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 do make my own bread, just not religiously. as far as baking bread in the winter, my home is cold and draft too.
i’ll cook/bake several items when i have to have the oven on, so i’ll just set the bowl of dough on the stovetop. since the oven is on, the heat from it will be enough to make the dough rise
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Guinness beat me to the recommendation of Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day [and they have a new one - healthy bread in 5 min - if you want to experiment]
It solves your cold house problem [and my lack of counter space problem ;p]
I can get sandwich bread for $1/loaf – and I do keep it in the house because my littlest two won’t eat a sandwich on homemade bread [sigh - I have hopes they'll improve at some point ;p] although they’ll eat it as toast etc. And the number of slices makes it a cheap but chemical laden solution for home packed school lunches.
But for the rest of our bread needs I’m usually making our own – once you get it down it can be very flexible!
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I don’t go through bread a lot, but when I do I bake it using the bread machine to mix/rise and the oven to finish. I do this because I have a hand-me-down bread machine that works great, but makes the old tall/rectangle loaves.
Homemade bread goes stale more *slowly* than store-bought in my experience. Just keep the loaf wrapped securely in plastic wrap (it usually takes 2 pieces of wrap when the loaf is new) and it stays fresh for a week.
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I would like to hear more about buying yeast in bulk. I bought some this weekend (I use it regularly to make pizza dough and ran out) and it was $1 for each little packet
I usually buy the 4oz jars. But it looks like you can get a pound for $10 on amazon? Is that the same stuff as what comes in the jars? (same concentration etc)
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I love my bread machine because the loaves are much smaller than the ones in the supermarket – I never get through a whole one before it goes off, unless I freeze slices.
I just discovered the “extra quick” mode on mine yesterday – 58 minutes for a loaf! I see more of these in my future as the result is very tasty (I will happily just eat it without any toppings), and it solves the “I want bread tomorrow, but it’s 9pm, the shops are shut, and the breadmaker won’t finish until midnight” problem.
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Wow, I’m a bit late to the show on this one, but I wanted to say that I highly doubt your house is too cold in the winter. In fact, colder just makes for a slower rise, which makes it taste better. I think it gets to warm in my house in the summer and the bread rises too fast (I’m in Wisconsin). Let it rise nice and slow and enjoy the more complex flavor.
Steve, You can get some good yeast for cheap here: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/saf-red-instant-yeast-16-oz.
I’ve never purchased that. I bought 2 lbs of yeast at Sams Club a year ago and have hardly made a dent (I make at least 2 loafs per week, usually more, sometime sourdough (no yeast)). It’s real cheap at Sam’s. I think it was like $2 for the 2 lbs. Get the Instant, or Bread Machine yeast, but use less yeast if the recipe calls for Active Dry.
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I like this idea because of taste factor alone. Although I think it requires some time and planning, it may be worth it to try it out for fun once or twice and see where it goes. Bread around Michigan is ~$1, so it won’t be a big saver for us, but I’d love some delicious loaves created by me!
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I haven’t priced my bread, but like other commenters I buy yeast in bulk — 1# for $3 at GFS. This will last me 4-5 months of nearly daily bread baking. More details:
http://moneysavinghabits.com/2009/09/22/back-to-school-lunches-bread/
The other way I save money by baking bread is by not having to go to the grocery store when we eat the last piece of bread. No need to run for a loaf a bread and come home spending more than expected.
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@41 To answer Chet’s question, I shop at Stop&Shop on Long Island, NY.
It’s amazing how much cost of living differs. It blows my mind that someone can get a loaf for $0.89 at the grocery store – I don’t think any loaf is less than $2.50 where I shop.
Making your bread does save a LITTLE bit of money, but equally (actually, more) important to me is the taste + health benefit. Once you make your own bread and realize it goes stale in a couple days (solved by slicing and freezing), you subsequently realize that commercial breads are full of “texturizing agents” which keep it soft and “fresh” for a suspicious length of time. I’d rather not eat anything with high fructose corn syrup or guar gum or xanthum gum, etc.
Thanks for featuring my video, J.D.!
Jessica
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You must value your time pretty low if making your own bread actually saves you money. No doubt it tastes better but definately costs more even if it only take 5 or 6 minutes to make.
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Bread dough does NOT need to be in a warm place to rise! In a cold place it will just rise more slowly, but then the taste will also be better.
I usually prepare the dough in the evening with sourdough or only 1 teaspoon of dry yeast, and leave it in the fridge. The next evening I form it, let it rest for 1 or 2 more hours (until I can feel that it’s ready) and then bake it.
I used to use a machine, but I gave it away because the taste and texture of handmade bread is way better.
A great source of recipes and tips:
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/
Niels
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You know i just got bread machines and recipe to cook nice bread this weekend.
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I have bread machines recipes book at my home and its so delicious.
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I just picked up a bread maker two days ago at a thrift store for 4$ It is so amazingly easy to use and requires very little time to throw the ingredients in and to set. I also love how I can start the machine before bed and have fresh apple cinnamon bread for breakfast. Calculating the cost to make bread compared to buying a loaf of store made every 3 days only made me fall more in love with making my own bread. Now the only thing I need is a cow to save me the gallon of milk to be bought every 2 days!
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