Slow is all I can say. I am not referring to the amount of time that you need to let it ferment but more on how long it took me to give this a try. Half the world is already baking this on a regular basis and I have only just joined the bandwagon. Real slow, huh? Better late than never, I guess. When I first read it on The New York Times half a century ago 2 years ago, I was intrigued but I was also living in France — The Land of Artisan Bread at Every Corner of the Street. Well, almost. It was easier for me to just grab the weekly baguettes at Kayser (exactly 8 minutes from my house) than make bread. Plus, my tiny Parisian apartment didn’t come with an oven……even if we bought one we’d had to put it under the bed. The kitchen is that small. I forgot all about No Knead Bread until I saw Spelt flour in the supermarket in Thailand. In fact, along with it I found Atta flour, a wide range of Waitrose flour, and other “exotic” flour. All at reasonable prices. Amazing, huh? Thailand has certainly come a loooooonnnngggg way.

Since I have never had spelt anything before and so much has been written about splet bread, so, spelt bread it is. I was tempted to add Atta flour and a variety of other flour but I thought it’d be best to just start with half white bread flour and half spelt. Who knows how the flours will react. Might turn into No Rise Bread.

My first attempt was a total failure. I added 1 5/8 cup water as specified in The New York Times. After a rest of 12 hours, I was faced with a very wet formless blob of a dough. It spread every which way like it’s got a mind of its own. It was impossible to follow through with the fold and rest process. I tried adding more flour (1 1/2 cup) but it didn’t work. In the end I chucked the whole thing into the garbage bin. Let the blob colonize the trash.

Cheese & Honey Tartine – Manchego would have been my first choice, but, alas, we don’t get that in Thailand.

Frustrated, I set up to mixing the second batch. This time I used only 1 1/2 cup of water. After saran wrapping it, I cursed it gave it a good blessing and hope all my bread woes will be gone tomorrow. It was only then I realized it was almost noon. Which means, I would have to be up at midnight to fold and rest the dough, then bake it at 2 AM. No frigging way was I going to do that. I let it ferment for 19 hours instead, and got up at 7 AM to make bread. (I swear the only times I wake up earlier than that to cook were to make food for monks.)

Grilled Tomatoes, Chorizo & Mint Pesto Tartine – mint and chorizo are my new favorite combo.

This time the dough was still a little wet but almost foldable. I did the best I can and let it rest for another two hours while I went back to catch up on some zzzzzzzzzzzz….

Fried Eggs, Mushrooms & Crème Fraîche – a random mix and match that turned out sumptuous.

When I finally got to bake it, it was beautiful even if it was slightly moist. I know I am supposed to let it cool before cutting but the sweet aroma of fresh baked bread made me really hungry. I went ahead and cut myself a slice and ate it as it is. Sometimes, bread is best enjoyed au naturel.

Bread and Butter – the combo that never fails.

I found out later from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day that bleached white flour tends to absorb more water thus making moist bread. (I plan to bake bread from this book as soon as I can get myself a nice big slab of stone.

Nam Prik Pao Tartine – a staple for many Thais abroad.

Over the course of the past few days, I enjoyed as many different kinds of tartines as I can possible concoct with whatever ingredients I have in the fridge. They were all lovely thanks to the crusty bread that I can now whip up effortlessly. As long as I time myself right.

Nutella Tartine – the staple for the kid in all of us.

*****

A few days after writing this post, I decided to make natural yeast water for my bread. (More info here.) I used dried figs in hopes of churning out fig-gy yeast water to make out-of-this-world fig bread. After three days I ended up with black molds. I chucked the whole thing into the garbage bin. Let the mold and the blob colonize each other. Upset, I made another batch with half Spelt and half whole grain unbleached bread flour with tasteless commercial yeast. The dough still came out moist. I could barely fold it. I am convinced it’s the tropic humid weather.

Since I recently bought four cute little Staubs, I divided the dough into four almost equal parts and made 4 different boules: lardon & thyme, pecorino, fig, and au nature. I think it worked for me because somehow the dough didn’t rise as much this time and it could fit into four small cocottes. The pecorino one was a bit of a disaster. The cheese oozed out and created a nasty burnt mass at the bottom of the oven. Bad cheese, bad.

My favorite is the lardon and thyme boule — luuuurrrrrrvvv the smell of fresh baked thyme and lardon.