hi Marge,
I am german and here is my recipe:

1 cup lukewarm milk
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp dry yeast
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 pinch of salt
2 oz butter, melted but not hot!

milk to brush top


In a medium-size bowl mix milk with sugar, sprikle yeast on top, stir to disolve. Add half of the flour and stir with a fork or wooden spoon 1 minute cover with a plastic wrap and let rise for 15 to 30 min until visibly risen in volume. Give salt and butter on top, mix. Add the flour, first work with a wooden spoon until to stiff to stir. Turn out on a lightly floured worktop and knead for at least 10 min, only adding a little flour when too sticky ( try to use as little as possible ). Kneading so long is nessesary to bring air into dough and give it a good texture. Put dough in a lightly greased clean bowl, cover with plasic foil and let rise until at least doubled in volume, 30 to 90 minutes ( depends on room temperature).
In the meatime preheat oven to 390°F and grease a deep rectangular baking dish wich can hold, about 1 1/2 volume of the risen dough.
Put the risen dough on floured worktop and kneading only lightly, give it the shape of the dish. Put into dish and let rise covered for another 20 minutes. It is not nessesary to push down dough in all corners of the dish, as it will go there on its own when left to rise.
Brush top with milk and bake in center of the oven for about 45 minutes. After 20 minutes cut 1 inch deep along center of the bread to alow even rising. After 45 minutes remove bread from form and knock on the underside. If done it should make a hollow sound. If not bake another 5 to 10 minutes without the form.
Eat when still slightly warm or on the same day. Freezes well. Best with sweet spreads like butter and strawbery jam, though my husband loves it with very thinly sliced italian salami as well.