Almojábana

Ingredients

Dough

• 400 gcuajada or dry curd cheese, crumbled and pressed dry
• 150 gmasarepa (precooked white maize flour)
• 60 gcornflour
• 2eggs
• 40 gbutter, softened
• 2 tbspsugar
• 1 tspbaking powder
• ½ tspsalt
• 2–4 tbspmilk, only if needed

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 200°C (400°F) and line a tray with baking paper.
2. Press the cuajada in a sieve or a clean cloth to drive out as much whey as you can. Wet curd is the single reason almojábanas come out flat and heavy, and it is worth five minutes of squeezing.
3. Crumble the pressed curd into a bowl and work in the masarepa, cornflour, sugar, baking powder and salt with your fingertips until it looks like damp sand.
4. Add the eggs and softened butter and knead in the bowl for 3–4 minutes, until the dough turns smooth and slightly elastic and no longer sticks to your hands. Add milk a spoonful at a time only if it refuses to come together.
5. Divide into 12 and roll each into a ball between wet palms, then set them well apart on the tray and flatten very slightly.
6. Bake 18–20 minutes until risen, pale gold and hollow-sounding when tapped underneath. They should still be soft to the squeeze — an almojábana baked to a crust has been baked too long.
7. Eat within an hour of leaving the oven, warm, with hot chocolate or coffee. They stale fast and are never sold cold in Colombia.

Technique

• Masarepa is precooked maize flour, not cornmeal and not masa harina for tortillas. The other two behave differently and will not give the same crumb.
• The dough should feel like soft modelling clay. If it cracks when rolled it is dry; if it smears it is wet.
• They deflate as they cool, which is normal. Serve them straight from the oven and nobody notices.

Substitutions

• Drained full-fat ricotta, pressed overnight, is the usual stand-in for cuajada outside Colombia.
• A mild feta rinsed of its brine and mixed half-and-half with ricotta gives the right saltiness.

Variations

• Pandebono, the closely related roll made with yuca starch instead of cornflour.
• A larger, flatter version sold as almojábana costeña on the Caribbean coast.

History

The name comes from Arabic al-mujabbana, cheese thing; the Andalusian cheese bread crossed the Atlantic and was remade with cuajada and maize flour.

Frequently asked questions

What is Almojábana?

Almojábana is a bread & pastry from Colombia: soft cheese-and-corn roll, eaten warm with hot chocolate. The name comes from Arabic al-mujabbana, cheese thing; the Andalusian cheese bread crossed the Atlantic and was remade with cuajada and maize flour.

How long does Almojábana take to make?

Almojábana takes 20 min of preparation and 20 min of cooking. The recipe makes 12 rolls. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Almojábana?

Yes, within limits. Drained full-fat ricotta, pressed overnight, is the usual stand-in for cuajada outside Colombia. A mild feta rinsed of its brine and mixed half-and-half with ricotta gives the right saltiness.

What is the most important thing to get right in Almojábana?

Eat within an hour of leaving the oven, warm, with hot chocolate or coffee. They stale fast and are never sold cold in Colombia.