Growing up in Italy, I always took fresh bread for granted. My dad still goes to the neighborhood panetteria every day to buy fresh bread. When I moved to the US, I had to learn to manage my expectations when it came to bread, until I finally figured out how to make it myself. It took some practice, my family had to deal with eating bread resembling the texture of rocks for a while, but it’s now been more than 10 years that I have not bought bread from a store, no matter how fancy it looks – I know that mine will taste just as good (if not better)!

Note: I use bread flour in all my bread recipes (12-14% protein content, depending on the brand).