Is it cheaper to make your own bread?

[Mallard]

I'm not sure it's much cheaper, I use a breadmaker for most of my bread, but it's better!
80% of supermarket bread is made with the Chorleywood process (google it) home made is healthier!

[milli]

As said, it costs approx 50p for the ingredients, not sure about the electricity either. But the bread maker is not doing much for most of the 3 hours it is on, as the most time seems to be taken up with proving. I too think the home made loaf is so much better for us as it has no preservatives, you know exactly what is in it, and I think as it is quite heavy bread you don't eat so much of it as it is more filling, so.... for home made. I make 2-3 large loaves a week, and sometimes ( but not often because of the calories !!) I make a sundried tomato and parmesan one which is just toooo yummy.

[Meredith]

I don't eat a lot of bread but when I do I like to know exactly what's in it. Take a look at the ingredients of a standard loaf of wholemeal bread. I work on the basis that I don't keep such things in my cupboards, so I don't fancy eating them.

It all boils down to what you class as bread. Supermarkets win hands down on price but is it really bread?

[bmpsands]

During a long late shift last night I chatted to my duty partner about home made bread. She was very clear that her breadmaker was the second most useful thing in the kitchen. Top of the list was the dishwasher. We both buy special breads occasionally but for day to day stuff, for all the reasons that people have given, it's homemade for us.

I'm old enough to have been brought up on homemade bread - by my grandmother who made all her own bread by hand as there were no machines. She was pretty scathing about shop bought bread, even from the local bakery across the road. I have no idea what she would have made of some of the stuff sold by supermarkets these days.

Taking a party of students round the local Wm J bread factor some years ago was an eyeopener. The number of chemicals that went into it, not all of them preservatives, was amazing. From memory, there were three things that were referred to as flavour enhancers.

[bmpsands]

PS - if I run the breadmachine during the day, the ambient temperature helps to reduce the electricity cost slightly. I've got into the habit of setting the machine to finish so that it is cool enough to put away before I go to bed. That way, the bread is easier to cut in the morning too.

[manda]

I don't use a bread maker (I used to but it clapped out) ...now I do make my own bread by hand and to be honest if it's a warm day or in the winter I sit it by the woodburner to prove and it probably takes just as long as my breadmaker to make it.

I don't know if it's cheaper...maybe ...but for me it's about knowing what's in it....and as LBF says if you make it everyday then the novelty of troughing it down in seconds eventually wears off

[fabindia]

Like many here, I can't say for sure that home made is cheaper. The ingredients are cheaper but then you have to add the cost of baking it. One of the things that could reduce costs is to make sure you bake something else before the bread. That way, you are not heating the oven up twice.

I bake sourdough bread twice a week and now rarely eat shop bought bread, even from our excellent local bakery. Our's is so much better tasting. The consensus from most of the bakers here is that home made wins hands down over shop bought. The Chorley process was deigned to mass produce loaves that would prove quickly and then last a long time once baked. The downside it that it tastes rubbish.

On a slight tangent. When we were in Morocco, we notice lots of people carrying bowls down a certain street. Some seemed to school children on their way to school. When we spotted where they were going, it turns out it was the local bakers. Apparently, people make their own dough at home but then use the baker to communally bake. I guess people probably don't have suitable ovens in their own homes.

[Freeranger]

Useless fact #1 - The communal baking thing is pretty universal, or has been across history including in the UK and during wartime for economy of fuel.

I was given the book 5 Minute Bread for Christmas and used it for the first time the other day. 900g normal plain flour made 3*450g loaves, which with supermarket's own brand is pretty cheap. It'll take a bit of practice because its odd stuff, but the bread is ciabatta-ish and nice.

[Kath]

Whether it is cheaper or not, I think the fact that you know exactly what has gone into it is the main thing. I used to use a bread maker, but since it expired, I use my Kenwood Chef.
I make 4 x 2lb loaves at a time, using a Delia Smith recipe which works every time. It only needs one rising, and is in the oven for just 25 mins. Once cooled, I slice each loaf and freeze 6-8 slices per bag. You can then take out however many slices you require. This freezes very well, and tastes wonderful. It is also very filling.

[barkingmad]

I make my own bread but found that instead the mixing kneading resting and baking the bread in the machine which like yours takes 3 hrs. I use the dough option. This does all the first 3 in only an hr and half then transfer to loaf tin and cook in oven which is only 25 or 30 mins.
I prefer the shape as well. Much easier for slicing.
Although buying the ingredience seems more I get 3 loaves out of 1 bag of flour at 89p

[fabindia]

I noticed that bread flour at Didle is just 57p for a kg.so I reckon electricity must be our biggest cost.

We bake a couple of times a week, once with a Didle'e country recipe mix, dead easy to make, just add water and leave to rise and then bake. It tastes amazingly good. The other time we bake using our sourdough. I bake a large loaf inside our Dutch oven that then goes inside the proper oven. Once it has cooled, I cut it in half and then slice and freeze one half. No waste that way so another potential saving on super market bread which is often left to go to waste.