Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Hollow Breads (Banh Tieu)

Here is one of my favorite snack! Banh Tieu is a Vietnamese snack. It should be round, slightly sweet and crunchy with a hollow center. I call this a hollow bread since I used bread flour to make this. And it does taste like fried bread...lol. I like mine sweeter so I added more sugar to my recipe. Sweeter does taste better...hehehe. I can eat this for a couple days. I usually just put the left over in the oven to heat up and it'll be crunchy again. Yum Yum...




Ingredients:

290 g bread flour (2 cups)
150 ml water
100 g sugar (about 1/2 cup, add another tbsp for sweeter)
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp instant yeast
2 tsp baking powder
Sesame seeds

1. Take 50 ml water and microwave for 20 seconds or until the water is warm. Add in 1 tbsp sugar and the instant yeast. Let the yeast double or bubble up. Should just be a couple minutes.
2. Mix the left over sugar with 100 ml and stir until the sugar dissolve.
3. Mix the baking powder with the flour and salt. Then mix in the sugar water and then yeast water. Knead into a soft dough. If it's too dry then add in just a little bit more water.
4. Cover and let the dough rest for at least couple hours (3-4 hrs) or overnight until the dough double or triple in size. If you want it to prove faster, put it in the oven with the oven light on. Remember you must cover the dough.
5. Take the dough out and knead for one minute. Then divide the dough into 10 balls. The balls should be a little larger than a extra large egg. (Cover those that is not being used.)
6. Dip the ball in the sesame seeds on both sides. Then coat with some extra flour and roll the balls into flat circles. The flatness should be less than 1/2 inch. If your circles are thicker then you'll have a thicker filling. If it's too thin then you'll have nothing in the middle.
7. Heat a frying pan with enough oil to fry. Slide the flat dough into the oil and it will start to float. Gently try to push it with your chopstick and it should puff up. After it puff up then flip to fry the other side. Fry until golden. Frying should be quick so don't leave it alone or it'll be black!

Note: The longer you prove the dough the easier it will puff. Try to wiggle the flat dough when frying in hot oil. This will helps it puff.


12 comments:

ICook4Fun said...

We used to eat something very similar to this bread. The dough will have some 5 spice powder in it and some will have red bean paste filling.

Unknown said...

oh my goodness i am so glad i run into this site because i dont know what to make for this afternoon's tea before my hub comes home lol. thanks! im gonna make this since i got the ingredients already!

Kristy said...

Ann...remember you need to prove it at a warm area for at least a couple hours. Don't make the dough too thin or too thick. :) Try to wiggle the flat dough when frying in hot oil. This will helps it puff.

Unknown said...

ummm i was a bit naughty and didnt prove it long enoughhhh.......and i wanted it on the table before the man came home lol. He said it was very nice even though there was no hollow.... didnt puff up properly :P.

next time i will prove it for 4 hours. thanks for the recipee! you have so many viet desserts on here i am so lucky i stumbled on this site of yours

have a good day :)

Zoe said...

oh Cool. I never make this snack because it would never puff up like yours. I want to try your recipe, but I need to buy all the ingredients first. Thanks for sharing.

Ravenous Couple said...

yum!! yours look perfectly airy!

Thao said...

Hi Ch3rri,
Thank you for the recipe. I made banh tieu on Saturday and only 3 puffed up and the others puffed up partially . I followed your directions, but when I rolled them into balls, the dough did not have a smooth texture. When I fried them, they had holes because the oil formed bubbles and made gurgling sound when they popped.
Should the texture of the dough be smooth when I rolled them into balls? I might had used to much flour when I rolled them into a log and formed them into balls. They tasted delicious though.

Kristy said...

i think you might have used too much flour. The dough should be kind of soft. Don't over roll them. When you roll them flat you need to be careful and not roll them too flat or they will have not room to expand so it create holes. I usually did not create them into a log. I just pull the dough and create balls. Then use a little flour just enough for the surfaces and then roll it out. When I fry, I will try to move them so it can puff up. The technique to make it puff require practice...lol. Now you make me want to make some today. :)

Thao said...

Thank you. I will try to make them again this weekend.

esohlee said...

How many does it make? :-) thanks for the recipe!

Anonymous said...

Can I make this using my bread machine. Add the dry ingredient then dissolved yeast on top. I have a welbilt bread machine bam 100-3

Kristy said...

Yes, I always use my bread machine to knead the dough.