BANH MI VIETNAM: What Makes the Perfect Loaf?

Banh mi is one of the most recognizable foods to come out of Vietnam, but the bread itself is something most people rarely stop to think about. It's incredibly light, shatteringly crispy, and unlike a traditional French baguette in almost every way. Yet despite its popularity, there isn't much information that explains why it's made the way it is. So in this episode, I wanted to go straight to the source. Growing up in Vietnam, this used to be one of my favorite breakfasts. Hot baguette paired with condensed milk. It is something that my mom, my dad, my grandma, my grandpa used to give us for breakfast, my siblings and I before we go to school, and just having this brings me back to that moment. Cheers. Today I'm sitting down with a Vietnamese baker to better understand the techniques behind making banh mi. From the ingredients they choose to the way they mix, ferment, shape, and bake the dough. My hope is that by the end of this conversation, we'll all have a better understanding of what makes a great Vietnamese baguette. At first, I didn't want to pursue this career, because it was too hard. But no matter what I did, my family would always support me. I have a lot of memories with this job. When I was in school, I was already familiar with my wife. My wife had a bakery a bit further down the street. So when I got home, I would buy a hot baguette for my wife. I liked to eat banh mi, but at the same time, I loved my wife. So I followed in her footsteps. My philosophy when it comes to this job is that whatever you do to bring it back to your body, you have to be able to eat it and feel that it's delicious. First of all, I invite my family or go on a business trip. From the beginning to the final product, I have to observe and pay attention to each stage. For me, my teacher is only me. In the process of making, I have to learn to read, write, and write. And it takes my passion to solve those problems. The characteristic of this job is to stay up late and wake up early. Actually, I don't want to stay up late like that. But the fate and the job choose me and create joy in the process of making. When I make banh mi, my body is very energetic. It doesn't get bloated. So later on, I always encourage myself in the process of making to improve my process to make it as light as possible and suitable for sleeping at night instead of staying up late and waking up early. My starting environment is also industrial, not manual. But when I go to the store, my economy is not enough. My machine is not as complete as the place I worked before. So I have to learn how to make banh mi by hand after 5 years of working. My luck is my wife. She has been making banh mi for 3 generations. In the past, I had to mix the ingredients by hand. Now, I bring the technology to my wife. There was a big event. I made a 7 kg wet flour banh mi. When I baked it, it weighed about 5 to 5.5 kg. I made a banh mi with shumai, pate, and tuna to set a record of 100 dishes related to fish in Vietnam. Before we talk about making banh mi at home, can you tell us the difference between making banh mi in the oven and making banh mi at home? Making banh mi at home is very different. For example, there is only one oven here. And the opposite oven makes 2 different kinds of banh mi. The difference here is the equipment and the skill. For the ingredients, I can buy everything in the oven and bring it home to make it. Why can't I make it? Even if the recipe is from the oven, the key is the mixing technique. Each skill is different. And the mixing technique of each step is different. It creates a different dough. The most difficult thing is the mixing. If you mix it and it doesn't create the right dough, it's impossible to make it. Especially, you can't make the right taste. Vietnamese banh mi is made according to industrial standards. It takes only 5-7 minutes to make the dough. With the equipment of foreign countries, it takes 12-15 minutes to make the dough. But it's not as fast as Vietnamese banh mi. Some of my friends were surprised because they didn't know that there are many kinds of banh mi. Can you tell us a little bit about Vietnamese banh mi? Actually, Baguette was first in Saigon. But the people who eat and develop banh mi are mostly in the central region, in Huế and Đà Nẵng. But later, Vietnamese banh mi was developed in the US. Vietnamese banh mi is more advanced and lighter than Vietnamese one. The dough is more compact and thinner. What do you think when you hold a baguette? Actually, I don't care about the crispiness. You don't care about the crispiness. What I care about is that the crust is not swollen. That's the first thing I care about. That's a good baguette. If I were a customer, I wouldn't buy a baguette. It's still crispy when it's cold. Because those baguettes are affected by chemicals. Good baguettes will be tough when they're cold. But if you break the crust, it will be more compact. It won't be swollen. You have to eat the feeling of the crust. But the person who sees it will know that it's a bad crust. You have to tear it apart. Tearing apart the crust will show the structure of the baguette. The person who makes it will know how to do it right. That's how you make a strong structure. You have to bake it. That's how you make a good baguette. It doesn't matter if you have a good skin or not. The process is important. Just look at the baguette and tear the crust. It's good. It doesn't matter if it's a modern or traditional baguette. Modern baguette is good. It's good when you eat it right away. It's tough when it's cold. But it's still good. It will be good at some point. It's the same with a traditional baguette. But a traditional baguette can last for 3-4 hours. 3-4 days is the same. It's good. You just have to heat it up. It's crispy. It's good to eat. The real value is there. But for a traditional baguette, my opinion is that it's still the best. I saw a picture of a baguette with a smile on it. Can you share with us what that means? When you do a job, you want to make it fun. You want to have fun with the final product. When people eat a baguette, they want to tear the crust. Why do you make it funny? You make it simple. You make the baguette successful. But when it's torn, you have to laugh. It's laughing at you. This cut is not from me. Even the ancestors said that this baguette is like a smile on a person's face. It's like your eyes are open. So who is successful with their eyes closed? Who is successful with their face? It's all about the smile. And the big and bright angles. It creates a soul. That's the story of a baguette with a smile on it. In addition to the equipment and the ingredients, what do you think people need to pay the most attention to? The most important thing is the baking. In terms of manual baking, in the fermentation stage and the shaping stage, you don't need a machine to do it manually. But with a baking oven, it must have two elements. The heat must be good. And keep the heat well. And the second part is very important for Vietnamese baguettes. It's the humidity. Too much is not good. Too much will result in steamed baguettes. Like a bun. It's hard to make it golden. But when it's golden, it makes the crust of the baguette smooth. In the old days, people baked with an earthen oven. Just think that an earthen oven can still bake. But there was no wind. There was no wind. There was no equipment. They only had a floor to heat the bottom of the floor. There was no heat on the top. But people still baked the baguettes evenly. But at that time, it was delicious in the French style. Not like now. Vietnamese baguettes were only recognized internationally in 2011. Before that, there were equipment to create the rigidity, the deliciousness of the baguettes and the unique characteristics of Vietnamese baguettes. The equipment was already there. Gradually, the deliciousness helped the baguettes be recognized internationally. There was no end to it. People still made baguettes. To sum up, I want to share that we have to ask a lot of questions. If we do something new, it will limit our questions. But if we create products that are hundreds of years old, we have to ask a lot of questions to go back to the past to understand how they were formed. From there, I apply what I want and what is missing in terms of equipment to fix it. How to create a steamer without a steamer? There were two types of steamers in the past. The first one was a boiler. The second one was a bain-marie. We put the baguettes on a iron plate and then put them in. The bain-marie creates steam with a frame. It will create steam. The bain-marie in my hometown, Nha Trang, is used to store water in the inside of the boiler. Is there water in the inside of the boiler? It is used to make water tanks. During the baking process, the steam will come out and the steamer will be low. It is just enough to make a small baguette. It is easy to remove the steam because the steam from the baguette will remove the heat and the steam. Before baking, they created the insulation. They used red bricks to make the insulation. First, it keeps the heat and second, it absorbs the water. It absorbs the water? Yes, it absorbs the water. Before baking, they used a wet cloth to absorb the water. During the baking process, the cloth will absorb the water and everything will be solved. Actually, there are things that are too complicated during the production process. We will remove them and put them in the machine. We have to adjust it on the machine to make it suitable. We have to make it match with the platform. Back to the equipment, materials, everything. At first, the shape is strange. Is it enough to make it? In the family, how do we make it? In my head, I know all the details. What do we need? The material, the shape, the tools. Now, we have everything. In the family, we have everything. Everything has a basis to make bread. Then, we have to find the material. If the flour is good and the yeast is good, we have to add the flavor. During the process, we have to pay attention to the yeast. The yeast is like the flavor of love. The more you pay attention, the more you add. It's not like adding a spoonful of yeast to make it more delicious. No. What we need here is just enough. But we have to understand whether it's enough for that person, that loaf of bread. Is it enough? OK. For the ingredients, we only have water, salt, yeast, yeast, and flour. The main ingredient is the flour. We have to find it to make it taste good. That's why I went to Nguoi to learn how to make Vietnamese bread. It's very difficult. It's impossible. I always teach and share at level 7 to 8. It's extremely difficult. Why do people have to use Vietnamese ingredients? When I understand those problems, those stories, like what I've told you, I dare to say that when I was a student, I didn't know what my purpose was, what my mindset was. I mainly focused on my job. I went deeper into my job to make Vietnamese bread the best I could. But here, I want to go deeper into Vietnamese bread and bring more impact to other people. I want to share those stories. When I hear those stories, I dare to say that when you make Vietnamese bread, you have a different mindset. It's more energetic. So there are times when you have to be decisive to solve the problems in that process. Like what you've shared, you just need to care. From the mixing stage, even before mixing, you have to care. You have to understand in order to make it taste good. It's true that it only takes a few minutes to make a loaf of bread. But I've understood how hard it is to make a loaf of bread. The owners are a bit sad when they see a loaf of bread with a price of only 2,000 or 3,000 VND per loaf in Vietnam. But when I eat it, I still want my customers to see a loaf of bread as a gift from their children. The owners use their children as a tool to bring good things to their customers. Everyone wants to eat the best and the most quality bread. Don't underestimate the quality of the bread when you buy it. As he said, no matter how expensive the bread is, the quality of the bread has to be cheap. I want to eat a better loaf of bread. In business, there's a service that makes customers feel happier. You have to understand the value of the bread not the price of 2,000 or 3,000 VND. That's what makes customers happy. First of all, the customers appreciate the taste of the bread. After hearing you share your point of view, I compare it to the point of view of those who love broken rice and beef noodle soup. They want to change the way they see Vietnamese food. I want the world to change the way they see Vietnamese food. Thank you for sharing your point of view with me. I'm always here to support you. What I've learned from this journey is that great bánh mì isn't defined by just one thing. It's not just the flour, the recipe, or even the oven. It's the years of experience behind every decision and the people who dedicate their lives to perfecting something so many of us take for granted. That's the reason I make these videos. Whether it's cơm tấm, phở, bún bò, or now bánh mì, my hope is that the next time you enjoy one, you'll see not just the food but the craft, the culture, and the people behind it.