Skip to main content
Support

Browse by category

All categories
Fermentation Atlas

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. Made in 6 steps over 10 days. The longest step, mix the batter and let it ferment (traditional), takes up to 7 days (Nguyễn Hồng Khôi Nguyên 2020). Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Yeasts and moulds of the men starter do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepup to 7 daysReported[nguyen2020]Mix the batter and let it ferment (traditional)
AciditypH 3.9–4.2Measured[canh2025]Ferment glutinous rice into cơm rượu (traditional)
Fully documentedCereals and bread10 daysMore cereals and breadMore from Vietnam

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe quick, yeast-leavened bánh bò bông of a 2020 study (about 250 g of batter). For the traditional version, the cơm rượu is made at about 100 g of men starter per 5 kg of glutinous rice; no tested amounts were found for the traditional batter itself.
80 gRice flour[nguyen2020]
20 gWheat flour (no. 13) · For the yeast starter of the quick version[nguyen2020]
10 g + 30 gSugar · 10 g in the starter, 30 g in the batter[nguyen2020]
50 gWater · In the starter[nguyen2020]
60 gCoconut milk[nguyen2020]
1.25 % of the wheat and rice flour weight (1.25 g)Dry baker's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) · 1, 1.25, 1.5, 1.75 and 2 % were tested; 1.25 % scored best[nguyen2020]
1.5 gBaking powder · The 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: 10 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
StarchSugarAlcoholCO₂pH 3.9–4.2shapes, not to countMouldsYeastsLactic acid bacteria

What changes: Steamed glutinous rice with men starter turns sweet, sour and alcoholic

Step 1 of 6
Ferment glutinous rice into cơm rượu (traditional)
Time
3 days
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
pH 3.9–4.2
Measured
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Moulds
Yeasts
Lactic acid bacteria
Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The glutinous rice is steamed twice for 30 minutes, rolled into balls with salted hands, and sprinkled with ground men starter (100 g per 5 kg of rice). Output: cơm rượu and its liquid.

Flavour
sweet, sour and alcoholic
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 bacteria sour it

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

What makes this one different

Bánh bò is a rice cake leavened by fermentation, like Philippine puto, but it is 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.
  • Bánh bò thốt nốtPalm-sugar version from the Mekong (An Giang).

History and sources

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

The name is linked to a cow's udder (an 1895 dictionary) or to the batter "crawling" up the bowl as it rises.

  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. [canh2025] Huỳnh Văn Quốc Cảnh et al. 2025, Thực trạng sản xuất cơm rượu tại xã Trung Thạnh, huyện Cờ Đỏ, thành phố Cần Thơ (cơm rượu production in Trung Thạnh, Cần Thơ), Tạp chí Khoa học Trường Đại học Quy Nhơn 19(4)paper
  3. [s1] Wikipedia, Bánh bò (outline, variants and history)wiki