This recipe is designed for those who do not have too much experience in bread making.

Bread is a marvellous gift of the earth, but it is also the result of sacrifice, work, love of cooking, and above all, love for those who have to eat it.

Making bread was one of my first passions: I remember that since I was a little girl I loved to put my hands in the dough, but not always with satisfactory results. Then gradually came the first satisfactions, the first well-leavened loaves, and the first compliments and, although I did not know any particular bread-making techniques, the passion for the art of baking grew in me and developed more and more.

Have you ever tried baking bread at home?

Did you know that you can make it very easily, without too much work or waiting? Follow my few indications and you will see that even with your hands and with the help of Ghisanativa, bread can be made, a poor bread, fast, without too many aesthetic expectations, but good and genuine as only home-made things can be!

Ingredients

• 600 g re-milled durum wheat semolina;
• 400 g lukewarm water;
• 3.5 g dry brewer’s yeast or 12 g fresh yeast;
• 10 g extra-virgin olive oil;
• 10 g salt;
• 5 g sugar.

Serves:

A kg loaf of bread

Preparation times:

2 hrs of preparations

Costs:

very low

Cooking time:

60 minutes

(1) Gather the flour in a bowl, (2) add the lukewarm water, (3) the teaspoon of sugar and the yeast. (4) Mix with a spoon, add the salt in a small corner and (5) work into the bowl with your hands.

(6) Move the dough onto a work surface and (7) knead for about 5 minutes, (8) form a ball, cover with the same bowl and leave to rest for 20 minutes.

Take the dough and make a round of folds: stretch the dough, (9) fold the top edge inwards, (10) fold the bottom edge over this, then (11) fold the right side inwards, overlap the left side, (12) turn over and form a ball. Leave to rest for another ten minutes and repeat the folds.

Shape into a ball again and place in (13) a basket dusted with flour and with the (14) bottom of the dough facing upwards. (16) Place the basket in the oven to rise with the light on until doubled. This could take around 60 minutes, but this is a guide and varies according to outside temperatures.

When it has almost doubled in size, turn on the oven, put the cast iron pan in with its lid and let it reach 250°C. This will take about 20 minutes, depending on your oven thermostat.

When the temperature has reached 250°C, take the pan, place it on a wooden chopping board, remove the lid, taking care not to subject it to thermal shock, and then turn the bread inside the pan with a sharp blow. Then make deep cuts in the surface using a sharp knife.

Put the covered pan back in the oven and bake the bread at the highest temperature for 40 minutes, then turn it down to 180° and continue baking for a further 20 minutes. Turn the oven off, remove the lid from the pan and leave the bread in for ten minutes with the oven slightly open.

Remove from the oven, take out of the pan and leave to cool on a wire rack before serving. Keep the leftover bread wrapped in a cotton cloth for a day or two, or make tasty bruschetta with the Ghisanativa griddle.

“Mother, wife and blogger. I have my own blog on Giallo Zafferano and I cook simple dishes just like you would. I wrote the first ebook of Ghisanativa recipes and I am very proud of it. Have you downloaded it yet?

Look for me on Instagram @ilcaldosaporedelsud and Facebook.”

The recipe was prepared using