I'm no baker. I can make an edible cake but my attempts with bread have rarely satisfied me, let alone anyone else. Last year, on our trip to the far south of Italy, we discovered Pane di Altamura, a huge, extremely well cooked bread made entirely with durum wheat. In a part of Italy known for cucina povera, this was delicious with its thick, crunchy crust and springy, tasty interior. I wanted to have a go at making it, despite my hitherto inability to make a decent loaf.
What I made is not remotely authentic: the real thing has a 'cappidde de prèvete' or priest's hat - my dough was too floppy for that - and I started baking it in a dutch oven which is probably not the way its done down there. I should emphasise that I was aiming for a bread that is simple to make but turns out well.
It's a two day affair as you have to make a starter first: mix 280g fine ground semolina with 265g lukewarm water and a couple of grams of yeast. put it somewhere quite warm for a couple of hours then somewhere cool and leave it overnight. It should triple in size.
The next day (or, if you want to leave it a few days, you should have put the starter in the fridge and got it out just a couple of hours before this stage), add in 390g water and mix together then gradually add 500g semolina and mix until it stops sticking to the sides of the bowl. Leave to stand for up to an hour to autolyse (this will help the dough become more stretchy).
Dissolve 15g salt in 50g water then add another couple of grams of yeast to the dough and mix in, followed by the salt water until it is fully absorbed into the dough. You will need to knead it again until it's coming away from the bowl but, if you are doing this in a mixer, it will still likely flop as soon as you stop mixing. Anyway, when it's smooth, it's ready to be put aside somewhere fairly warm for a couple of hours until it has doubled in size.
From here it can get easy or complicated, depending on your approach to bread making. Clearly I'm going with the easy approach so the next thing to do it a light kneading, as you would for sourdough (ie. just stretch and fold the dough half a dozen times) then back in the bowl for half an hour or so whilst you heat the oven to full temperature. Lightly oil the inside of your casserole/dutch oven then line it with some semolina, put the lid on and stick it in the oven. It will take about half an hour to get to temperature - when the semolina is beginning to darken, you should be ready to gently flop the dough in, put the lid on and return it to the oven for 20 minutes after which, remove the bread from the casserole and return it to the oven for 30-40 minutes until it has developed a great crust and deep golden brown colour (and, of course, sounds hollow when you knock on its underside).
Leave the bread to cool then serve it with your favourite butter or cheese - or anything you like (it's not the stuff of sandwiches though). But which wine?
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It's bread. Bread and wine? It's biblical. Whatever takes your fancy or goes with the cheese. We opted for Domaine Brusset's Cairanne 'Vieilles Vignes' 2020, a classic 50/50 Grenache and (lightly oaked) Syrah, a long-standing favourite. There are numerous good alternatives: Xavier Vignon's 'SM', Juvenal's 'Terre du Petit Homme'... but the Brusset one, with its earlier name 'Chabriles' is one of the first wines we imported, an old friend. | 
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