Someone who likes to make bread by hand wrote in recently (I deleted
the message by accident so I don't know their name) asked if anyone
still makes bread by hand, because she thought that was the still the
superior way in spite of having a bread machine.
I have this argument with people all the time:
Bread machines DO NOT replace making bread by hand.
They replace BUYING bread from the store.
I can still make bread by hand anytime I want. But now I have fresh
baked bread first thing in the morning (instead of cold cereal). I
can make bread 3 or 4 times a week (something that would grow old VERY
quickly if I was doing it by hand and each time took 4 hours). And
today, for example, I am having my parents over for dinner, so while I
am at work, my bread machine is making fresh french bread. It will be
ready about 15 minutes after my parent arrive, so they will be greeted
with that wonderful smell as soon as they walk in the door. These are
times when I would never have made homemade bread anyway.