Mix flour, sugar and salt together into a big bowl.

Add the instant yeast and mix well.

Rub oil into the flour.

Add the warm milk and water.

Bring everything together into a shaggy dough.

If you are going to knead the dough by hand then dust the worktop with some flour.

Transfer the dough onto the worktop and knead for 10 minutes.

Alternately use the dough kneading machine. Let it run for 5-7 minutes.

Transfer the dough to a flour dusted worktop and shape the dough into a ball.

Grease the bowl with some oil.  Rub some over the dough ball.

Return the dough to the greased bowl.

Cover with cling film, a lid or a damp cloth and allow it to ferment for 1 hour 30 minutes or till it is double in size.

The fermentation time will depend on how warm your kitchen is. It will be faster in a warm hot place.

Peel and mince or finely chop the garlic.

Chop the basil leaves finely. Alternately can use dried basil.

Add the basil and garlic to the soft butter.

Mix well and keep on the side till required.

Deflate the dough.

Shape into a ball again gently.

Roll it out a bit using a rolling pin. This makes it easier to divide the dough properly.

Divide the dough into quarters using a sharp knife or pizza cutter.

Divide each quarter into 3 parts. So totally you will have 12 dough pieces.

Alternately, you can weigh the dough using weighing scale and then divide the number by 12. That gives you a rough estimate how much each dough ball should weigh.

Roll the 12 dough parts into small balls.

Dust the worktop with some flour. Roll each dough ball roughly into 3 inch diameter circle.

Using a knife, spread some basil garlic butter on each of the circles.

Make a stack of 6 circles. That means you should have 2 stacks of 6 circles.

Cut the stacks into halves.

Grease a loaf tin with some olive oil. I have used 9.5 inches by 5 inches tin.

Gently arrange the halved stacks in the tin with the cut side down and the curved side up.

Make sure the unbuttered sides are at the ends.

Cover the loaf tin with a damp towel and allow the shaped loaf to rise. This will take about 45-60 minutes depending on the weather.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC.

Brush the top of the loaf gently with some milk. For vegan version, use vegan milk.

Bake the loaf for 35 minutes or till the top of the loaf appears golden brown.

Remove the bread from the oven.

Using a spatula, run it around the sides of the pan so that the loaf comes away from the pan.

Gently remove the bread from the tin.

If there is any remaining basil garlic butter, brush the top of the loaf with it. Alternately, can use normal butter.

Allow it to cool a bit of a wire rack.

Serve it warm.