Ah, at last: The sun has arrived in Oregon. It’s not hot, but it’s warm, and we’ll take it.
The coming of summer means I can stop whining about the rain, and it also means that Kris and I have started baking bread more often. (During the winter, our house is too cold for the dough to rise.) We’re still using the easy and cheap home-made bread recipe we stumbled upon a couple of years ago. It’s fantastic.
Why do we bake our own bread? Because it tastes great, and because it costs roughly the same as the cheap, artificial stuff you can buy in the grocery store. According to somebody who ran the numbers, this bread costs about 63 cents per loaf.
Of course, not everyone wants to make their own bread from scratch. For these folks, there’s a sort of middle ground. In the recent GRS video contest, Jessica submitted this two-minute video that explains how her family makes cheap home-made bread: with a bread machine.
Jessica’s mother picked up an unused bread machine for fifteen bucks at a church rummage sale. They’ve been using it quite a bit. According to their calculations, each loaf costs about $1.97 to make, whereas the comparable stuff at the supermarket would run about $3.79. That’s almost half price.
Remember, don’t buy things just because you think you’ll use them. Buy things based on needs. If you eat a lot of bread and you’re fairly certain you’d make a lot of bread, then consider purchasing a bread machine. Otherwise, the appliance is just more Stuff.
Kris and I will skip the bread machine for now. Instead, we have another batch of dough rising at this very moment. We’re off to our favorite annual community garage sale this morning, but when we return, we’ll pop the dough in the oven so we can enjoy fresh-baked goodness tonight!
Obviously, you’re not going to become a billionaire by baking bread at home, but it’s yet another fun way for folks to flex their frugal muscles.
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i found one unused in box with manual and have been making my own bread with it for some time
now, bread only costs 88 cents around here, but the home made variety tastes better (like you said) and is in fact cheaper
I was skeptical at first, but it’s true, it’s cheaper and by using bulk bin flours of all kinds, and have saved countless dollars
the best part is that i know every ingredient in the bread
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My husband and I have been keeping up with this blog for a while. Watching the video contest about making bread inspired me to finally try it out myself. Now I can’t stop making breads!
I started off making pizza dough, then graduated to biscuits and rolls. As I type, my husband is picking up some yeast and shortening for me.
Not only does it save money, but making my own bread makes my house smell wonderful!
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Haha. We’re at the garage sale and have seen a couple of bread machines. I took a photo of one and will post it later.
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If you want to do more bread in the winter, I suggest a no-knead type bread where you let time and the refrigerator do the work. With this method, you don’t really need to worry about rising bread all that much. I use it all the time, and it works great. There are many recipes that work well with this method. I got a book called “Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day” and I can’t say enough about it. If you want to try it out, there was an article in NYT with the basic recipe:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/21/dining/211brex.html?_r=1
Saves both money and time!
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Well if i’m not going to become a billionaire, why bother?
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During the winter I pre-heat the oven at a low temp before I start kneading. I flip it off when I knead so that when it’s ready to rise the oven is around 100F. Pop it in and it usually rises perfectly.
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I have to say this is something I’ve never considered. I’m pretty picky about eating really soft bread (drives my wife nuts). Is homemade bread soft or is there a way to make it that way?
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Dustin:
I have made many different kinds of bread at home, from very crusty and dense, to light and fluffy. I think you can find something to suit your desires.
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We’ve been using a bread maker for many many years now. It has more than paid for itself in the first year alone. We eat primarily whole wheat or whole oat bread. These are about $3-$4 per loaf in the stores.
According to our Kill-A-Watt meter electricity for one loaf is .34 kwh = $.15.
The ingredients are no more than $1.50. That could be reduced if we used white flour and some non-organic items. It takes less 10 minutes to put a loaf together and the machine does the rest so it’s not a huge tax on time. That’s a pretty small price to pay when you know that you’re not eating a load of processed ingredients and additives.
As for softness, most of that depends on the recipe.
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Funny. I don’t bake bread (or otherwise use the oven) in the summertime, only in the winter when I *want* to heat the house.
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My husband lived on a bread machine for a couple years in college, using it for bread, pizza dough, and pretzel dough. He was the most popular guy on the hall.
Eventually he out-grew it (no matter what you put in, the bread always tasted almost the same… good, but the same) and we got a stand mixer instead of getting a fancier bread machine.
We haven’t made a lot of this past year because there’s too much good bread to buy, but next year we’ll be back to making our own more regularly.
If you’re into whole grain breads, I strongly recommend “The New Laurel’s Bread Book.” There’s a different technique for making fluffy whole grain breads (without adding a lot of gluten) that most white flour-based books don’t use.
Dustin– if you’ve got a rice cooker, look up rice cooker bread on Google.
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We tried this – but the bread was so good we started eating way too much of it and gaining weight! Whoops!
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Our local bread outlet store is still our best bet. I can get name-brand bread at .50 to 1.50 a loaf – including organic, whole wheat, rye, etc, and we freeze extras.
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I live in Massachusetts and make bread year-round. If you have an older gas stove with a pilot, it may be warm enough on the oven floor to rise it there. If you have a newer stove or electric, I’d preheat to 150F for 5 minutes, then shut it off and put the bread in to rise. Works fine.
Or, as suggested, “no-knead” breads like ciabatta and many sourdoughs will rise at lower temperatures, given 16-24 hours before baking.
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I also love the no-knead refrigerator dough recipe from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a day! The recipe was also published in Mother Earth News: http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/Artisan-Bread-In-Five-Minutes-A-Day.aspx
Also, when making bread in a cold kitchen, I often set the covered dough bowl on a heating pad set to “low” while it rises. Works like a charm every time.
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JD – a bread machine might help you with your bread not rising in the winter. Since it just stays in the machine to rise, the machine keeps it nice a warm and out of drafts.
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I started baking my own bread to control sodium, since the low sodium breads were $6 a loaf. However, after having a few loaves not turn out the way I wanted, I decided to buy bread. I do bake all my own cookies, muffins, corn bread, squares and so on and I’ve actually been looking for ways to limit just how much bread we were eating anyway. Last month, I made my own tortillas and I made some refrgerator bread, too. I saved a bomb. But, in general, I find it’s easier to buy bread and save in other areas.
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I inherited my bread maker from a friend who had to give up gluten and yeast. I don’t use it often, but every so often I get a hankering for bread and refuse to pay $3.50 for a loaf.
They’re definitely handy creatures if you like bread, and take *a lot* of the pain in the assness out of breadmaking. They work no matter the weather in my corner of the pacific-northwet.
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Actually, just turning on the oven light and putting the dough in the oven is warm enough in our house (Chicago area) in the winter. That little bulb puts out a lot of heat in what is, after all, a well insulated box.
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I still don’t think this saves enough money to to be practical. The calculation doesn’t take into account the cost of water or your time. Additionally it uses white flour…change to whole wheat and the price goes up even more for the home made bread.
That’s not to say there isn’t benefit to doing so. You control the ingredients and reduce extra stuff like preservatives and get fresh bread. We actually by bread at an outlet store (yes they have these for baked goods). We pay $1/loaf for heathy organic multigrain whole wheat bread. We stock up and by 10-15 loaves at a time, stick in our freezer and since they are double wrapped from the manufacturer it stays good a long time.
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We made it a family tradition to make our own pizza dough on Friday’s with the kids. Great fun and economical!
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Don’t be intimidated with bread making if you don’t have a bread maker. It’s easy to kneed the dough with your hands.
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It’s funny that I just got online and came to this website, which I normally do in the mornings, but just got around to it now, and guess what’s going on at my house right now? Bread baking. I have two loaves rising in the oven right now, as I’m typing this. I make bread quite often. I like it so much better than store bought bread. However, I make it the old-fashioned way, so it’s quite time consuming, and another problem I have is that I have to be in the “right” mood to make it. I think mostly because of the amount of time. I also find that I enjoy making it more in the winter because my house is cold. I turn the oven on a low setting and then turn it off, and put the dough in the oven to rise. I do the same in summer, but I don’t have air conditioning, so unlike today, I usually start early in the morning before it gets too hot. Today, here in Southern Oregon, it’s supposed to be almost 90 degrees out and I should have started earlier.
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Making bread by hand with just flour, water, and yeast isn’t hard. Kneading only takes about fifteen minutes (and isn’t difficult), and whole thing only takes about two to two and a half hours. Even using King Arthur flour (which you can find for $4 or less for 4lb) it comes out to little more than $1 a loaf.
Here’s the recipe I use (I omit the butter in the bread–it works great without it): http://www.io.com/~sjohn/bread.htm . (I’ve got no affiliation to the site, I’ve just been very satisfied using their advice.)
Also, if you bake bread often, invest in bulk yeast. You can keep it in the freezer, and spending $6 on a pound of yeast will save a ton on individual three-packs. (That price is from the King Arthur catalog–it’s such a cheap hobby, you can afford to splurge on the nice stuff.)
Just a word of advice: the dough needs to be in a warm-ish place to rise; in winter, the best place I’ve found is the open door of the oven while the oven’s set to its lowest setting. Just don’t put anything flammable (like a towel) over the bread like you normally would when it’s rising–I’ve set fire to a towel that way.
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I bake bread all winter long in my 65 degree house. Like other commenters, I put it in a warm oven (I turn it on for one minute and then turn it off).
I love, love, love to bake homemade bread, and on my blog, I post a baking recipe every week (most of the time, it’s a bread recipe).
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I used to bake bread all the time simply because I enjoyed it so much. These days I do it rarely. One thing that has changed for me is that I have kids now, & a lot of our bread goes for sandwiches. I have never found a good way to slice home-made bread thinly & evenly enough. I really don’t want huge hunks of bread for this purpose. I hate to buy one of those slicers because they take up so much space (and I don’t even know if they would solve the problem). So for now I just make the occasional loaf to cut more thickly & eat on the side with dinner. (I too prefer whole wheat; I often make a no-knead whole wheat recipe that appeared in Eating Well magazine a few years ago).
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I love my bread machine. I very carefully considered that purchase and bought a quality model. We love to experiment with breads. The pizza dough is also a major plus as we love our homemade pizza.
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#7, you *can* make a softer homemade bread. Use milk instead of water. that should give you more of the texture you want. I love making bread — making artisan breads like ciabatta takes time but very little cash and they taste sooo good!
I’ve never been pleased with the bread machine breads I’ve tried. Too spongy or something.
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When I lived in a cold house we got bread to rise by putting it in the oven with the light on. That seemed to give it enough heat to rise.
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Make sure to stop by the two girls house who are always finding inventive ways to make money, ie stock tips.
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Someone probably mentioned this, but you can put your bread in the oven to rise (with the oven off). Just boil a pan of water and put it in there with the dough, it will rise fine. Our place can be in the low 50s in the winter and bread won’t rise on the counter.
What a shame to only make bread in the summer, make it in the winter when you can heat up the house a little!
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We are a family of 10 and we make almost all of our own bread. Occasionally, like when I forget to press “start” on the bread machine and it’s 6:30am and the kids need bread for school, or if I happen to be in the market late at night and the bakery announces a 50% off everything sale, will we buy bread. Other than that, we make bread “winter, spring, summer and fall.” I second those who say you can warm up your oven for one minute the let your dough rise in the winter. I’m also with those who let their dough rise in the refridgerator. In fact, we think that the dough that rises slowly in the fridge makes the best bread!
Once you get the hang of it – kneading bread by hand is such a wonderful, earthy, therapeutic activity. And at the end of it all, you get such yummy, delicious results. There’s nothing like homemade bread and rolls!
Happy Baking!
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My comment is similar to other people’s, but I just wanted to put in my two cents.
A loaf of bread costs 89 cents at the grocery store, tax free. It is evenly sliced and does not go stale as quickly as homemade bread does. Although the ingredient cost for homemade bread is less than 89 cents, when you factor in energy costs, it is about break even, and that is comparing the cheapest homemade ingredients to the cheapest store bought bread.
So, while you can do it for the taste, it is NOT a way to save money. If you are trying to save money, you are wasting a lot of time to essentially break even. We don’t do it to save money… we do it as a special treat. So, while I agree with you that homemade bread is yummy, I think it is incorrect to say that you can “save money by baking your own bread.”
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@20 Homemade bread is usually compared with bakery bread (at $2.50-3.30 a loaf) since that’s what it’s most similar to in quality. Against supermarket sandwich bread, it’s probably a lateral move (or even a slight cost increase), but there’s a huge quality increase (and you can control things like crust & glaze, as well as ingredients).
It’s actually quite cost-effective, assuming you get a good deal on ingredients. Even using top-quality ingredients (I use King Arthur flour and SAF Red Instant Yeast) it comes out to a dollar or less per one-pound loaf. (KAF flours can sometimes be had for under $4 per 5-lb bag, but $4.50 is a typical price). Assuming four cups of bread flour and a teaspoon of yeast (not counting a negligible amount of cornmeal under the loaf), that’s less than $1 a loaf (assuming you bought you yeast in bulk). And it’d be even cheaper using a less expensive flour.
ED: I forgot to mention–the time cost isn’t that high. It might take up to two and a half hours, but most of that time is spent rising or baking, and you can do something else while you wait (I like to clean or file papers) as long as you set a timer and keep an eye on the oven while it’s on. The only part you’re actively involved in is the mixing and kneading, which is really quick (maybe 20 minutes?).
@7 Are you referring to the crust or the insides being soft? My bread always turns out pretty soft on the inside (and I just use water–it’d be even softer with milk), and you just need to brush the crust with butter or oil before baking for a soft crust. Or brush with egg for a glaze.
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Many quilts are made in China for much less than I can make mine. I get my cloth from US companies and sew in front of a window.
Wood furniture is made in South America much cheaper than my husband’s. He gets his wood from the mill in the next town and spends hours thinking about how much the family will enjoy each piece.
I can see how homemade bread would be a huge thing for a family who enjoys spending time and effort on their own lifestyle. You know what you are getting when it is homemade.
I never buy bread at the grocery anyway. If I am going to eat bread it is either from a bakery or a good German restaurant! Maybe I should begin making our bread again, it would be cheaper:>) MMMMMM- milk- never tried that one!
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You can get low quality bread for well under a dollar.
However, conditional on buying high quality bread, making bread can save money.
Whether or not you’re saving money depends on your comparison groups. I would never buy generic wonderbread, so the cost of generic wonderbread compared to homemade is irrelevant. Someone who likes wonderbread would be making a different comparison and may be better off sticking to store-bought.
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I also like making my home-made bread. It tastes good. And it also helps me to save more money.
Today I promised my wife that I will bake bread for us on Monday again.
I think if we can all make it habit of baking our own we will make more money in the process. There will be more money staying worm in our pockets that we can use to make more money.
I like my home-made bread!
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If it helps, we make bread in winter by microwaving our wheat bag (you know, the one thats really meant for aches and pains
) for the defined time and putting it under the bowl for it to rise.
Enough heat for the yeast, without the expense of turning on the oven early
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See, I hate baking ANYTHING in the summer, because it makes the house too hot! I guess the bread machine might put out a little less heat, for all the non-air-conditioned GRSers like me. I think I’ll stick to my occasional farmer’s market crusty bread splurge, because if I could have bread every day, I would. And there are only two people in my house. I like to carb up, is what I’m saying!
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We also make all our own bread (pizza dough, english muffins, pita bread etc…) with a bread machine we picked up at Goodwill for $9. We found this book http://www.amazon.com/Bread-Lovers-Machine-Cookbook/dp/155832156X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1277600185&sr=8-1 I highly recommend it!
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$3.97 for a loaf of bread!!
Where are they buying bread from? Nordstrom??
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I make a 2 lb loaf of bread every 2-3 days, year round. I have not run the numbers on the ingredients I use, but even if it is more expensive, it does not matter to us. I know what is in my bread, and in our opinion, there is no comparison in flavor or texture to the store bought kind! Yum!
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LOL, I love home-made bread, and, like others, when it is cool, I just put the bread in a warmer place. What I would like to ask other readers, though, is what you do during the summer? By May my kitchen temperature is regularly in the 90′s, and then through August it can top 110. Any suggestions for getting bread to rise when it is too HOT to bake? (Of course, most of the time it is also too hot to eat bread, let alone bake it, but sometimes I just have the yen for it. Usually I wind up taking it as an opportunity to enjoy artisanal bread from a bakery
)
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a bread machine can also be used to make dough. I do this a lot for pizza dinners. Throw the ingredients in, start it and 90 minutes later you have dough (warms it so it will rise even in winter). Then just roll it out and add your toppings. Simple and easy way to make a dinner.
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So true, so true. You can save even more buy using sourdough and buy buying grain in bulk and grinding it yourself.
We also make our own pizza dough and make homemade pizza like MDB above. So much better and cheaper than ordering out.
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I thought it might be helpful to supply some measurements which make it easy to calculate the cost of your own homemade bread:
5 lb. bag flour = 18 cups
4 lb. bag granulated sugar = 10 cups
2 lb. bag brown sugar = 5.25 cups
42 oz. tub oatmeal = 15 cups
42 fluid oz. oil = 6.33 cups
40 oz. corn meal = 7.5 cups
4 oz. jar yeast = 38 tsp. (equals 15.2 pkgs.)
1 lb. butter/margarine = 2 cups
It’s easy to use a calculator to figure out the cost per cup. If 5 lbs. of flour is $1.49, divide by 18, it costs .08 per cup, etc. I think my cheapest bread recipe is sourdough, because it doesn’t call for purchased yeast or an egg. A 9 inch loaf costs about 30 cents.
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Softness is a factor of the amount of fat and sugar in the bread recipe. More fat/ sugar results in a softer crumb (inside and out)
If, like me, you like to experiment with different recipes, the King Arthur Flour website is a wonderful place. They test all their recipes extensively, and will answer questions by email or phone if you have any issues.
http://www.kingarthurflour.com
Plus, any recipes published on their blog have step by step pictures of the whole process.
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Since yeast is often the most expensive part, if you really want to pinch pennies, you can keep your own starter. It tends to taste better with age too, though we had to toss a sourdough starter after it got too sour even for us (mail order oregon starter).
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It’s funny when I saw the title of this post today I got a little shock, I was writing up a draft titled “Saving money…. by baking bread” that I saved June 21st to be worked on in the future, but now it’s just going to look like I copied this page. So strange to see such a similar post on the web… It’s like deja-vu.. I started baking bread last winter, we had a woodstove installed in the spring of 2009 so that creates the perfect environment to let the dough rise… homemade bread is also 50% cheaper… every dollar adds up huh!
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I’ve always been a fan of home made bread, but it’s something that you knead to work at
Ok, so you might not be able to make two fantastic artisan loaves the first time you follow a recipe and bung your bread in the oven, but a little practice will pay dividends over time.
I definitely subscribe to the school of thought that suggests preheating the oven for a few minutes at the lowest setting (5 minutes works for me) to help the dough rise. Also, I never worry about setting my tea towel alight as I’ve always been taught to use a damp tea towel.
One great tip from English author John Harrison (he wrote a book called Low-Cost Living that is enjoyable (if a bit Anglo-centric)) is that your oven uses the same power whether you’re baking one loaf of bread or six. So, with some cheap loaf tins (available in the UK for about $1.50 each), you can make half a dozen loaves in a similar time for not that much extra effort.
This also gets around the fact that home made bread goes stale quicker – you can make smaller loaves if necessary and freeze any of the loaves you don’t need for the next couple of days’ consumption.
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