This is a very basic recipe for white bread.   Although I haven't made it for years, there was a time when I made it about once a month or so, varying what I did with it.   It can be turned into loaves or rolls, dusted with flour, glazed with egg, or sprinkled with seeds—with each variation turning out quite different in texture and flavour.   Nowadays, though, you can get a fair number of decent types of bread at the supermarket, so baking my own is not so much of a priority.

Ingredients

1 pkg yeast
1 tbsp white sugar
2 cups warm water

5-6 cups flour
1 tbsp salt
2 cups water (approx.)

3 tbsp yellow cornmeal
1 tbsp egg white or whole egg
1 tbsp cold water

Optional:
2 tbsp poppy seeds or sesame seeds or flour

Directions

Preparing the Yeast
Put two cups of lukewarm water in a warmed mixing bowl.   Dissolve a tablespoonful of sugar in it, and sprinkle the yeast over the top.   Leave until the yeast has proved (i.e. turned foamy), which should take about five or ten minutes.

Making the Dough
Mix the salt into the flour.   Add it to the dissolved yeast one cupful at a time, mixing it in well.   As the mixture gets too stiff to handle, add more water as needed until all the flour has been incorporated into the dough.   However, the end result should be a stiff dough with a firm, reasonably dry surface.   It should not be sticky.

Kneading the Dough
Form the dough into a large round ball, and put it on a clean flat surface (such as a kitchen counter) that has been dusted with flour.   Press the heels of both hands into the dough, and push firmly down in a direction slightly away from you.   Pull the dough up over itself, and repeat the process.   Occasionally give the dough a half turn, so that it gets well pummelled in all directions.   Do this for at least five minutes.

Leave the Dough to Rise

Preparing the Baking Sheet
Grease a large baking sheet, and sprinkle it with cornmeal.   This is a thin cover, but sufficient cornmeal should be used to completely cover the surface of the baking sheet, at least in the area where the loaves will be put.

Shaping the Loaves

Finishing Touches
    French loaf:     In a cup, combine the egg white and water.   Brush this over the top of each of the loaves.   Then take a sharp knife, and slash each loaf three times diagonally across the loaf.
    Italian loaf:     Dust the top of each of the loaves thickly with flour.   Take a sharp knife, and slash the top of the loaf lengthwise.

Second Rising
Leave the loaves in a warm place for an hour or two to rise again.   As they rise, the slashes will be forced open by the rising dough.   Through the open slashes, the dough then rises in a different texture, producing a pattern on the top of the loaf.

Baking
Bake at 400°F for about twenty minutes until the crust is a rich golden brown.   (For the Italian loaf, this has to be judged under the flour.)   Remove from the oven, and cool on a wire rack.

Makes two large loaves.

Variations

Rolls
If you wish to make only one loaf and use the rest of the dough to make rolls, then divide the second half of the dough into six small pieces of equal size (judged by weight).   These can be shaped into rounds or ovals, glazed with egg, or brushed with flour.   They will take less time to bake.

Poppy Seed Twists

Sesame Seed Loaf
After glazing the top of the loaf with beaten egg, sprinkle it thickly with sesame seeds.   (Slashing the top after that is optional.)

Soft Crust
Glazing the top of the loaf with beaten egg white gives the bread a hard crisp finish.   If a soft crust is preferred, then brush the top of the loaf with milk instead.

Baps
Shape the rolls into ovals.   Brush the tops with milk, and dust heavily with flour.   Bake on a greased, floured baking sheet which has also been dusted heavily with flour.