If yesterday you read my post about making bread and failed, today I have successfully got my mom’s approval.
I am pretty tenacious and I have one track of mind, if I want something I have to get it. So, making bread was something like that. I lost my sleep just thinking about how to make bread and make it good. I ended up browsing more about recipes and found this awesome simple recipe on making Banh Mi, a baguette but with an even crispier outer side originating from Vietnam.
Everyone including my grandma was excited to see me making bread. She gets used to seeing me working hard just so I can satisfy my curiosity. She made a few jokes while I was trying to knead the dough and it was really fun.
It’s not that difficult to find the ingredients to make Banh Mi . All you need is flour, water, salt, sugar, and active yeast. The challenge would be kneading and also waiting time. For four loaves of Bánh mì, it took me 2 hours making them with 200g of flour. You certainly can make a bigger batch but for a single serving, four is enough. This is the link to the youtube where I follow the recipe from and I can attest that they work pretty well. If you have any friends or inlaws you want to impress, just make them Banh Mi.
As usual, my mom was being fussy until I mentioned that it’s not soft bread. Indonesians generally don’t eat hard bread. Bread in most of our minds has to be soft and with some fillings. However, I personally often eat hard bread as a staple in my diet, rather than rice which I reserve for specific dishes. So, I have to introduce my mom to some hard bread that I like including baguette and sourdough.
Some of the things I learned about bread making is that the measurements matter. You have to be exact following the recipe and use a timer for proofing and resting the dough. I think the yeast is also important for the success of bread. But there’s no other science than those I mentioned.
The one thing I learned to make the bread crunchy is by sprinkling/spraying water before baking. Then, put a tray of water below the bread. I tried that technique and mine came out very crunchy and satisfying. I will be making more bread and experimenting with different ingredients as well as trying to make sandwiches from my own freshly baked Bánh mì. I wish to make more but I already finished off my mom’s flour supplies. So, I have to wait until she’s restocking again. Anyhow, I don’t know why lately everything is vietnamese but you can also read my post about Phin, a coffee filter and brewing method from Vietnam.