The price of a loaf of bread

zarazara

I've recently started to make my own bread. In the oven,not the bread maker. I invested in good quality loaf tins. Definately worth the money.
I buy a good quality brand bread flour. Its on offer at the monent at £1 a bag. It makes 3 large loaves. And the breads delicious. I cannot see how bread costs so much in the shops.



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Penelope_Penguin

zarazara wrote: »

I cannot see how bread costs so much in the shops.

Because it can Prices aren't to do with the cost of ingredients only, there's economics and what price the market will stand.

ginnyknit

Mainly because they can yes, and they pay a lot less for their flour and pack it full of other unnecessary stuff - people think they cannot live without it and wouldn't go to the trouble of making their own.

[Deleted User]

I try and make four loaves in the oven every two weeks. I use the no knead method and the bread is moist and easy to slice and freeze. We did work it out not long ago, and batch baking them makes it cheaper than shop bought. The loaves are smaller, but my goodness they taste better. zarazara - I agree. What a cheek to charge so much for their rubbish bread.

Just found an interesting link about Industrial bread-making tricks:

http://www.allotment.org.uk/allotment_foods/bread-making/chorleywood-bread-process.php

paulwf

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

Because it can Prices aren't to do with the cost of ingredients only, there's economics and what price the market will stand.

Not only are there many and varied production costs but fresh bread will have a certain amount of wastage or yellow stickering (it's actually quite a high amount), plus some may get damaged in transit. Logistics are also different, bread has to be shipped daily and takes up a lot of space whereas flour can be moved around the warehouses as and when and wastage is next to zero.

Supermarket bakeries are sometimes reasonable value...Sainsburys charge £1 for an 800g freshly baked organic malted loaf which is lovely. Doves farm organic malthouse flour costs £1.39 a kilo, sure the 800g of fresh loaf contains water but OTOH by the time I've paid for yeast, sugar and oil plus gas the supermarket is fairly good value.

The_Thrilla

The price of bread in the supermarkets is an outrage. The French Revolution might not have happened if they had a few branches of Home Bargains in Paris. You can usually find cake in there that is cheaper than bread.

freyasmum

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

Because it can Prices aren't to do with the cost of ingredients only, there's economics and what price the market will stand.

And the price of all the fancy advertising campaigns

gailey_2

I cheat and buy bread mixes lidls do ciabbatta mix for 99p makes 2loafs so 50p each , mix by hand and cook in oven in small bread tin.

I want to try from scratch is is just bread flour , yeast and water.

i think my lidls breadflour was 60p, yeast 37p for 2 7g packs which think pack per loaf but still works out at 50p roughly.

I do try buy bread reduced and freeze
i prefer whomeal/granary hubby likes white farmhouse.

i do make a mess slicing.

Im intrigued by sourdough where they breed own yeast saw on river cottage
Also the more artisan /speciality breads dont seem to use tins.

Im also torn on bread nicer cooked daily or batch and frozen.

Gigervamp

It's cheaper to buy large packs of yeast. I get the Doves Farm yeast which is about 99p. If you use 7g per loaf, there's enough in the pack for 17 loaves. A far sight cheaper than 37p for only two loaves!

Larumbelle

The_Thrilla wrote: »

The price of bread in the supermarkets is an outrage. The French Revolution might not have happened if they had a few branches of Home Bargains in Paris. You can usually find cake in there that is cheaper than bread.

Priceless. Thanks Thrilla you have made my day :rotfl:

paulwf

Gigervamp wrote: »

It's cheaper to buy large packs of yeast. I get the Doves Farm yeast which is about 99p. If you use 7g per loaf, there's enough in the pack for 17 loaves. A far sight cheaper than 37p for only two loaves!

Agreed, much better than buying yeast in sachets which is much more expensive...taking a teaspoon of yeast from a packet isn't exactly difficult!

I prefer dried yeast that you activate in water with a little sugar first...that way you can check the yeast is working so there is no chance of wasting ingredients. Not that quick yeast has ever let me down yet