Homemade Bread

Mix the lukewarm water with the dried yeast in a small bowl and let it rest for 5 minutes.

Add the flour to a large mixing bowl and pour the yeast into the mixture. Add the salt and knead the dough until all the ingredients are well combined.

Cover the bowl with a cloth and leave the dough to rise at room temperature for about 2 hours.

Half an hour before the dough has finished rising, preheat the oven to 220° C. Lightly flour a surface and gently shape the dough into a ball. Place it on a sheet of baking paper and dust the top with flour.

Tie several pieces of string around the dough to section it into segments, creating a sort of pumpkin-like shape. Use a sharp blade or small scissors to make decorative cuts on the surface.

Preheat the oven to 220° C and bake it with steam and top-and-bottom heat for 15 minutes. Then, remove the steam, reduce the temperature to 200°C with bottom heat only, and bake for another 20 minutes.