Yeast baking is fun! For crusty bread I use flour, yeast, water and salt. For soft sandwich bread or buns I use milk or buttermilk (scalded), shartening or some sort of fat and 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda in the flour. I mix it in my big mixer like so:
warm liquid on the bottom, then half the flour (maybe a little less), and yeast and mix till smooth. Let sit covered and warm for about 10 minutes. Add remaining ingredients, reserving about 1/2 cup of flour and stir using the kneading blade for about 8 minutes. Dough should be smooth and not sticking to the bowl. If it's sticky, add some of the reserved flour. Turn onto floured board/counter/cloth and shape in a smooth ball. Spray bowl with cooking spray and put ball of dough back in it. Spray top of ball and cover with saran and a towel. Let rise in a warm place till doubled in size.
Shape into loaves and place in greased pans. Let rise about half the initial rising time. Bake....
Top prizes in the yeast baking at my local fair about five years running ... to the point no one else was entering.... so I stopped.