Scald 1/2 cup of whole milk remove from the heat and add:
Add 1 cup of Boiling water stir and let cool below 100F
Dissolve 1 cake of yeast in 1/4 cup of water and let rest for a bit
When cool, pour milk mixture into a bowl and add:
Add the yeast mixture
add flour to form a soft dough... approximately 4 cups
Do not knead (but if you feel like it, go for it)
let the warm wet dough rise until doubled in bulk
Punch it down and form 2 long loaves. Cook in a bagette pan or on a sheet 400 F for 15 minutes (maybe less) reduce heat to 350 and bake about 30 minutes (maybe less)
Finish: Egg white wash (egg white + 1T cold water) Brush this mixture on the loaf about 5 minutes before completion
Notes: The scalding of the milk, adding the sugar, the shortening and using boiling water to the mixture is VERY important. It increases the cooling time but it gives a slightly different flavor to the loaf.
As usual.... putting a pan of water in the bottom of the oven adds to the chewyness of the crust
This recipe is plagiarized from the 3rd Joy of Cooking. Over a lot of years of white bread baking I have not been able to improve on it. It is a simple and beautiful loaf of bread. It can't touch a REAL sourdough french bread, but it's a treat here in the midwest.
Just enjoy it.