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Cereals and bread from Vietnam

Bánh bòbánh bò

A rice-flour batter with sugar and coconut milk is leavened by fermentation, then steamed or baked into a sweet, spongy cake. The traditional method starts from glutinous rice fermented with a rice-wine starter (cơm rượu) and takes nearly a week. A tested quick version uses baker's yeast and is ready to steam in under an hour.

Fully documentedCereals and bread2 days – 3 days

Recipe

Bánh bò, a photo from Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Memberofc1, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Amounts from a sourceThe quick, yeast-leavened bánh bò bông of a 2020 study. The sources give no tested amounts for the traditional cơm rượu or its batter.
Rice flour80 g[nguyen2020]
Wheat flour (no. 13)20 gFor the yeast starter of the quick version[nguyen2020]
Sugar10 g + 30 g10 g in the starter, 30 g in the batter[nguyen2020]
Water50 gIn the starter[nguyen2020]
Coconut milk60 g[nguyen2020]
Dry baker's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae)1.25 % of the wheat and rice flour weight (1.25 g)1, 1.25, 1.5, 1.75 and 2 % were tested; 1.25 % scored best[nguyen2020]
Baking powder1.5 gThe quick version uses it as well as yeast[nguyen2020]
Startercơm rượu (glutinous rice fermented with a men starter), traditionally; baker's yeast in the quick version

Total time across the recorded steps: 2 days – 3 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countMouldsYeastsLactic acid bacteriapH 3.9–4.5StarchSugarAlcoholCO₂

What changes: Cooked glutinous rice with men starter turns sweet and alcoholic

Step 1 of 6
Ferment glutinous rice into cơm rượu (traditional)
Time
2–3 days
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
pH 3.9–4.5
Measured
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Moulds
Yeasts
Lactic acid bacteria
Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The glutinous rice is cooked, cooled and incubated with the men starter. Output: cơm rượu and its liquid.

Flavour
sweet and pungent (cay nồng)
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

moulds of the men starter turn starch to sugar; yeasts make alcohol; lactic acid bacteria add some sourness

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

A rice-flour batter with sugar and coconut milk is leavened by fermentation, then steamed or baked into a sweet, spongy cake. The traditional method starts from glutinous rice fermented with a rice-wine starter (cơm rượu) and takes nearly a week. A tested quick version uses baker's yeast and is ready to steam in under an hour. Made in 6 steps over 2 days – 3 days. The longest step, ferment glutinous rice into cơm rượu (traditional), takes 2–3 days (Hoàng Tuấn Thanh et al. 2024). Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Yeasts and moulds of the men starter do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step2–3 daysReported[hoang2024]Ferment glutinous rice into cơm rượu (traditional)
AciditypH 3.9–4.5Measured[hoang2024]Ferment glutinous rice into cơm rượu (traditional)

What makes this one different

Bánh bò is a rice cake leavened by fermentation and sweetened with sugar and coconut milk. Its traditional leaven is cơm rượu, the sweet fermented glutinous rice also eaten on its own, not a lactic batter ferment.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Bánh bò bôngSteamed; the top cracks into a cross and opens like a flower (bông).
  • Bánh bò nướngBaked in a pan, often as a large cake served in slices; off-white inside with a golden crust from caramelised coconut milk.
  • Bánh bò hấpSmall steamed cakes, white, green (pandan) or pink to pale purple.

Safety

In five cơm rượu samples sold in Cần Thơ, pH was 3.92–4.54 and total coliforms and E. coli were below 3 MPN/g; the paper notes that the low pH and high acidity help keep fermented rice safe to eat. This describes the traditional leaven, not the batter.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

History
The sources we found do not record its history.
  1. [nguyen2020] Nguyễn Hồng Khôi Nguyên 2020, Ảnh hưởng của tỷ lệ nấm men Saccharomyces cerevisiae và thời gian lên men đến chất lượng bánh bò bông (Effect of yeast ratio and fermentation time on the quality of bánh bò bông), Tạp chí Công Thương 21paper
  2. [hoang2024] Hoàng Tuấn Thanh et al. 2024, Khảo sát chất lượng và phân lập nấm men, nấm mốc từ cơm rượu được sản xuất ở thành phố Cần Thơ (Evaluation of quality and isolation of yeast and mold strains from fermented glutinous rice in Can Tho city), Tạp chí Khoa học Đại học Cần Thơ 60 (special issue Natural Sciences), pp. 461–472paper
  3. [s1] Wikipedia, Bánh bò (outline, variants and history)wiki