Is homemade bread REALLY cheaper?

epz_2

I have just bough a Panasonic bread maker (why not just get the best) and really like it.

I used to always buy the store baked loafs at about £120 a loaf so am saving about 80p a loaf. Basicly I break even on the outlay after 1.5 years.

personally I think the big advantages to a BM are as follows

1) you can make bread how you want it.

2) you can make bread when you want it, it may sound silly but I prefer knowing that I am only 4hrs away from a loaf even though the shops would be quicker. I can work away and get back late etc.

3) you will have ingredients available for other things, I wouldn't buy eggs etc very often as i didn't eat them before they went out of date, now you have more uses them.

the big disadvantage for me at the moment seems to be that now I can see the advantage of this I am looking for a pasta maker so do something similar with another staple. £400 for a kenwood chef and pasta extruder seem a bit harder to justify though.

FYI morrisons 3kg for £2 allisons flour seems like a good deal to me.

calisto

If you can afford a really good stand mixer (like a classic Kitchenaid) then there is no need for the electric breadmakers.

Also, chatting up the baker in the ASDA or Tesco is a good way of getting yeast (and their secret tiger-bread mixture), but another way of getting loads of fresh yeast is to brew your own beer/wine. Serious money saving there!

Finally, something I have yet to do but am looking forward too - make a nice sourdough loaf! Just leave a flour/water mix to pick up wild yeasts for a few days and self-ferment, then pitch into a fresh dough.

I have NEVER had a bad home-made loaf. Ok, some of them come out knobbly, burnt or stodgy, but they are hot and butter melts into them and there is nothing better! The Romans lived in nothing but fresh baked bread, cheese, and wine!

calisto

I_know_my_ABC_and_my_CMYK wrote: »

Does anyone buy flour by the 'sack' at all instead of the 1.5 or 3kg bags? If so where do you recommend buying from and what make is the flour?:)

The local ASDA often has Elephant Atta in which is the top chapatti flour. It is a half between white and wholemeal flour. The best thing is it is sold in massive sacks of 10kg for £4, but often goes on sale for £2 - 3 !!

I have to admit I have only used it for chapattis so far (absolutely delicious fresh out the skillet with butter), but can't see why it can't be used to make a near-wholemeal loaf - the perfect sliced bread really!

wouldbeqaulitymoneysaver

Next time I make a loaf, I have stocked up on 5kg each of Doves Organic Strong White Bread Flour and wholemeal, so 18 Loaves amost 38 loaves minus zillions of other uses ie Fruit Bread, Buns etc. I am gonna try a Mark Bittman Trick and let it prove for 72 hours to see if I can get a lighter loaf.
If wholemeal I will use part white as suggested in Felicity Cloake recipe.
I also have a recipe from Richard Bertinet where he makes a naturally leavened loaf so another one to try.
I love the idea of flour having it's own raising agent!
I also think HM Bread is more substantial than Shop brought but needs to compete on quality in order to replace or supplement the Shop Brought Loaf.
If one of MSE folks figs are right then it is def cheaper to make than buy plus you avoid in store advertising and the dreadful neuroscience used to make you compulsively shop along with complex unclear pricing.

Justamum

calisto wrote: »

The local ASDA often has Elephant Atta in which is the top chapatti flour. It is a half between white and wholemeal flour. The best thing is it is sold in massive sacks of 10kg for £4, but often goes on sale for £2 - 3 !!

I have to admit I have only used it for chapattis so far (absolutely delicious fresh out the skillet with butter), but can't see why it can't be used to make a near-wholemeal loaf - the perfect sliced bread really!

I've never thought of using chapatti flour for bread before. I found this

"Chapati flour is whole wheat (atta), with some white flour (Maida), with the usual bread ingredients,it is fine, but you must use some white flour as there is little gluten in the Atta/Chapati flour to make bread."

on Yahoo Answers which might help.