The yeast and bacteria needed for the dough to become bread are very much alive, just as we are, and I think some bakers, if only subconsciously, recognize this. We show our dough affection by patting it. Have you ever noticed?
Other artisans don’t do this. They don’t show affection towards their work this way. Brickmasons don’t pat their bricks, carpenters don’t pat their wood, and weavers don’t pat their rugs. None of those things are alive.
Bakers, on the other hand, are working with a dough teaming with billions of living yeast and bacteria. The bread dough is alive, so bakers show their dough some affection by patting it.
Think about this the next time you are shaping a loaf.
That’s my theory anyway. What do you think?
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“I’ve never heard anyone coming out of a grocery store say, “those bakers must have put a lot of love into this loaf.” As home bakers/artisan bakers, something of ourselves goes into every loaf we bake.”