Pandebono: Colombian Cheese Bread

Pandebono, or pan de bono, is a delicious cheese bread, perfect for breakfast or an afternoon snack with coffee. It's a simple recipe made with cheese and two kinds of flour—tapioca flour (cassava or yuca starch) and cornmeal. The precooked cornmeal called masarepa used to make arepas works well, as does regular cornmeal. You can even order a special mix for making these rolls called harina de pandebono.

The dough is shaped into balls or rings, which puff up nicely in the oven even though there's no leavening ingredient. The pandebono are best when they're warm and soft, and they reheat very well in the oven.

Traditionally, pandebono is consumed a few minutes after baking while still warm with hot chocolate. If you'd like to serve them with a meal, the best entrees to eat with pandebono are savory foods like meats and other protein-rich foods; the balance of protein with the starchy bread is satiating and will leave you wanting more.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup yellow masarepa, or cooked cornmeal
• 1/2 cup tapioca flour
• 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
• 2 cups grated farmers cheese, or Monterey jack or mozzarella
• 2 large eggs
• Kosher salt, to taste
• 3 teaspoons milk, or buttermilk, optional