HM Bread cheaper ? and flour costs

urbanlegend11

Looking into ways to reduce the weekly food spend and i often see people say to make your own bread. I have a great bread maker but i always thought it was nicer bread but more expensive to make? Any tips? Wheres the cheapest place for ingredients?

Kitten_Pie

I am probably not the best person to answer but I just use basic white flour for my bread and rolls etc.

I don't have a bread maker so not sure if that would make a difference but we find that it works well and keeps the cost way down.

JulieGeorgiana

Look at this thread >>> Breadmaker Wannabe Post #18

I put a detailed breakdown of cost for different breads, the price includes electricticty and ingredients and the price I payed for those ingredients.

Ps. I buy all my ingredients at MrT as they do the right kind of yeast, cheap oil and often have 3 for 2 on flour!

Hope that Helps x

kezlou

I use a mixture of strong white bread flour and basic plain flour for bread and rolls. Generally the cheapest flour i can find.
If i'm making pizza bases, foccacia and rolls i just use basic plain flour.

The cheapest i've found for active dried yeast is sainsburys own brand, as the pack has 8 sachets instead of the standard 6.
You can buy a tin of yeast of yeast which you have to activate yourself, but i can't get away with it, my bread always turns out to yeasty and foul.

I do make bread by hand but i have the cheapest bread maker out of argos, and its fab makes bread, dough i.e pizza, jam, cakes. So you don't have to buy the most expensive one in the shop.

I've got the older version of this one:
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4237154/Trail/searchtext%3EBREAD+MAKER.htm

HTH

JulieGeorgiana

kezlou wrote: »

The cheapest i've found for active dried yeast is sainsburys own brand, as the pack has 8 sachets instead of the standard 6.

MrT does this in a tin (Allisons Fast Active Yeast) 99p for 100g, it seems this is a new line they brought in about September.

Those sachets from MrS are 85p for 56g which is £1.52 for 100g

kezlou

Thanks Julie

Thats the one i've tried in the past, i just can't seem to get away with it

But i'm going to buy another tin and see how it goes.:)

JulieGeorgiana

kezlou wrote: »

Thanks Julie

Thats the one i've tried in the past, i just can't seem to get away with it

But i'm going to buy another tin and see how it goes.:)

Make sure you buy the Fast Action (Green tin for 99p) and not the Easy Bake (yellow tin for 68p which needs activating) i made this mistake back in September (Have a look on MySupermarket.com for pictures!)

You have to keep the Fast Action in the Fridge, it states you get 14 Loaves out of a tin, and can be used in breadmakers.

Ps. You get more then 14 loaves out of a tin, because it's based on you using 2tsp per loaf... mine all use 1/2 - 3/4tsp per loaf so it lasts forever!

Hope this helps

Good Luck.

mysk_girl

You can get fresh yeast from supermarkets in-house bakery, my sainsbury's sells it for 30p/100g, and it keeps for a couple of weeks in the fridge. I just mix 20g with 300ml of warm water in a jug until it has dissolved, then add to 500g strong flour (usually white/wholemeal 50:50 mixed) with a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of sugar. Then I have dough hooks on my hand whisk to knead it, I don't have a bread machine.

I would have thought you should be able to use fresh yeast mixed with the water in a breadmaker, although I have never done this - I don't think it would work if you wanted to set a delay on it...

valk_scot

Supermarket own brand bread flour from Lidl or Tesco is cheapest and hardly worth the bother of mixing 50:50 with Value plain flour, though it can be done. Allinsons Fast Active yeast is cheap for a breadmaker, water, salt and sugar are all basics too. I get three 700g loaves from a 1.5Kg bag of flour that costs 68p atm and when I cost it up roughly that's about 50p a loaf, including running the breadmaker.

Cheap varients...honey (Value honey) and sunflower seeds, oatmeal (Value oatmeal), olive oil with dried rosemary, cheese and onion (use the skanky end of a parmesan crust plus flaked dried onions), mixed spice and mixed fruit (Value) plus dried milk. Etc. It can be as expensive as you want it to be.

Bella56

Julie's link is fab! I had no idea breadmaker bread could be so inexpensive.

If you've got free time 1 morning a week, you could do sourdough. It takes about 4 days to create the starter from scratch, then you'll never need yeast again, and can make a basic half brown, half white loaf using only flour, salt, water, and your starter. It just needs a bit of preparation the night before, bit of kneading in the morning, 3 hours of sitting, 40 minutes baking, and you can bake 4 loaves or more at the same time, depending on your oven. Then you can let them cool, slice, and freeze.

But sourdough loaves can be a bit stodgy and it does take more remembering to do each step, than a breadmaker. BMs definitely have their advantages.