From King Arthur's Website:
Making a loaf of bread, turning a sticky, lumpy mess into a loaf of real bread, feels different from buying a loaf that someone else or some mystery machine has made. If you haven’t made bread yet, we won’t tell you what that feeling is, or try to describe it.

When you are holding a slice of warm bread in your hand, one that you made yourself, you’ll know that feeling, plus, from that slice of bread, you will get more energy than you can from any other kind of food. It can help you lose weight. It can be packed with things that are good for you, and things that are not so good when you’re in the mood for a break.

Like your fingerprints, the bread you bake will be completely your own. It will reflect your personality and no one else’s because of the infinite number of variables you affect, either consciously or unconsciously, as you bake. Whether your hand is light or generous when measuring and adding ingredients, the length of time you spend kneading, the aromas in your kitchen, its temperature and the rate the air flows through it, the color and shape of your bread pans, the size and age of your oven, even the mood you’re in at the time you bake (whatever it is, making a loaf of bread will probably improve it!), all these and more imprint your bread so that it can be no one’s but yours.

A word about cooling breads after baking:
This is the most overlooked step in the bread-making process. Cool the loaves in their pans for about ten minutes before removing the pans. Cool on a rack for proper air circulation. As tempting as a warm-from-the-oven loaf may be, the bread needs to cool in order for the structure to set. Cutting a warm loaf causes mashing and tearing. Never wrap loaves until they're fully cool: condensation will form, causing a soggy crust and promoting spoilage.

This concept is so difficult and patience is not always an option when the whole house smells of freshly baked bread. The only way around it that I have found is to carefully us a searated bread knife to do the cutting.....and when done, turn the cut side of the bread down on the rack or cutting board to prevent it from drying out too much. This is one of the problems with cutting the bread too soon - but we all think of ways around it. I can't even imagine letting every loaf of bread cool completely before trying it - unless, of course, if it's a gift.