In cup or small bowl (make sure there’s plenty of room for it to grow without overflowing) combine warm water, 1 Tbsp sugar, and dry yeast, let stand in a warm place.

Combine milk, shortening, sugar, and salt in pan. Heat it to melt the shortening, not to a full boil though. Remove it from the heat and let it cool. (If it’s too hot at the next steps it will kill the yeast. If it’s too hot to touch, it’s still too hot.)

Dump 4 C flour into a large bowl, pour in milk mixture. Stir to combine well. Add softened yeast and stir it in thoroughly. Should be a soft dough (sticky, etc). Cover with plastic wrap and let stand in a warm place for 10 min.

Spread 1/2 C flour on the counter/kneading surface. Dump out dough and kneed for 10-15 minutes. Add more flour as needed. Knead until smooth, and satiny.

Set ball of dough in a lightly oiled bowl, roll to cover with a thin oil film (or spray bowl with cooking spray, and a little more on the top). Cover with plastic wrap an leave it in a warm place (80-85F) to sleep until tripled in bulk.

Punch it down, flip it over, cover and let it sleep another 40 minutes.

Divide into 2 balls, cover and let rest for 10 minutes.

Mold each ball into loaf shape and place into a greased (Bakers Joy is AWESOME! It’s cooking spray with flour in it) loaf pan. Cover with plastic wrap and put it back in the warm place to sleep until doubled in bulk.

Bake at 400F for 10 minutes, then 375F for 30 minutes.

Turn out on wire cooling rack.