till debt do us part

JAMIEDODGER

way to go you! just a warning.....its VERY addictive lol

NoDebtNow

.......I was watching an energy efficiency programme on Beeb the other week and they told one family that their breadmaking machine was costing them more in energy than buying a loaf from a professional bakers.....



Hello, I've been reading the boards for quite some time though I was an MSE'r of sorts some years ago. Thought I would reply to the bread making statement above. Here's my own experience. I use a Panasonic 253 Bread Maker that is rated as 550w (0.55 Kw) and as a single chap I only make the medium sized loaves. I make two to three loaves per week and these for the most part are Granary or White. Here are my costs of making really really delicious bread: -

Electricity Costs.
Electricity costs work out at 8.87 pence per KWh. This is worked out from the details on my electricity statement. For the more astute MSEr's the unit cost does contain the VAT element of 5% - lol. As you know electricity tariff costs around the country do vary so take into account any standing charges you may be charged and discounts you may be entitled to. My own costs per loaf work out as follows: -

Granary Loaf
Electricity Usage - 0.55 Kw x 5 hours of cooking = 2.75 Kwhrs
Electricity Cost - 2.75 Kwhrs x 8.87 pence = 24.4 pence

White Loaf
Electricity Usage - 0.55 Kw x 4 hours of cooking = 2.2 Kwhrs
Electricity Cost - 2.2 Kwhrs x 8.87 pence = 19.5 pence


Ingredient Costs.
The bread I make is simply wonderful. The texture and taste is mouth watering and I can’t wait to cut a huge thick slice and put loads and loads of butter on it... Even our local bakery’s bread does not come close to my own - he says modestly.... lol. Also there are no E Numbers, preservatives and excess salt in the loaves. Instead of using water in the recipe I use whole milk. I also ensure I get the very best granary flour and yeast. The yeast I buy contains Vitamin C. A bit of trial and error with different brands of flours will let you know what suits your taste and wallet. I also put into the mix a teaspoon of milk powder. I guess the costs of the ingredients can vary quite a lot depending on where you shop and what you buy but the cost of the ingredients per loaf is easily worked out. My own work out as follows: -

Granary Loaf - 53 pence
White Loaf - 37 pence

The total cost of each type of loaf is therefore: -

Granary = 77.4 pence
White = 56.5 pence

Is this cheaper than the bakery or supermarket bread? Well in my own small rural area the answer is yes. The savings figures work out approximately 8.9% for the Granary and 27.5% for the White loaf. Hope this has been of some use to the readers. I will says this in passing – even if the cost was more than the retail cost I would still bake my own bread, simply on the basis of quality and taste. :T

Tondella

Wow! That's thorough!! I guess there are all sorts of factors as to how the economics balance, I got the impression this family had the machine on all night every night.

Hmm sounds lovely too!

Thanks for your comments

margaretclare

Hi Tondella

I looked at buying a breadmaker but decided that bread is quite simple to make without the breadmaker.

I have a large stoneware bowl. We buy Hovis granary flour and Hovis powdered yeast. 750g of flour, 450 ml warm water, one teaspoon of salt, one sachet of powdered yeast makes 2 loaves. I normally make this on Tuesday afternoons when my husband goes out to his computer club, and he comes home to the smell of fresh-baked bread. Try the recipe on the back of the Hovis flour bag (1.5 kg) and you won't be disappointed.

I am not sure whether it's very economical, though, because 2 loaves don't last very long!!

Aunty Margaret

pug_in_a_bed

[/QUOTE]
Ingredient Costs.
The bread I make is simply wonderful. The texture and taste is mouth watering and I can’t wait to cut a huge thick slice and put loads and loads of butter on it... Even our local bakery’s bread does not come close to my own - he says modestly.... lol. Also there are no E Numbers, preservatives and excess salt in the loaves. Instead of using water in the recipe I use whole milk. I also ensure I get the very best granary flour and yeast. The yeast I buy contains Vitamin C. A bit of trial and error with different brands of flours will let you know what suits your taste and wallet. I also put into the mix a teaspoon of milk powder. I guess the costs of the ingredients can vary quite a lot depending on where you shop and what you buy but the cost of the ingredients per loaf is easily worked out. . :T[/QUOTE]

Cheeky question...would you consider sharing your recipe? I havent made one successful loaf yet...

Tondella

margaretclare wrote:

Hi Tondella

I looked at buying a breadmaker but decided that bread is quite simple to make without the breadmaker.

I have a large stoneware bowl. We buy Hovis granary flour and Hovis powdered yeast. 750g of flour, 450 ml warm water, one teaspoon of salt, one sachet of powdered yeast makes 2 loaves. I normally make this on Tuesday afternoons when my husband goes out to his computer club, and he comes home to the smell of fresh-baked bread. Try the recipe on the back of the Hovis flour bag (1.5 kg) and you won't be disappointed.

I am not sure whether it's very economical, though, because 2 loaves don't last very long!!

Aunty Margaret

Do you use loaf tins or just shape it and bake it on a tray?

margaretclare

Tondella wrote:

Do you use loaf tins or just shape it and bake it on a tray?

I have 2 non-stick loaf tins. But equally, it could be made into round 'cakes' and baked on a non-stick baking tray. Or it could be made into smaller rolls.

The main thing with bread-making is that everything needs to be warm, to allow the yeast to work. Then bake at 220 Celsius for half and hour. Beautiful!

Aunty Margaret

NoDebtNow

From SMAM21
Cheeky question...would you consider sharing your recipe? I havent made one successful loaf yet...

Hello Smam....heres the recipes....

As mentioned in my post, I substitute the 280 ml of water for milk. The recipe book suggests you can do this as it enhances the flavour and nutritional value of the bread. Also, I buy yeast that has Vitamin C incorporated into it. The cookbook advises that this acts as a bread improver by increasing the volume of the loaf, particularly for whole meal and whole-wheat type breads. If your yeast does not have Vitamin C then break off a 100mg lump from a tablet and crush it to a powder between two spoons. :T

It should be said that the Bread Making Machine does all the work…resting, proving, kneading, raising and baking and so on and all these stages appear to be of vital importance. It would seem that the very accurate measurement of the ingredients is also critical. I compared the volumes of the supplied measuring instruments that came with the machine to Teaspoons and Tablespoons I have in the cutlery drawer. There is a big difference – the machines measuring tools are about 25% greater in volume. :eek:

As a two left handed simple male I have in the past tried to manually make my own bread from recipes on the flour packet or from an ancient cook-book I own and the results were awful… my first whole meal loaf came out of the oven looking like an Olympic discus – just as flat, just as hard, charred and smoking, incredibly heavy and totally inedible – hee hee. Those people who can manually make bread from start to finish have a wonderful skill at their disposal. Here are the Bread Making Machine recipes: -

Granary Loaf – Medium size
Yeast ½ Teaspoon
Granary flour 400 g (14 oz)
Sugar 1 Tablespoon
Butter 15 g (1/2 oz)
Milk powder 1 Tablespoon
Salt 1 Teaspoon
Whole milk 280 ml


White Loaf – Medium size
Yeast ½ Teaspoon
Strong White flour 400 g (14 oz)
Sugar 1 Tablespoon
Butter 15 g (1/2 oz)
Milk powder 1 Tablespoon
Salt 1 Teaspoon
Whole milk 280 ml

ffs

NoDebtNow wrote:

I use a Panasonic 253 Bread Maker that is rated as 550w (0.55 Kw) and ...

Granary Loaf
Electricity Usage - 0.55 Kw x 5 hours of cooking = 2.75 Kwhrs
Electricity Cost - 2.75 Kwhrs x 8.87 pence = 24.4 pence

White Loaf
Electricity Usage - 0.55 Kw x 4 hours of cooking = 2.2 Kwhrs
Electricity Cost - 2.2 Kwhrs x 8.87 pence = 19.5 pence

Very thorough, but I'm afraid you have vastly overstated the electricity cost. Although your Bread maker is rated at 550w, it will only be using the heater for a proportion of the cooking time, I'm not sure how much, but I would guess perhaps 30-50% of the cooking time. This reduces your costs by perhaps 10-15p per loaf.

NoDebtNow

From !!!!!!

!!!!!! wrote:

Very thorough, but I'm afraid you have vastly overstated the electricity cost. Although your Bread maker is rated at 550w, it will only be using the heater for a proportion of the cooking time, I'm not sure how much, but I would guess perhaps 30-50% of the cooking time. This reduces your costs by perhaps 10-15p per loaf.

Hello !!!!!!, many thanks for your reply. You are absolutley right. The electricity costs I calculated are the maximum that could be incurred. Due to the various cycles of the bread machine - resting, proving, mixing, baking and so on there was'nt any accurate way from the techy parts of the cookery manual to judge the power consumption of each part of the cycle so I chose the most expensive part for the whole cycle which is probably the heating and baking. The final cost of the loaf will be something less than I calculated but how much cannot be determined. I perhaps should have mentioned this in my original statement. Thanks for your comments.