BOLA DE CARNE MEAT BREAD

If you like meat and bread, you will love this recipe. It’s like a sandwich already made. This is the perfect way to use leftover meat or pulled pork and give it new life. Bola de Carne is a Portuguese recipe. It is a Meat Bread recipe that I am sure you will love.

The texture of the bread is a bit custard-like, very silky and when you bite into it, the delicious taste of the pulled meat really comes through. You can eat it just when it comes out of the oven, or keep it in the fridge and slice it up.

Put it in the toaster oven, add a slice of cheese on top, melt it, and oh my, you have a crazy good appetizer or snack right there.

INGREDIENTS FOR BOLA DE CARNE:

• 4 cups of flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1 ¾ cups olive oil
• 6 eggs
• 2 cups shredded pork or beef
• 2 cups shredded cheese of your choice

HOW TO MAKE BOLA DE CARNE PORTUGUESE MEAT BREAD?

1. Preheat the oven to 370F. Add eggs, milk, and olive oil to the bowl of your mixer
2. Beat at medium speed for 2 minutes until well blended. Add flour and baking powder and beat until smooth.
3. MIx in one cup of shredded cheese.
4. Pour half of the batter into a 9×13 baking dish.
5. Distribute the shredded meat on top of the batter, evenly. Sprinkle one cup of shredded cheese on top of the meat.
6. Spoon the other half of the batter carefully on top of the meat and cheese.
7. Bake for 45-60 minutes or until golden brown and toothpick comes out clean. Let rest for 10 mins, turn over into a platter of the wooden board, cut into pieces and serve.

HOW TO MAKE BOLA DE CARNE AHEAD OF TIME

If you want to make bola de Carne ahead of time, I recommend you prepare your meat (for example, slow cook a pork loin with barbecue sauce and shred).

The day you want to bake bola de Carne, you already have your meat done, and all you have to do is make the batter which takes no time at all. You can also bake it ahead of time and freeze it for up to 3 months

RECIPE TIPS

1. If you want to add a bit more flavor to the bread, you can add spices (onion and garlic powder or Italian spices) to the batter when mixing,
2. You can change the flavor of the meat by slow-cooking pork or beef cuts and adding barbecue sauce, a mixture of soy and oyster sauce, or tomato sauce with Italian spices.
3. Cheeses you can use shredded cheddar, mozzarella, or pepper jack.
   4. Be careful when adding your layer of meat. Make sure you divide it evenly over the batter so you get meat in every bite.

STORING AND REHEATING

If you want to freeze bola de Carne, let it cool completely, wrap in plastic wrap, and put wrapped bread into a gallon size freezer bag. On the day you want to serve it, thaw it completely before reheating in the oven for 10 minutes.

You can also cut it up before freezing and just take out individual portions to reheat. You can store it in the fridge, covered in plastic wrap for up to 5 days.