Is home made bread cheaper?

Bella56

Naf wrote: »

I was just going to set up an excel spreadhseet to compare prices/weights etc today for exactly this question. What a handy thread. I was reckoning a loaf costing around 30-50p, but being about half the size of shop bought ones, and lasting a day or two at a time (before its eaten, not gone bad). So I'd use about £2 a week on shop loaves, and from 80p to £3.50 a week on home made. Might not save all the time, but its convenient, tasty, smells great and I reckon healthier. Now I just need practise cutting slices that don't start about 1cm, and finish around 3 lol.
Anyone have a BM recipe (or even oven I guess) for Corn Bread (i.e. made from cornmeal/flour instead of wheat flour). Its very popular in Holland (where my wife comes from) and I love it whenever we visit, but I just can't seem to find it here.

Polenta (cornmeal) is 99p for 1.5kg at Tesco now! Here is a recipe that we've tried:

150g polenta
125g strong white flour
50g sugar
15ml baking powder
5ml salt
250ml milk or buttermilk
60g melted butter
2 eggs

Mix dry ingredients. In another bowl, beat eggs and add melted butter. Stir dry ingredients with eggs - DON'T stir too much, just until lightly mixed. Bake in large rectangular baking dish, 190C, for 20 minutes.

daisiegg

I'm amazed by all the people saying their HM bread lasts 3 or 4 days...mine is stale the day after I make it! I always just thought this was normal.

How do you store yours, please?

Also, I am allergic to dairy so can't use the milk powder that's in the recipe - could it be this that makes it go stale more quickly?

squeaky

I keep mine wrapped in the fridge, but, since there's only me, after a couple of days I slice the remainder and pop it in the freezer so that I still get it at its best, so to speak.

catch_me_if_you_can

daisiegg wrote: »

I'm amazed by all the people saying their HM bread lasts 3 or 4 days...mine is stale the day after I make it! I always just thought this was normal.

How do you store yours, please?

Also, I am allergic to dairy so can't use the milk powder that's in the recipe - could it be this that makes it go stale more quickly?

I bought some bread saver bags on eBay... When they came they had a Home bargains sticker on. :rotfl: Just pop the bread in once cool and fold the end under, stays fresh 3 days. Day 4 (if it gets that far unbeaten) it's good for toast.

Living_proof

I wouldn't want to be without a breadmaker now. I only use it a couple of times a week but it means the bread we do eat is at least fresh. Today I made a large loaf but we are out this weekend so I have frozen what is left after slicing a couple of sandwiches off it.

I work from home and always thought I would have the time to make bread from scratch but the phone always rings halfway through measuring or kneading something and it just added stress to my day. I have settled for the Wrights bread mixes which I have in the past bought in bulk and had delivered, and more recently I bought a couple of months' supply when they had the offer in Lidl.

It is horses for courses. My nearest 'proper' bread is a 24 mile round trip and with the cost of petrol it would make no sense to 'nip' out for a loaf. The local convenience store is very close at hand but all breads are both inferior and expensive, so my solution is the MR breadmaker (£5 at CBS and I have another one as back-up) but if I were to buy another one it would probably be a Panny. If you have a family at home then making a larger portion of dough using weighed ingredients and baking in the oven would probably be best, and this is exactly what was done in the past before squidgy loaves came along with local supermarkets in the '60's.

I think a wholemealor grainy loaf which would do us 6 rounds of sandwiches and a slice of toast or two would cost around 75p. I would persevere with a BM until the Eureka moment hits you. Even the height above sea level affects the result but we all like different bread types and have different stores in (or rather out of!) our vicinity. You just have to work around your personal situation.

JulieGeorgiana

I find 2 days is fine, longer 3 days is okay. I slice and place in a sandwich bag.

Although if I freeze it, i find the defrosted stuff stays freasher for longer, but I get 16 slices from a loaf and the boys eat 10 a day, so it's only the weekends where we use less and I notice if it's made Thursday it'll be fine Sunday night!

I do freeze half a loaf here and there just in case though.

santer_2

The empty bags from a cereal packets keep things fresh

lapis_lazuli

I use Delia's recipe as adapted by thriftlady in this thread: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/1445720#Comment_1445720
and use my second-hand Kenwood Chef to knead it all. I did do it by hand a few times, but the Kenwood is better at kneading. The great thing is I can bung 4 loaves in the oven at once, and there won't be a paddle mark in any of them!

ALIBOBSY

I think if you are going for oven baked the best way t keep costs down is to fill the oven-i suppose its basically what may of our mums/grandmothers used to do, you have a baking day where the oven might be on for say 1-2 hours in the day, but you bake everything for the week-breads, scones, cakes, maybe even a roast joint or a stew for tea one night.

I suppose with freezers you could do a mass bake say once a fortnight or even a month.
I aways think if a joint is in roasting-usually on a sunday its a shame not to use the extra oven space to get someting in.

Trouble with threads like this is it makes me want to bake lol, and I did some baking yesterday as DD1 had friends coming for tea.

Ali x

Diflower

daisiegg wrote: »

I'm amazed by all the people saying their HM bread lasts 3 or 4 days...mine is stale the day after I make it! I always just thought this was normal.

How do you store yours, please?

Also, I am allergic to dairy so can't use the milk powder that's in the recipe - could it be this that makes it go stale more quickly?

It depends partly on the recipe you use, but the milk powder doesn't help it last. Anyone still using it, try a loaf without, you probably won't notice any difference and it saves money.
Do you add butter or oil, as that does help it last. I usually just add a squirt from a plastic bottle of ordinary cooking oil, about a tablespoon.

Mainly our loaves are either 50% or 70% wholemeal and last easily 3 days which is about right for us (I only make the smallest size as it's better-sized slices).
Also I have some bread bags from the 99p shop but not sure they make a difference. We don't eat cereal otherwise I'd use those bags too!