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Welcome to part 1 of Choose Your Own Bánh Mì Adventure. The bánh mì is one of the world’s top-performing sandwiches, and one of the most adaptable. She will be revisited in future newsletters, to ensure appropriate levels of adoration and respect are gathered. Readers will know her as a product of the French occupation of Vietnam; a collision of European baking styles with Vietnamese rice flour; creamy pâté with pickled daikon radish; roast or grilled meat or seafood with fresh herbs, chilli and butter-based mayo. The result is unique and a lesson in contrasts - ergo, a lesson in great sandwich making.
This week’s newsletter for paid subs has been written by Uyen Luu, who will share memories of her mum’s bánh mì stall in Saigon. Paid subs also enjoy access to the Sandwich Board, which is linked below - get involved!
There has been much discussion about the bánh mì baguette in Sandwich Circles. They are - apparently - tricky to replicate here due to differences in flour and, many will argue (oh, how they argue), climate. We may not have an abundance of rice flour or humidity but we do have Toad Bakery. Yes! It’s time for our second recipe from Rebecca Spaven, which, this time, is for a bánh mì baguette with a light texture and crackly crust designed to rain a shattered shower of crumbs. What a day!
If you don’t have time to make this recipe, we suggest using the kind of mass-produced baguette found in old-school high street bakeries and supermarkets. Make sure to pull out some of the fluffy crumb inside and give it a brief warm through in a low oven to crisp the exterior. Again, we urge you: stay away from the sourdough.
Bánh Mì Baguette Recipe
Makes 6 x 200g rolls This recipe requires an overnight rest in the fridge, so be sure to start the day before you wish to bake your rolls.
Equipment: Large mixing bowl, dough scraper, deep baking tray, baking sheet, sharp serrated knife, spray bottle, pastry brush.
700g strong bread flour
24g salt
2g instant yeast
7g sugar
40g vegetable oil
430g water
Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl, ensuring the salt, yeast and sugar are well distributed throughout the flour.
Add the oil and water, and mix together inside the bowl until fully incorporated.
Tip your dough onto an unfloured surface and knead for around 5 minutes. A metal or plastic scraper will help if your dough feels very sticky, try to avoid using any extra flour. You won’t reach full gluten development at this point - so don’t worry if your dough still feels a bit non-compliant.
Cover the dough with an upside-down bowl, and leave to rest for 10 minutes. Return to your dough and carry on kneading for another few minutes until it feels smooth and pliable.
Pop your dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover with clingfilm or a tea towel, and leave to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. Now put your dough in the fridge to ferment overnight (it will happily sit in the fridge for another day or two, if your plans suddenly change!)
Remove your dough from the fridge, and split into 200g portions. Roll each piece into blunt cylinders, roughly 15cm long. Leave to relax for 15 minutes, then gently roll each piece out another 10cm or so.
Place your rolls onto a floured tea towel, pulling a portion of the tea towel up between each roll so they are supporting each other, but the dough isn’t touching. Cover with another tea towel and leave to prove for around 2-3 hours.
Preheat your oven as high as it will go (around 260 celsius is ideal), and place two trays inside to heat up with it: one deep tray on the bottom rack of the oven, and one baking sheet.
When you’re ready to bake, carefully remove the baking sheet from the oven and line it with baking parchment. Tip your rolls onto the hot baking sheet, and with a sharp serrated knife, score them twice along their length.
Place the tray into the oven, tip some cold water into the deep tray on the bottom shelf, and liberally spray the rolls and the walls of the oven with the spray bottle before closing the door.
Turn the oven down to 220 celsius, and bake for 10-12 minutes, re-spraying the oven after 3 minutes.
When your rolls are done, remove them from the oven and place onto a cooling rack. Dissolve a teaspoon of salt into a glass of water, and, using a pastry brush, brush each roll with the salty water. This will give them a nice shiny crust. Leave to cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing.
Bánh mì fillings are varied but they often involve pork be it shredded, flossed, meatballed, barbecued, sausaged, and so on. Often, multiple porky elements are included, such as roast meat and shredded skin. However, many other adventures are available including meatballs, myriad seafood, eggs and even ice cream (not all at the same time). As previously mentioned, pickles, herbs and fresh chilli are fairly non-negotiable in savoury iterations.
We’re starting with a couple of our favourites here but honestly, this is a series that will run and run.
Peanut Butter Bánh Mì
Serves 2 This is a fantastic veggie bánh mì option, the rich peanut butter acting as a veggie pâté to contrast the fragrant and pickly bits.
Quick Pickling Liquor
1 teaspoon sea salt
50g caster sugar
150ml white wine vinegar
150ml hot waterÂ
1 carrot, peeled and cut into thin batons
A couple of inches daikon, peeled and cut into thin batons
Peanut butter
2 short baguettes, some of the crumb removed
1/4 cucumber, cut into thin batons
Mint
Coriander
Red chilli, sliced
This is a simple one. Combine all the ingredients for the pickling liquor and stir to combine. Add your batons of carrot and daikon and set aside for 20 minutes.
Spread a thick layer of peanut butter into a baguette and top with sliced cucumber, the pickles, mint, coriander and red chilli slices.
Five Spice Pork Belly and
Turmeric Omelette Bánh Mì
Serves 4 If you don’t want to make this with pork belly, it works incredibly well with fish fingers - we’d add some cucumber though.
Pork Belly
750g pork belly
Salt
Five spice
You’ll also need foil and, ideally, a rack
If you’re buying your pork belly from a butcher, it’s easiest to get them to score the skin. If not, you can do it with a sharp knife, a Stanley knife or - sound of angels singing - one of those little Victorinox. Score the skin and fat into 1cm strips, taking care not to cut through to the flesh.
If starting the day before, you have the opportunity to scald the skin with boiling water (don’t do this sooner than 24 hours ahead, as it won’t have enough time to dry out properly, and dry skin is key to good crackling). Place a rack over the sink (a cooling rack is ideal) or otherwise find something to balance your belly on, like some mugs or something, then pour a kettle full of boiling water over the skin.
Pat the skin dry. Then, if you want bonus points you shameless teacher’s pet, you can use a hairdryer to get it super super super dry.
Transfer the rack (if using) to a tray and place in the fridge, uncovered, to dry out completely overnight.
The next day, preheat your oven to 220C fan.
Remove the pork belly from the rack and rub the meat evenly with five spice and salt. Salt the skin heavily.
Use foil to make a little dish/casing for the pork belly to sit in, then prop it upright in the dish. This keeps all the fat around the meat so it basically confits, and also keeps the flavour and seasoning close by. You will need to tighten the parcel a couple of times during cooking as it shrinks. Keep it propped up with something - half an onion, anything really.
Roast for 20 minutes.
Reduce the temp to 180C and cook for a further hour.
If the skin still has some un-blistered patches, whack it under the grill and watch it like a HAWK until it’s done to your liking. Rest 20 minutes before slicing.
Turmeric Omelette
2 eggs
A nubbin of fresh turmeric (or use half a teaspoon ground turmeric), peeled and finely grated
About a tablespoon of chopped coriander
1 spring onion, green parts only, finely sliced
Butter, for cooking
Heat a small knob of butter in a frying pan.
Whisk together the eggs, fresh turmeric, coriander, spring onion and a pinch of salt
Add the mixture to the pan and allow it cook almost fully before flipping and cooking a minute or so more. This is not a soft omelette - it should be fully cooked.
Quick Pickled Fennel
1 bulb fennel, finely sliced
1 teaspoon sea salt
50g caster sugar
150ml white wine vinegar
150ml hot waterÂ
Combine all the recipes for the pickling liquor and mix well.
Add the fennel and set aside for half an hour. Refrigerate any leftover pickle for up to a week.
Fish Sauce Mayo
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon fish sauce
Pinch white pepper
Combine all the ingredients and mix well.
Spicy Fish Sauce Caramel
175ml water
80g sugar
1 tablespoon clementine or orange juice
3 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 red chilli, finely sliced
Combine the sugar and water in a saucepan and heat to dissolve the sugar (don’t allow it to come to the boil). Add the citrus and continue heating to the boil, then cook, watching carefully, until it’s a golden brown colour.
Carefully add the sherry vinegar and a tablespoon or so of water and heat again gently to dissolve any lumps. Add the chilli. Set aside.
To serve
Coriander
Baguettes
Assemble the sandwiches by removing some of the baguette crumb, then layering up the fish sauce mayo, pork belly, omelette slices, pickled fennel and coriander. Finish with a dribble of the fish sauce caramel.