Breadmaker vs making my own - help please

stefejb

I am debating wether to buy a breadmaker and am hoping that you lovely wise people can figure out the maths for me. At the moment i am making a loaf every night using five minutes of electricity for the mixer and 35 minutes of gas - i know i should be putting lots of other things in the oven as well but it just doesn't seem to work out that way. without taking the initial outlay into account would a breadmaker be cheaper to run in terms of fuel? would i need to use more expensive ingredients than my tesco strong flour and dried yeast?(not easy blend)
It would be nice not having to wait for bread to rise etc

thanks in advance

stef

Bossyboots

stefejb wrote:

I am debating wether to buy a breadmaker and am hoping that you lovely wise people can figure out the maths for me. At the moment i am making a loaf every night using five minutes of electricity for the mixer and 35 minutes of gas - i know i should be putting lots of other things in the oven as well but it just doesn't seem to work out that way. without taking the initial outlay into account would a breadmaker be cheaper to run in terms of fuel? would i need to use more expensive ingredients than my tesco strong flour and dried yeast?(not easy blend)
It would be nice not having to wait for bread to rise etc

thanks in advance

stef

You do not need specialist ingredients. I use Tesco strong flour and dried yeast and sometimes the easy blend too, so you don't have to worry about that.

I don't know the fuel efficiency. I have to go out shortly but will ask my OH to work it out when we get back. I do know however that it is easier for me to programme my machine to have bread ready for dinner time or first thing in the morning (if we want it warm, which we often do) or to have a loaf to take out when I get home to cool for sandwiches than it is to spend the time making it from scratch after a busy day at work. This is particularly useful as I often leave work late so wouldn't have time to make the bread unless we ate really late. So for me, the time saving element and convenience will outweigh any fuel issues anyway.

thriftlady_2

It's easy to put more things in the oven if you put more loaves in.
I make 4 at a time in 2 lb tins. Of course you don't need tins, you can make round loaves, but tins make it easier to pack them in I store the finished loaves in plastic bags in the freezer.

A little investment in a few more tins might be well worth your while

Bossyboots

thriftlady wrote:

It's easy to put more things in the oven if you put more loaves in.
I make 4 at a time in 2 lb tins. Of course you don't need tins, you can make round loaves, but tins make it easier to pack them in I store the finished loaves in plastic bags in the freezer.

A little investment in a few more tins might be well worth your while

I used to do this every Sunday before I went back to work. Now time is too precious and our freezer not quite so big so the breadmaker is worth its weight in gold.

Icemaiden

You could get a secondhand one first to try before buying a new one as they can be quite expensive. I picked my breadmaker up from a car boot sale. It was pratically brand new, still in original box with all measuring spoons and stuff it even had the receipt inside for £49.99. The lady wanted £5 but I managed to barter her down to £3 quid, that was over two years ago and its still going strong.

Queenie

stefejb wrote:

I am debating wether to buy a breadmaker and am hoping that you lovely wise people can figure out the maths for me. At the moment i am making a loaf every night using five minutes of electricity for the mixer and 35 minutes of gas - i know i should be putting lots of other things in the oven as well but it just doesn't seem to work out that way. without taking the initial outlay into account would a breadmaker be cheaper to run in terms of fuel? would i need to use more expensive ingredients than my tesco strong flour and dried yeast?(not easy blend)
It would be nice not having to wait for bread to rise etc

thanks in advance

stef

I haven't costed the usage of running a bread machine in terms of power - but, I can say that during the warmer weather, it's get unbearably hot in my kitchen if I put the oven on for anything. So, for myself, the bread machine (and slow cooker) is a godsend in the warmer months.
Time wise I like to have the breadmachine on because I know, once loaded up I can either a) put it on timer for when *I* want it read (ie overnight or while I'm out and about or b) get on with other tasks knowing I don't have to interrupt what I'm doing to attend to bread rising/transferring to the oven.

Cost wise on ingredients, you can make the loaves as cheaply or otherwise with ingredients same as with handbaking.

One thing the bread machine is not so good at, it relieving any stresses or getting your angries out My mum made all her bread by hand, and by far the tastiest loaves were when she was X and kneaded dough like a demon Almost worth upsetting her for those loaves :rotfl:

I also like the fact I can make cakes in the BM without turning the whole oven on and even make jam (although my recent experiment with BM jam making wasn't quite what I was hoping for compared to my hob method).

I bought the cheapest BM possible (on sale at the time too) and it's still going strong; I only bought mine to see if it was "worth" it and I have to say, I haven't looked back. But that's only my personal view.

Hunnymonster

stefejb wrote:

I am debating wether to buy a breadmaker and am hoping that you lovely wise people can figure out the maths for me. At the moment i am making a loaf every night using five minutes of electricity for the mixer and 35 minutes of gas

Depends on your breadmaker - my Panasonic SD-252 uses 0.6-0.7kWh of electricity on a cycle according to my Joulemeter.

Serialdieter

Hi

I'm quite new to this forum, but would like to say my bm is fab. My dh costed in when we got it and reckons it saves money, as it takes 25 mins for my oven (electric) to heat up then cooking time, whereas bm can do the lot in 55 mins. For me the flexibility is key, having it ready when I come in from work / first thing in the morning is wonderful. btw I use tesco strong flour and whichever yeast is on offer - currently using allinsons.

J x

ChrissieI

Hunnymonster wrote:

Depends on your breadmaker - my Panasonic SD-252 uses 0.6-0.7kWh of electricity on a cycle according to my Joulemeter.

Any idea how much that is in money (roughly of course)
Thanks:beer:

Hunnymonster

ChrissieI wrote:

Any idea how much that is in money (roughly of course)
Thanks:beer:

Depends on how much you're paying per unit for your leccy

1kWh = 1 unit - should be under 10p for everyone (except possible Econ 7 users during daylight hours)

stefejb

Thanks to everyone who responded - have decided to take the plunge particularly in terms of convenience. it only takes a small domestic emergency or interesting programe on telly for me to end up with a bowl of fermenting yeast monster or burnt brick/bread.

I've been re-reading "not on the label" so i know i don't ever want to eat shop bought bread again :eek:

stef