We used to have our annual girls-only trip with my sisters-in-law, my mom and her sisters. Our trip to Vietnam a couple of years ago was one of those memorable trips. It was around Mom’s birthday and we wanted to make it special for her. So my sister-in-law Rose and I set out to find the best banh-mi in Ho Chi Minh. Online research led us to one place—Bánh Mì Huynh Hoa.
We took a taxi from our hotel and told Mom about our very special dinner. (She loves sandwiches, and what could be better than the best banh mi in Vietnam?) What we didn’t know was that banh mi was not exactly served in a restaurant! The best banh mi place turned out to be a tiny, sketchy stall with no place to sit. It was a sandwich assembly line. One of the guys assigned to cut the freshly baked baguettes in half had a cigarette dangling on his mouth and alternately smoked while knifing the baguette. Imagine my Mom’s horror. (I googled the stall now and it doesn’t look as makeshift anymore.) But people fall in line for these banh mi and take it with them, and that’s just how it works.
So our special dinner with Mom ended up in a nearby Starbucks—not even Trung Nguyen coffee! Rose and I were such amateurs then. We ate the most delicious sandwich indeed.
If you haven’t had a banh-mi, imagine this—crusty freshly baked baguettes with mayonnaise, pâté, pressed meats, pickled vegetables and fresh herbs. And it was while I was imagining it that I said I would make something like it. But it didn’t turn out quite like it. I failed in my first try. Who knew that proofing, shaping and scoring (putting those long slits in a bread) could be so difficult.
Overproofed and flat banh-mi
As in life, my motto since I was 12 years old was to “try and try until you succeed.” I researched more recipes that might work for me, and tweaked the recipe to my liking. I am really not fond of wet, sticky doughs, but my love for banh-mi didn’t stop me from trying. So be patient. Try to follow the recipe to the letter and don’t just eyeball it like I did in the beginning, and let me know in the comments section how it goes.
My second attempt was more successful. Crunchy on the outside and soft, chewy in the middle.
My third bake was even better, it looked store-bought. 🙂
Ingredients
- 200 ml warm water
- 10 g granulated sugar
- 8 g instant yeast
- 300 g bread flour
- 3 g salt
- 8 g white vinegar
- 5 g canola oil
For the sandwich
- mayonnaise
- liver pâté
- lettuce
- pickled daikon radish and carrots
- sliced cucumbers
- pressed meats, cold cuts or your choice of meat
- cilantro
- liquid seasoning
- sriracha sauce (optional)
- sliced jalapeno peppers (optional)
Directions
- Mix all ingredients in a mixing bowl
- Knead on a stand mixer with dough hook attachment for 15 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic
- Rest for 50 minutes or until double in size
- Cut and shape into 4 balls, rest for 5 minutes and roll into baguette shapes (please see video on how to shape it)
- Rest for another 50 minutes or until double in size
- Preheatoven to 450F, put pan with hot water on the lowest rack. The steam will make the bread crispy on the outside and soft inside.
- Use bread lame or sharp knife to score the middle of the bread (I used a clean box-cutter and it works, too)
- Spray with water and bake immediately
- Spray water inside oven every 3-6-9 minutes
- Remove pan of water from the oven when the dough starts to have golden brown color
- Continue baking. Total bake time is around 25 minutes.
- Assemble the sandwhich
Video
