Is it cheaper to make your own bread?

[Willow]

I have a rarely used electric bread maker.. The reason its not used very often is that I honestly dont know whether buying the ingredients and running it for 3 hours works out far more expensive than buying a basic loaf from a supermarket..

Any ideas?

[p.penn]

I am not sure either - it certainly isn't if you manage to pick up a reduced loaf!

On the other hand, it is totally delicious, and also, during the heavy snow when I couldn't get out, I could still bake bread (no petrol to get it either)

[Benny&Co]

I'm also not too sure.

I do love a nice freshly baked loaf that's home made.

We have a really lovely local bakery and we get rolls from there - never tasted nicer rolls and wish I could make them like that.

[Annie]

Well I should think it cost more than 'basic' bread from supermarkets but is that what you would normally buy ? I always get seeded or wholemeal type loaves sometime supermarket own brand sometimes made by a certain Mr Wrburton but they aren't cheap and depending on where I buy them from don't always keep so well .
I guess a good compromise would be to buy cheaper bread for in the week and treat yourself to homemade at weekends . The cheap stuff does freeze reasonably well so a large loaf can be split and half frozen don't think fresh bread fares so well - that is if it gets a chance to get anywhre near the freezer , which I suspect it doesn't

[Willow]

You're right Annie - I dont think I've made a loaf thats lasted more than a day so that added to the cost of electricity etc.. I recon it really is more of a treat that a 'staple'.. (not staple as in wire thing - I meant the other one)

[rhubarb93]

I found when I made bread that it was either a total fail, and therefore a waste of money, or it was delicious, at which point we all ate rather more of it so it wouldn't have been economical either way! Nice, though, if you get it right.

[p.penn]

I always slice my bread before freezing as I can grab a slice for toast quickly. Mind you, made a bit of an error doing that when my daughter and grandchildren stayed the other weekend - sliced a freshly baked large loaf for breakfast and we ate the lot!

[LittleBrownFrog]

I've been making most of our bread for the last 6 years. If you do it all the time, then the novelty wears off & you no longer find the whole loaf vanishing in a flash

[Freeranger]

Just a thought, which is something I'd already planned to do for frugal Feb., but could you put the breadmaker on dough only, then mix the maximum quantity. Instead of cooking it individually in the breadmaker, shape it into loaves or rolls then cook all of them together, so sharing the energy cost between all of them. If hyper-organised, the bread needs a hot oven so after cooking it you could let it cool a little then pop something else to cook a main meal, saving the heating up time for that. You could slice & freeze the bread so you didn't eat it all in one go.

[bmpsands]

I've been looking at this. All costings approx and using special offers most of the time.

Allison's strong flour has been on offer at £1 for a kilo. This makes 3 medium loaves (34p approx). Dried yeast is 90p, and makes more loaves than I can count. I use 1.5 tsps per go and a tin lasts a month . This must mean, given average number of loaves, 18 or thereabouts so 5p per loaf. Lard or cheap cooking butter (15g) is 9p (using all butter - lard is cheaper). Tsp sugar, tsp salt - let's say 5p. Ingredients, therefore, with no fancy bits in (seeds/grains etc) come to just over 50p per loaf. The electricity is something I haven't worked out. The heating element isn't on all the time and the motor runs only for a few minutes.

I reckon, therefore, that buying good bread must be more expensive - and I do sometimes buy really special stuff. We like Tiger loaves - when on offer they are 1.50 for the largest size.

[LittleBrownFrog]

I make sourdough, so no ongoing yeast costs, and no sugar. I also batch bake & make 4 loaves at a time, more if we're expecting visitors. Sourdough keeps long enough that our family of six can eat 3 loaves before they go stale, so the fourth is sliced and frozen for a rainy day.

[Willow]

I make sourdough, so no ongoing yeast costs, and no sugar. I also batch bake & make 4 loaves at a time, more if we're expecting visitors. Sourdough keeps long enough that our family of six can eat 3 loaves before they go stale, so the fourth is sliced and frozen for a rainy day.

Have you get a good idiot proof recipe for sourdough??

[LittleBrownFrog]

I think I've posted somewhere here before - I'll have a look in a minute. I think there are as many ways to make sourdough as there are days in the year, so my way is just what works for me.

[LittleBrownFrog]

HERE is the link -

[Willow]

I've been looking at this. All costings approx and using special offers most of the time.

Allison's strong flour has been on offer at £1 for a kilo. This makes 3 medium loaves (34p approx). Dried yeast is 90p, and makes more loaves than I can count. I use 1.5 tsps per go and a tin lasts a month . This must mean, given average number of loaves, 18 or thereabouts so 5p per loaf. Lard or cheap cooking butter (15g) is 9p (using all butter - lard is cheaper). Tsp sugar, tsp salt - let's say 5p. Ingredients, therefore, with no fancy bits in (seeds/grains etc) come to just over 50p per loaf. The electricity is something I haven't worked out. The heating element isn't on all the time and the motor runs only for a few minutes.

I reckon, therefore, that buying good bread must be more expensive - and I do sometimes buy really special stuff. We like Tiger loaves - when on offer they are 1.50 for the largest size.

Thanks for that though I dont hink mine just runs for a few mins, I'm going to have a look at the instruction booklet - I'm sure it has run times for the various phases in there..