to any large Asian market and look for tapioca, also known as yucca in other countries. I found it for about a dollar per pound. Insofar as corn meal is concerned, most supermarkets carry it as Goya Masarepa or other providers. Reasonably priced, in most cases. Feta cheese is a good substitute for the Colombian queso costenio, spelled pheonetically. Come really great. I make it often for my Colombian wife. BTW, I am Polish. Hahaha
Elizabeth Thompson
Cannot wait to try it!!!
Xx from NZ!
Lizzi
Carol Hendrickson
Can you make this a a loaf of bread instead of rolls? My niece asked me for shrimp bread ( just shaped like a shrimp no shrimp in it lol)
Erica Dinho
I don't know! It sounds very interesting!
Pat
Can I use use queso panela since it's salty and queso fresco? I don't have feta cheese.
Thanks for all your recipes.
Anonymous
No it won't taste right it will turn out like a biscuit and the texture will be off.
Amanda Ruales
I’m unsure what precooked cornmeal flour means. Am I supposed to cook it with water ? Or is it just out of the bag. Am using white or yellow corn flour/masarepa? I thought these had a sweeter taste at the bakeries. Mine are very savory and my texture is slightly off. Could be more chewy.
Zalman
Reasonable question
The Masarepa you buy in the store is a fine ground corn flour which has already undergone a cooking process in an alkaline solution. It’s an old, traditional process whereby the maize is rendered more easy to grind, more nutritious and better tasting. This distinguishes it from corn meal, which is not so prepared.
In making your recipe you are cooking Masarepa the second time.
Anonymous
Use yellow masaarepa which is precooked cornmeal. You do not have to do anything to it. This is a Colombian recipe so maybe the bakeries use a recipe from a different country. Some use a pie crust style.
Chris S
I found both flours at Publix's in Winter Springs, FL.
Nate
These are all amazing recipes ! My wife is Colombian, and we moved away from home so all these help bring us back to her mom's kitchen. Thank you so much!
Anonymous
No
Kelley
I cannot find that type of flower here in Colorado springs. Can another type be substituted?
Miguel
You can get any kind of flour on Amazon.
Carolina
can I subtitute mexican cheese for mozarella?
Erica Dinho
Yes
Anonymous
AMAZON
Dorelena
This recipe sounds more like pandeyuca instead of pandebono.
Milagros
Perfecto, delicioso!!! Gracias, por la recita
Vickie
Made these! They were awesome!!!
Charlene
This recipe looks easy! But where can I find these ingredients? I live in Ontario, Canada.
Anonymous
Most larger Loblaws and walmarts will carry the masarepa flour in the international sections, it is labeled as PAN and is in a yellow plastic package similar in appearance to a sugar bag. The Yucca Harina can be labelled yucca harina, cassava flour or Tapioca, you will definitely find it labeled as tapioca as it's a fairly common ingredient.
Here in Ottawa we have a great Latin grocer that carries all in house including the costeño cheese, meaning I don't need to use feta. If you are in Ottawa it is called Bienvenido. Most cities of similar size or larger will have a Latin or Caribbean store.
Anonymous
Walmart
Ida Boran
Hi I tried the recipe for pan de bono and didn’t come out good. Is all dry ingredients cheese and egg. How you get a smooth dough.
Anonymous
Add milk
Sasha
Ive tried this recipe twice and can't get them to fluff. They come out so dense. I've followed to a T . I'm not sure what I'm missing.