Whisk the warm water, warm milk, yeast, and sugar together in the bowl. Cover and allow to sit for 5 minutes.

Add the butter, salt, and half of the flour, mix it. Add the remaining flour and mix again.

Knead the dough by hand on a lightly floured surface for 5–8 full minutes. If the dough becomes too sticky during the kneading process, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of flour at a time on the dough or on the work surface/in the bowl to make a soft, slightly tacky dough. Do not add more flour than you need; you do not want a dry dough. After kneading, the dough should still feel a little soft. Poke it with your finger—if it slowly bounces back, your dough is ready to rise. You can also do a “windowpane test” to see if your dough has been kneaded long enough: tear off a small (roughly golf-ball-size) piece of dough and gently stretch it out until it’s thin enough for light to pass through it. Hold it up to a window or light. Does light pass through the stretched dough without the dough tearing first? If so, your dough has been kneaded long enough and is ready to rise. If not, keep kneading.

Lightly grease a large bowl with olive oil or nonstick spray. Place the dough in the bowl, turning it to coat all sides in the oil. Cover the bowl and allow the dough to rise in a relatively warm environment until double in size (approximately 1 hour).

Grease 12×22-cm loaf pan or cover it with baking paper.

When the dough is ready, punch it down to release the air. Lightly flour a work surface, your hands, and a rolling pin. Roll the dough out into a large rectangle. Roll it up into a log and place in the prepared loaf pan.

Cover shaped loaf with aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or a clean kitchen towel. Allow to rise until it’s about 1 inch above the top of the loaf pan, about 1 hour.

Adjust oven rack to a lower position and preheat oven to 180°C. (It’s best to bake the bread towards the bottom of the oven so the top doesn’t burn.)

Bake for 30 minutes inside a baking sleeve and then 5 min without a sleeve (sleeve is not necessary to use). If you notice the top browning too quickly, loosely tent the pan with aluminum foil. To test for doneness, if you gently tap on the loaf, it should sound hollow. For a more accurate test, the bread is done when an instant-read thermometer reads the center of the loaf as 90–93°C.

Remove from the oven and allow bread to cool on a cooling rack at least for an hour before slicing.

Cover leftover bread tightly and store at room temperature for 6 days or in the refrigerator for up to 10 days.