making your own bread - worth it?

freakyogre

I must be doing something very wrong as whenever I make bread (by hand) it is hard on the outside (so no chance of soft rolls) and doesn't last til the next day as starts going hard so quickly, so I end up using it for breadcrumbs! It is nice straight out the oven though, but is never as soft as shop bought bread. What am I doing wrong?!

I don't eat a lot of bread anymore as when I do buy it, I struggle to get through the loaf before it goes off.

Dobiesmon

Hi
I have had the cheaper breadmakers one broke so had another make mainly to see if I would use one then I brought the panasonic and have never looked back I had my first one for 4 years and burnt the main wire so have just brought the new one again panasonic , I make all sorts in it and the french bread is just great also make pizza dough, naan bread dough, bread rolls, bread sticks, tea loaf . it is the one thing I would not be with out I have brought good containers for the flours and fruits .

Viper_7

Is it worth it....

Loaf for Loaf yes.

However you will end up consuming more/making more as the bread doesn't last as long -due to the lack of preservatives and other nasties.

Taste for taste - definitely. I love making a delicate onion bread.

Feel good factor - again a winner. Smells great and you're making it yourself - sure with a little help from the mixer.


Cost point of view, a lot of loafs to recoup the initial outlay.
Ingredient costs/power usage, and I'd say you'll save about 25%

but it's the taste that makes it worth it, even the odd misshaped effort one encounters occasionally!

Butterfly_Brain

freakyogre wrote: »

I must be doing something very wrong as whenever I make bread (by hand) it is hard on the outside (so no chance of soft rolls) and doesn't last til the next day as starts going hard so quickly, so I end up using it for breadcrumbs! It is nice straight out the oven though, but is never as soft as shop bought bread. What am I doing wrong?!

I don't eat a lot of bread anymore as when I do buy it, I struggle to get through the loaf before it goes off.

I had this problem too but I increased the milk in the loaf, kneaded it less and gave it a wash with milk and it has been ok since.

Gers

want2bmortgage3 wrote: »

seeing as own brand loaves are about 78p and brand names nearing £1.50p should i buy a bread-maker and try myself???

Yep. Definitely. Best bread, best method and best use of your time.

purpleivy

Well, financially speaking there are worse things you could be eating than bread. Presumably when you are eating bread you are leaving the choccy biccies and cake alone?

tracyk

I made some bread rolls by hand, for the first time ever, this evening - going to eat some tomorrow but freeze the rest (1 already gone - scoffed by hubby - a BIG hit apparantly) thing is - what do I a) store them in & b) freeze them in?

Thanks, Tracy.

skinnygirlnot

Hi Tracy,

I just freeze my rolls in plastic freezer bags. I store them in a plastic food box IF I know they will be eaten that day. Freezing them is better as they just need zapping in the microwave to get them 'just baked fresh'.

thriftlady_2

It id definitely worth making your own bread.

As others have said you do not need a bread making machine to do it. A breadmaker will only make one loaf at a time and as Mrs E says the loaf will have a large hole in the bottom, not a desirable thing imo.

I dispute the fact that making bread by hand takes a lot of time. It needs a lot of time but the actual hands-on time from you is about 10-15 mins. A breadmaker cycle takes between 3 and 4 hours anyway. You can make 3 or 4 loaves at a time at the weekend or in the evening and freeze the extras. You will save money, have better bread and have a valuable skill that you can pass on.

Once you can make a basic loaf- recipe here , you will be able to make pizza, flatbreads (quick to bake), rolls, sticky buns, cinnamon rolls, hot cross buns, foccacia, naan bread....

Btw for a soft crust as well as using milk if you wrap the loaf or rolls in a tea towel when they come out of the oven the crusts will stay soft.

esmf73

Totally worth it, but I think it is worth doing some research first. I've just bought a bigger bread machine (from ebay) as we're 5 so get through a lot of bread. A standard bread maker didn't have time to cool down before I needed to put it on again!!!

Only downside is that you'll find yourself eating more bread! Must put mine on for lunch!