How much cheaper to make own bread?

Ladyluck1

Just wondering if it's worth starting to make my own bread.
My DH is a baker (only in a supermarket currently) but he still remembers how to make various things so said he would make bread or teach me for when he doesn't want to be baking ALL day!

If you make your own how much does it cost roughly per loaf?
I buy bread at 50-60p a loaf currently.

Thanks xx

Jammygal

I'm not sure it will work out that much cheaper but it is probably better for you as less salt, sugar and preservatives or additives. Also you pay far more for quality loaf iyswim rather than a cheap white sliced

Ladyluck1

Yes. I totally agree about the quality and if we weren't struggling I would love to be able to buy or make the best of everything...
Unfortunately my worry is money at the moment but I suppose even if it comes in at the same price for a better quality product id be happy

bazzarob_2

I don't think you can make bread for 50-60p per loaf. You need to factor in the cost of flour, yeast and salt, although very small amounts it all adds up. I did this last month and found that you need to commit to buying the biggest bags of flour you can get, and then making sure that your recipe allows you to make the most of the size bags of flour (i.e. divide up into how many loaves you can make). So don't use a recipe that asks for 700g flour if you have a 1kilo bag or you'll be back to the shop for your next loaf! flour round our way is about 80p kilo. So I can make a couple of small loaves from that.
Also be prepared to eat the bread up really quickly, it is still nice the next day, but the day after the next day it gets a bit stale and so on...
Have fun though! It's the highlight of my day and makes your house smell amazing! once you get the hang of your recipe and do other things while you're waiting for it to prove, you'll wonder why you weren't making bread every day!!

Anne_Marie_2

Sorry, can't help with costs as don't live in UK. One bread that I make often, and lasts for quite a few days is the oat and cheese recipe loaf in the Panasonic breadmaker book. I omit the cheese 90% of the time, as although it's scrummy, I eat far too much cheese as it is, so try to cut back a bit. Always turns out well, albeit in the breadmaker. Wonder if it is the addition of oats that makes it last that bit longer? Certainly stays fresher than other breads I make.
I keep bread in the fridge, in those long life bread bags you get from the pound shops. This is mainly because it's warmer, and things go off more quickly, but it doesn't make any difference to the taste.

bellaboo86

my parents make their own bread in big batches and they way the combat staleness is to cut the loafs in half before freezing. That way you don't waste it.

cosette

It's a how-long-is-a-piece-of-string question, it depends on what ingredients you use.

For example, if I use a 1.5 kg bag of Sainsbury's bread flour at 80p, I can make 4 1-lb lor 1 1/2 lb loaves from that, so 20p a loaf. Salt is pence for the whole batch, and yeast (if I use it) is about 2-3p a loaf because I use fresh yeast. More often I do sourdough bread, which uses no yeast at all, but a tad more flour as I 'feed' the levain every now and then. So very cheap all in all.

However, if I use better-quality flours then the price rises, although of course you have to compare like with like - I wouldn't compare my home-made bread to basic bread, but to more artisan-like and artisan-priced bread.

Of course, there is the factor of fuel, but I almost discount this because I use my oven very efficiently -usually making large batches of bread and/or cooking things at the same time or when the oven is already heated up for something else.

Can't say I've every had a problem with my bread going stale, to be honest I wouldn't want to have bread hanging around for more than a few days anyway. Sourdough in particular keeps well. And of course most commercial bread only keeps 'better' because it contains fungicides...

sonastin

I reckon the small loaf in my breadmaker costs about 50p to make and I get about 10 slices from it. I bought a sainsbugs basic loaf the other day (for OH to make a bread and butter pudding from!) which was also 50p. It looked to be twice the size but it certainly wasn't even half as nice - leftovers got fed to the ducks!

So if money is the one and only issue, you can get more bread for your money by buying a cheap white sliced from the SM. If you're in a position to weigh quality against cash in the pursuit of value, I'd say homemade is worth it.

silverwhistle

Cosette makes some good points and the batch cooking and using the oven more efficiently is something I've always tried to do although I'm lucky enough now to have solar panels so try and cook when the sun is up! Pain au levain is great when it goes well and you can feed the mother, but I find it a bit of a faff and as I live on my own it's not really worth it for me.

Bear in mind you can freeze dough as well, and I sometimes freeze small quantities so that I can make a pizza (or two) at some stage. Rolls also freeze well and are easier to defrost and reheat. If you do have left-over bread you can use it up in bread and butter pudding, or thickening soups, or fried or toasted. Your home-made bread'll be a lot better than supermarket Chorleywood process stuff which relies on giant mixers to get the air into the dough rather than a slow acting yeast. If you can get it to rise slowly I reckon it makes a tastier and more digestible bread, and I sometimes shove the dough in the fridge overnight. Making bread makes working in the kitchen just that little more pleasurable, particularly when it finally goes in the oven!

gayleygoo

We buy sliced pan loaves which are rarely under £1, so it might save us money. I don't think you can compare a cheap loaf to a nice crusty loaf similar to one you'd make yourself, but a recent purchase of a nice loaf in a local bakery cost me £2.70 :eek: (there were no prices on anything and I nearly died when the shop assistant asked for that amount for a small, plain crusty cob!)

Making your own bread means you can get fancy with it and add things like bacon, cheese, olives, sun-dried tomatoes etc, or divide your dough in half and make two different loaves. A big batch of dough could make a loaf, plus some rolls or baguettes and breadsticks. These things add "value" to your homemade bread the same way shops will charge a fortune for anything that isn't very basic.

However, I'm really terrible at making yeasted bread and have wasted ingredients when it hasn't come out right! How fab it is you have a hubby to teach you and make good bread :T I'm just going to stick to soda bread, it's hard to get wrong