In a medium microwave safe bowl, heat softened butter and milk in microwave. Stir until combined, mixture should be lukewarm. Add yeast and sugar to milk mixture. Wait about 5 minutes for the yeast mixture to foam. In a separate large mixing bowl, combine flour and salt. Pour milk mixture into the flour mixture. Knead the flour and milk together with your hands to form a ball. Dust a counter-top with flour and flatten out the dough. Fold the dough over and push down again about 60 times until the dough is very smooth. Place the dough ball in the bowl and cover with a warm damp cloth. Let rise until dough has almost doubled in size (approx. 45 min). When the dough is finished rising, punch the dough down to release the large air bubbles. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Separate the dough into two sections. Take a section at a time and roll the dough into a rope-like shape. Continue until the each piece of dough is about 2-3 feet long and ½ inch wide. Find the middle of each piece of dough by holding the ends up towards each other. Make an X with two pieces of dough. Take both ends of the dough on the bottom and bring them to the opposite side over the top of the dough. Alternate folding the piece on the bottom over the top until the dough is braided. Make sure there are no loose ends by folding them inside the dough. Place braided dough on a baking sheet. Beat an egg in a small bowl and baste over the top of the bread. Bake for 25 minutes. Bread should have a golden brown top. Check the bread every ten minutes to make sure it's cooking properly. If the oven does not heat evenly, rotate the bread after 15 minutes. Note: This was a class project for my Masters program on designing instruction. We created a full instructor guide for teaching someone how to make this bread. This is great to eat with Nutella, Butter, or Jam.