HM Bread cheaper ? and flour costs

Bella79

Ive just taken my 2 wm loafs out of the oven and they smell divine !, do you all use breadmakers ?, i tried them but couldnt get along with them so i now do all my bread by hand, took me a while to master kneading but now i have its easy peasy, and i make round loafs, and bagettes and rolls love it x

I freecycled my breadmachine

marmiterulesok

How many bought loaves have as their sole ingredients flour,water,yeast,salt and oil.Not many I would guess.At least with a HM loaf,you know exactly what goes in it.That's the main attraction for me.

I can't compare the price of a bought/versus HM loaf for you,as I don't live in the UK,but do we really need bread that's full of E numbers,preservatives and goodness knows what else,and for all we know it's not even fresh but unfrozen and then baked to finish it off.

I started making bread by hand last year,then got a second-hand BM and haven't looked back since.

oldtractor

YEs cheaper and nicer. Shop bought bread has a lot of air in it and not a lot of flour compared to homemade.

Gingerbiscuit_2

I was wondering about cost as my breadmaker takes 3h to cook a loaf. While I dont do it really for the money more if I cannot get out I wondered if I am saving anything in long run when you consider electric costs v flour.

Bella79

Gingerbiscuit wrote: »

I was wondering about cost as my breadmaker takes 3h to cook a loaf. While I dont do it really for the money more if I cannot get out I wondered if I am saving anything in long run when you consider electric costs v flour.

Thats another reason i make by hand, the oven is only on 25 mins at the most !

Justamum

Gingerbiscuit wrote: »

I was wondering about cost as my breadmaker takes 3h to cook a loaf. While I dont do it really for the money more if I cannot get out I wondered if I am saving anything in long run when you consider electric costs v flour.

My bread takes 40 minutes to cook. The breadmaker will be heating up - even if only slightly for the rising part - for most of the 3 hours I should imagine, so I would imagine it's cheaper to make by hand, especially if you make more than one at a time.

zippychick

here's an existing thread discussing the very same thing

bulk buying bread flour may help as well

I could have swore there was another thread bu ti can't quite find it!

We will merge this later

Zip

oldtractor

I've some bread rising at the moment,its made with wholemeal,white and oat flour,also lots of different nuts and seeds,walnuts,linseeds,pumpkin seeds etc etc. It will be rustic artisan bread,3 large loaves. Would cost a fortune in a bread shop.

fedupfreda

Wouldn't say its necessarily any cheaper - the problem with HM bread is its nicer, so you eat more . I find in our house 2 loaves disappear in 2 days. However it is better for you and you get to have it exactly as you like it - so, as other posters have said, its not really comparable to bog standard sliced white - its more comparable to the high end artisan loaves.

The recipe I am using at the moment goes something like this:-

1 Kg (whole bag) Sainsbugs seeded bread flour (currently £1)
1 Tbsp salt (5p?)
1/8th pack of butter (20p?)
3 coffee mugs of warm water
1 Tbsp Allinson dried yeast (10p? The stuff in the tin you have to 'wake up', NOT the instant stuff , I find it doesn't work for me)
1 Tbsp sugar (10p?)

Fill a coffee mug 3/4 full with lukewarm water, add the sugar and yeast, stir and leave for the yeast to get a frothy head. In the meantime pour the flour into a bowl, stir in the salt and rub in the butter.

When the yeast has made a nice frothy head, pour into the centre of the flour mix and add a further 2 mugfuls of lukewarm water (you might want to hold one mugful back in case the flour does not need it all - you want a soft dough that sticks together but not a sloppy one). Knead the dough together until its soft and elastic then cover and leave in a warm place to prove (you can halve the amount of yeast and leave it to prove in the fridge overnight or while you are at work if you like - but if you are leaving it for a long period of time you must reduce the yeast - unless you really want to come down to a heap of dough spilling out over the worktop :eek::eek:).

When the dough has doubled in size you can divide into 2 and give it a quick knead. Get 2 plastic bowls and line each one with a clean tea towel. Sprinkle a bit of flour on the tea towel. Place a ball of dough in each bowl, sprinkle a little more flour on top and cover over with the ends of the tea towel. Leave to rise again and start pre heating the oven to gas mark 6. Put a large clean baking sheet in the oven to pre heat - use the shelf 2nd from the top.

When the dough has risen again and springs back when you press it lightly with your finger, its ready to bake. Here comes the fun part. Take the pre-heated sheet out of the oven and gingerly tip the dough onto the work top, tuck the sides in slightly and stretch the ends gently a bit (slide your hands underneath and pull slightly) - you want a sort of bloomer shape. Gently put loaf on the heated baking sheet and do the same with the other loaf. Slash 3 or 4 cuts on the top of each loaf to allow for expansion. Pop in the oven and bake for about 30-40 mins, until bread sounds hollow when tapped on bottom. Leave to cool then enjoy.

As you can see total cost for the ingredients is £1.45 for 2 loaves. You have to allow for the fuel - IIRC last time I checked (yes I am that pedantic ) it worked out at about 16p for the gas. But that was a while back. Allowing 25p for the gas that makes a total cost of £1.70 for 2 loaves - so 85p a loaf then. Is it worth it - you bet.:D

Happy baking.

seraphina

I doubt a bread machine uses more electric than an oven - the bread machine is a much smaller space. My oven takes ages to heat up, so I have to put it on well in advance and then a loaf is 40 mins, or thereabouts.