Bolo de arroz
Muffins from almost every Lisbon pastelaria, baked in tall paper collars that let them rise high above the tin. Rice flour mixed with wheat gives a crumb that is tender and faintly moist, with a fine grain, and sugar scattered thickly before baking turns into a crackling crust. The key is brief mixing — rice flour has no gluten, but wheat flour does.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Batter 20 min
- Resting 15 min
- Baking 25 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneMake paper collars
Cut baking paper into strips 10 cm high and roll them into collars inside the cups of a muffin tin so they stand above the rim. The collar supports the batter, letting it rise tall like a small soufflé.
Ingredients: 150 g rice flour · 100 g plain flour · 200 g sugar · 3 pcs eggs · 120 g butter · 180 ml milk · 2 tsp baking powder · 1 pcs lemon · 1 pinch salt
Ten-centimetre collars — the muffins climb inside them.Whisk eggs with sugar and zest
Whisk the eggs with the sugar and lemon zest for 5 minutes until pale and doubled. That aeration, alongside the baking powder, is responsible for the muffins' height.
Ingredients: 150 g rice flour · 100 g plain flour · 200 g sugar · 3 pcs eggs · 120 g butter · 180 ml milk · 2 tsp baking powder · 1 pcs lemon · 1 pinch salt
Add the butter and milk
Pour in the melted, cooled butter and the milk, mixing on low speed. Hot butter scrambles the eggs; lukewarm it combines smoothly.
Ingredients: 150 g rice flour · 100 g plain flour · 200 g sugar · 3 pcs eggs · 120 g butter · 180 ml milk · 2 tsp baking powder · 1 pcs lemon · 1 pinch salt
Fold in both flours briefly
Sieve in the rice flour, wheat flour, baking powder and salt and fold with a spatula only until the dry streaks vanish. Wheat flour develops gluten as you mix and the muffins turn rubbery and flat.
Ingredients: 150 g rice flour · 100 g plain flour · 200 g sugar · 3 pcs eggs · 120 g butter · 180 ml milk · 2 tsp baking powder · 1 pcs lemon · 1 pinch salt
Only until the streaks vanish — overmixed they turn rubbery.Rest the batter a quarter hour
Leave the batter 15 minutes. Rice flour absorbs liquid more slowly than wheat — after resting the batter thickens and bakes more evenly, without grittiness in the crumb. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 190°C.
Ingredients: 150 g rice flour · 100 g plain flour · 200 g sugar · 3 pcs eggs · 120 g butter · 180 ml milk · 2 tsp baking powder · 1 pcs lemon · 1 pinch salt
Fill the collars and sprinkle with sugar
Divide the batter evenly between the 12 collars — they will be roughly half full, and the muffins fill the rest as they rise. Scatter each thickly with sugar. In the oven the sugar becomes a crackled crust — the signature of bolo de arroz.
Ingredients: 3 tbsp sugar
Plenty of sugar — in the oven it becomes a crust.Bake to a golden dome
Bake 22–25 minutes at 190°C, until the muffins rise into tall domes and a skewer comes out dry. Do not open the oven for the first 15 minutes or they sink.
Ingredients: 150 g rice flour · 100 g plain flour · 200 g sugar · 3 pcs eggs · 120 g butter · 180 ml milk · 2 tsp baking powder · 1 pcs lemon · 1 pinch salt
Cool in the paper
Cool the muffins in their paper collars and serve them that way. The paper holds the moisture — removed early, the sides dry out. In Lisbon it is unwrapped only as you eat.
Ingredients: 150 g rice flour · 100 g plain flour · 200 g sugar · 3 pcs eggs · 120 g butter · 180 ml milk · 2 tsp baking powder · 1 pcs lemon · 1 pinch salt
Before you start
The flour ratio matters
Rice flour alone gives crumbly, flat muffins; wheat alone gives ordinary muffins. Three parts rice to two wheat gives the characteristic fine, moist crumb. Do not increase the wheat.
Paper instead of cases
Ordinary paper cases are too low for the muffins to reach their typical shape. A baking-paper collar takes a minute and gives exactly the pastelaria result.
Three days in a box
Bolo de arroz keep three days in an airtight box, in their paper. The sugar crust softens with time; 3 minutes in a 180°C oven brings it back.
