Chebe Bread

I first heard of Chebe (pronounced chee-bee) Bread® when I led a cooking class for Lynn Rae’s Ries’ Gluten Free Cooking Club shortly after I moved to Phoenix, AZ, in December of 2004. I noticed people enthusiastically talking about the product but at the time I didn’t check it out.

Photo right Rachel Albert Matesz ©2009

Fast forward to April of 2009. I had a table at a gluten-free food fair sampling Ice Dream (dairy free coconut milk frozen desserts), Chocolate Chip Blondies, and Apple Apricot Compote from my latest book, The Ice Dream Cookbook: Dairy- Free Ice Cream Alternatives with Gluten-free Cookies, Compotes & Sauces. Someone was there sampling Chebe bread sticks. I picked up a few packages of their mixes, stashed them in my pantry, and didn’t do anything with them for a several months. When I started testing them, I was glad I did. I don't eat a lot of bready or starchy foods and they made a great weekend treat, several weekends running.

Before I tell you what I like about them and which flavors I’ve tried so far, let me tell you what Chebe is and why you want to get excited about it!

What is Chebe?
Chebe® Bread is based on the Brazilian "pao de queijo" (Brazilian cheese bread). It’s quick and easy to prepare and delicious. Millions of Brazilians enjoy it daily. If you visit Brazil, you will see it in the airport as you arrive, on the street cafés of any town, in fancy restaurants,  grocery stores, and in people's homes. It looks like white bread an

Chebeis free of common food allergens, such as wheat, gluten, corn, soy, yeast, potato, rice, peanuts, and tree nuts. It’s also grain-free, making it suitable for people who follow a paleo or primal diet! If you follow a special diet that eliminates any of the foods listed above, you’ll want to try this product.

Photo right: Blanched Veggies, Steak Tartare, Angeled Eggs & Chebe Rolls by Rachel Albert Matesz ©200)

Old fangled food
Chebe is not a new fangled food. It's an old food with a long history of use in the human diet. The main ingredient in Chebe bread is manioc (a.k.a. Cassava, a woody shrub from the spurge family) that’s native to South America where it’s been used extensively for thousands of years. Anthropologists and botanists believe that wild populations of M. esculenta subspecies flabellifolia were the progenitors of domesticated cassava.  West-central Brazil is the most likely place for the first domesticated of the plant 10,000 years ago. You can read more about the history of this root plant on Wikipedia. Unprocessed Casava root photo from Wikipedia>>>>

Cassava root
Cassava produces an edible starchy tuberous root that serves as a major source of carbohydrates for many of the world’s people. According to Wikipedia, “Cassava is the third largest source of carbohydrates for human food in the world.” It’s a staple food in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. This traditional food has a long history of use by hunter gatherers as well as primitive and modern agriculturalists. Flour made from the cassava root is called tapioca. It can be used to replace wheat flour in baked goods. The root itself can be baked, boiled, fried, mashed, and used in many of the same ways we use potatoes, sweet potatoes, and yams.

Allergy friendly bread alternative
Although you could tinker with tapioca flour to try to make breads, crackers, pizza, and other baked goods, it’s a lot easier to just pick up a package or two of Chebe bread mix.

Chebe products include gluten-free, oven-ready frozen dough and bread mixes. All of the products are corn free, peanut free, and tree nut free, soy free, potato free, and rice free (whew!) Five of the bread mixes are also lactose free and casein free. The products are produced by a 100% gluten-free manufacturer in a gluten free facility, so they're celiac-safe.

Photo right Rachel Albert Matesz ©2009>>>

Quick, easy, and versatile Chebe Dry Mixes
Just add eggs, oil, cheese (optional: I’ve made batches with and without) and either water or dairy or non-dairy milk, then mix, form, and bake! I used my handy, dandy 14-cup Cuisinart Food Processor with the metal blade for super fast and easy mixing. This model even has a bread kneading mode, which is particularly handy. You don’t absolutely need a food processor but it certainly speeds up the process. A bread mixer would work as would mixing with your hands to produce a smooth dough.

What can you do with Chebe?
You can use Chebe Bread mixes to make dinner rolls, breadsticks, focaccia, pizza crust, sandwich or burger buns, cinnamon rolls, calzones, crackers, tortillas, desserts, and much more! You can add your favorite herbs and spices to their Original or All-Purpose mixes or try their flavored mixes, such as Garlic-Onion Breadsticks Mix, Pizza Crust Mix, Focaccia Italian Flatbread Mix, or Cinnamon Rollup Mix.

Chebe Frozen Dough-Freezer To Oven Easy!
Chebe is also sold as Oven-Ready Frozen product, that can go from the freezer to the oven. You can buy Chebe Rolls, Original or Tomato-Basil Breadsticks, Pizza Crusts, or Sandwich Buns.

What I tried
First I tried the Chebe Focaccia Flatbread Mix. I followed the recipe on the package, except that I added 3 more tablespoons of (nut) milk to the mix; chalk it up to living in the desert. I studded the dough with olives half way baking (optiona). The instructions were clear and easy to follow. I liked the bread best right out of the oven although I think I would either roll it thinner the next time, bake it longer, or crank up the heat during the last 5 to 10 minutes of baking for a crispier crust. I will definitely make this again. I might even try to make it like Indian Naan.

Photo right by Rachel Albert Matesz ©2009>>

Then I tried the Chebe Bread Mix to which I added the optional Parmesan Cheese and the additional water listed. I shaped the dough into small balls (picture right and also above) and baked. I thought these were pretty good but next time I would use a different kind of cheese (cheddar or mozzarella) or omit the cheese altogether; I found the Parmesan overpowering. I don’t eat a lot of cheese and prefer milder flavored and moister varieties when I do eat it.

Next I tried the Garlic & Onion Chebe Breadstick Mix. I omitted the optional Parmesan Cheese. I added another 3 to 4 tablespoons of water along with the optional teaspoon of baking powder then shaped the dough into oblong mini garlic rolls. It didn’t taste particularly garlicky to me, still this was my favorite shape and texture! The baking powder added loft, which I like in bread.

Photo right by Rachel Albert Matesz ©2009

I allowed space between each roll for even browning, and after the baking time had elapsed I cut open the rolls my friend and I planned to serve and stuck them under the broiler briefly to crisp the tops and spread them with butter at the table.

I plan to try adding baking powder to the other mixes and also trying a batch with baker’s yeast, even though the latter will require a longer wait before baking. I used to make traditional sourdough breads so I’m curious to see how much of a rise I can get with the Chebe and a slow rising yeast process.

The last experiment (so far; I still have more frozen product to test) involved frozen Chebe Bread Sticks. Not only was the dough already mixed it was shaped into 16 thin sticks. The directions say to place the frozen bread sticks on a non-greased baking pan, keeping 1/2-inch space between them. If your freezer is as cold as mine, you will need to let the frozen dough thaw, at least partially, on the counter so you can separate the frozen sticks, otherwise the pieces that stick together will be doughy even after the baking time has elapsed. I stored the leftover breadsticks in the original package at room temp, and heated some of them the next day. Really nice.

Keep checking back!
I plan to test and review more Chebe products. Let me know if you try these products and what you think.

Where to find Chebe products
If you live in Phoenix, Arizona, you can buy Chebe bread mixes at Gluten Free Creations Bakery, 2940 E Thomas Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85016-8035. You can find in many natural foods stores, such as Whole Foods Market, on the baking aisle. If you can’t find Chebe at a local store local retailer, you can order it on line from Amazon using these links or directly from the company or ask the manager or grocery buyer of your favorite store to stock the product.

Chebe webletter
You can sign up for the Chebe Webletter, an email newsletter the company sends out about once a month. It contains news & announcements, online coupons, and spotlights a recipe using Chebe Bread Products. To view past webletters, or to subscribe, click here and then click the Webletter drop down menu.

To order Chebe products from Amazon, click the links below.

Comments

[simona]

I've read that cassava flour is responsible for the bad health of many African populations. I think Stephan at Whole Health Source mentioned that it needs to be processed in a certain way. Are you aware of this or are the makers of Chebe aware of it?

[simona]

Sorry for not being able to provide a link. I've just read recently something about cassava flour and I don't remember where. It might have been in Chris Masterjohn's article on goitrogenic foods. I only wanted to ask if you were aware of the dangers associated with the improper use of the cassava flour for some people.

[Chef Rachel]

Hi Simona,

You are correct that there are compounds in raw cassava that can be toxic. According to Wikipedia," Societies which traditionally eat cassava generally understand that some processing (soaking, cooking, fermentation, etc.) is necessary to avoid getting sick."

I contacted the company that makes Chebe. Tapioca starch and modified tapioca starch and tapioca flour are the key ingredients in Chebe and they have a long, safe history of use in conventional food products in the U.S. and other countries. People at their company eat it frequently w/out getting sick. Still, I am having them check w/their supplier to tell me more about how the root is processed. I will include that in an upcoming blog post.

I appreciate you posting and look forward to sharing more info w/you about this!

Sincerely,

Chef Rachel

[Chef Rachel]

Hi Simona,

Here's what I found out from the company that makes and markets Chebe bread mixes. They buy the tapioca flour and tapioca starch from a company that supplies dozens of other companies. Here's that they say:

"Proper processing, water soaking (Making a slurry) and heating will eliminate the cyanide out of the cassava. These steps are historically well known processing steps in Asia and Africa.

"It [I assume they mean the testing] is a control point during the processing step of tapioca starch. No raised levels were ever found in the EU, so no regulations are made for
tapioca starch."