So I finally made focaccia from scratch—first bread I’ve ever attempted—and it came out alright. I wouldn’t say it’s the best bread I’ve ever had but it was definitely solid for a first attempt.

Here’s the thing though. I took my first couple of bites and genuinely could not process what I was eating. It tasted completely different from the focaccia I’ve been buying from the store my whole life. Like, nothing alike.

My first instinct was that I must have done something wrong. If it tastes that different from what I know focaccia to be, surely that means I messed up, right?

I was so confused because my brain was saying “this isn’t focaccia” while also saying “this is delicious” at the same time and I couldn’t reconcile the two.

Has anybody ever felt this?

Edit: I’m not contesting that homemade is always better, I know that. It’s just this dissonance I felt, was wondering if people have felt that, too.