Ok confession time...
Today I'm a graphic designer for a to remain unnamed American space agency, but in my youth (while in college) I was the head baker at a grocery store in Louisiana (also remaining unnamed). There are some things we were never meant to know, this is one of them:
I think in my year as head baker, only once did I ever make bread in the traditional way.
Here is a important fact to remember: At grocery stores, the french bread all comes in as already kneaded and ready to go dough made out of bleached flour and who knows what else. The french bread dough comes in frozen, and is about the length of your forearm.
This dough is thawed out and stretched out to "french bread" size, then put in the proofer (a steamy oven that runs at a low temperature), once its nice and fluffy, it goes in the oven.
The awful truth is that 90% of what's baked is made out of french bread dough. You think you're getting italian bread? Its just french bread without getting stretched. You think you're getting four hoagies? Its just french bread cut in fours. You think you're getting dinner rolls? Its just french bread cut into 12 pieces. You think you're getting keiser rolls? Its just french bread cut into 8 pieces and they've added a "twist" on the dough. I could go and on.
My advice? Don't get bread from a grocery store.