I am not sure how as a society we have gotten to the point where we no longer make bread at home. We buy the pasty white bread that has been so popular for years and slather it with mayonnaise and top it with cheap bologna. For many of us this was a childhood lunch. The tradition of making bread at home has been dwindled down to a small group of devotees. No longer are recipes and methods taught to the younger generation by the one before.
I have only tried to make bread at home a few times. I can remember each incident with perfect clarity as they were each an unmitigated disaster. The first attempt was when I was about 10-12 and I tried to bake white bread. The final product came out dense and hard with no real spongy interior. The second attempt was about a year into my marriage and I was trying to make chocolate bread (I think for my little sister). This time it only rose half way and tasted like burned chocolate cardboard. I love a good challenge, but this one is incredibly frustrating for me. I spent the first few months of this past year on the "bread side" at work while one of the employees recovered from a broken arm. We make almost all of our own bread for each banquet and for four restaurant outlets. Each bread batch is close to 50-75lbs of dough each. There are about twenty different varieties: bun dough for rolls, sourdough, spelt bread, cherry bread, wheat rolls, foccacia, grissini, ect... Each one, under the direction of the head bread baker, came out a beautiful golden brown, nicely formed and risen properly.
After tasting my results from my last attempt it seems that those few months of working with it day after day paid off. The bread came out perfect! Finally! My days off will soon be filled with kneading dough, allowing the dough to rise, punching it down, resting, shaping, proofing again, and finally baking to that golden brown sweet smelling perfection. There is something about the taste of the bread that was made by hand. It's better. I can't quite describe it without completely sounding soulful, like I am able to nourish my body by something that my own hands have made. Those first few slices hot out of the oven are like little slices of heaven!
After tasting my results from my last attempt it seems that those few months of working with it day after day paid off. The bread came out perfect! Finally! My days off will soon be filled with kneading dough, allowing the dough to rise, punching it down, resting, shaping, proofing again, and finally baking to that golden brown sweet smelling perfection. There is something about the taste of the bread that was made by hand. It's better. I can't quite describe it without completely sounding soulful, like I am able to nourish my body by something that my own hands have made. Those first few slices hot out of the oven are like little slices of heaven! 
