I'm not consdered a tried and true bread baker.

Mainly fruit bread and give most of them as gifts.

Here is a link that might be useful: making your own bread

LOL....I've always thought of it as MORE expensive, but worth it. Some things I'm willing to pay more for. Home baked goods and home cooked meals are perfect examples. I seldom eat out anymore that I don't find "they" have changed the recipe...cheapened it. I used to love a certain nearby Mexican restaurant until they recently changed their shredded cheese that normally topped a lot of their dishes. It now resembles spaghetti cheese...dried and powdery. Tried it a couple times by changing my entree, but it was the same so I gave up and told my DH we don't need to go back. Enjoy your bread and forget anout whether you're saving any money.

I bake because I want to, because I enjoy it, because it makes me feel good, because it makes my house smell good, and because it tastes ssssooooooooooo good!

This makes it a bargain! Much cheaper than going someplace for what ever reason. :)

Moni

We like the LaBrea wheat bread and the rosemary with olive oil. A package with two 12" long loaves is $4.99 at Costco. I use the ends as dinner rolls and slice and freeze the rest to use for toast.

To answer your question, No. Baking smells and fresh taste are wonderful. But 75â/loaf is easier too.

75cents/loaf Old Fixer? Wow, that IS a bargain.

But I always bake our own bread. We don't buy bread. Even if it's more expensive, which it probably is, because the yeast is $8/lb, the flavour and texture can't be beat. I love the whole process. I'm making buns tomorrow.

I don't know if it's cheaper, but it has to taste lots better! It has been decades since I had homemade bread.

A loaf of wheat bread is .99cents here. I have been buying a lot of sandwich bread lately....if I'm too busy to bake it myself. Otherwise I have several bread machines and in 4 hours it's hot and fresh! I LOVE home made bread!

The yeast is the big expense. "IF" I wasn't using yeast....I could save a ton...

You can get yeast by the pound instead of those little packets and it is less expensive.
For non yeast breads like banana nut bread, I make it exactly the way I like it and that is worthwhile to me.

Lucille, I buy it at the bulk store........never the little packets. It's still $8/lb.

I've got a loaf of bread and 6 rolls ready to come out of the oven. Sure smells good in here!

This post was edited by jasdip on Sun, Sep 21, 14 at 12:40

I don't find homemade to be a bargain. It sure is delicious. I make it in the bread maker. A loaf usually gets devoured in a few hours. If not, I'll wait a day and make croutons. The croutons rarely make it to a salad. Mine are like garlic bread and get eaten straight off the cookie sheet.

Banana bread may be more cost effective. Not sure. I usually make that only when I have bananas that will go to waste otherwise. I don't like store bought banana bread or muffins.

In general, I'm sure you can buy some substitute bread cheaper, but it's [almost] never as good as homemade!

However, in the case of gluten free, I do suspect that homemade bread is much less expensive than store-bought. Only healthfood stores and specialty shops carry GF baked goods here and they have HEFTY prices! For example, I recently saw a price of $3 on a single GF muffin or cupcake. I'm certain I could make a dozen of either for less than $36. :) If I remember correctly, a small "half loaf" (8 slices) of GF sandwich bread was $6.

Costco had red star dry yeast in a compressed package and I cannot find my receipt but I am sure it was around six dollars or less. That was for a 32 ounce or two pound pkg. I just break it down in airtight containers and store it in the freezer. I find no difference in that and the name brand yellow pkg. other than the great savings. We also like breads made with multi grains and seeds that I make with a starter instead of yeast. Making bread is cheaper than buying in our case because we buy bulk ingredients.

Here's my disappointment with bread machines-I don't get that wonderful baking bread fragrance like when there's bread in the oven. I read somewhere to add the yeast to the liquid even though the instructions say add yeast to the dry stuff, and then it'd smell good-true or not? I gave away my machine and so I never tried it.

What would it cost you to make a 12" loaf of wheat bread similar to the La Brea I buy at Costco? What's the total cost of ingredients plus gas or electricity? How much time do you spend to make a loaf or two? I buy two loaves for $4.99. Good quality, dense, heavy bread with no preservatives.

I think those that make our own bread do it because we love the taste/satisfaction of making our own. It's not necessarily cost-effective.

Deeby, a lot of people use the bread machine to do the kneading, then take it out and form, rise and bake in the oven. Then the shape is consistent to a sandwich loaf and of course the smell is there.

I commented on the link...

I know lots of bread makers but don't know very many that make there own bread to save money...but it's a cool idea...I've been making my own for so many years that I have worn out my shoulders and arms and now use my bread maker to do the work and then take it out, shape it and bake it in my oven....much nicer that way...I just can't knead it any more...I do have an old Kitchenaid that I use too and it does just as good a job as the bread maker but I can get a bit larger loaf with the bread maker.

and I have to say that with a big LOL because most bread bakers have a least a half dozen different flours, and a dozen recipe books and all kinds of different baking pans...I know I have one pan that I paid $30 bucks for so bread baking is like any other hobby and not something you necessarily try to save money doing...

Now when you get right down to it. bread is basically water, salt and flour...and leavening of some kind if you choose...so that's pretty darn cheap to anything you could buy but what home baker isn't going to put her own touch to it...

I bought 15 pounds of flour today and the best that Wall-Mart had to sell for bread, King Arthur.

This post was edited by ruthieg__tx on Sun, Sep 21, 14 at 16:22

Charging yourself minimum wage, 2 loaves of bread or a tray of buns would be ridiculous. If you had to pay that price to buy them, there would really be some whining.

I bought a loaf of gluten free bread, it was $4.99, I think. It was tasteless and dry. Yuck. I knew a lady who made it weekly from a mix and added a tablespoon of mayonnaise. Now I see why she did-her bread was good !

From time to time I make lots of yeast rolls and once in a while some bread. I love the bread machine and always use it for mixing up the bread, saves a lot of work. I never bake in them, don't care for the way they bake, so mix in the machine and let it rise and then take out, shape and bake in the big oven. I have I think 4 machines if I need to make a lot of them at one time.

Sue

I'm baking 8 loaves of bread today. I actually talked to the dough as I kneaded it and told it that it better make good bread or I was going to buy instead.

If the process and/or the end result is enjoyable and preferred, I would think that would be reason enough to make your own. Even if more expensive.

I love trying new recipes so today I made Sherry's bread recipe and it turned out really good...I just tasted one slice but it was really nice looking...nice rise and nice browning ...

My loaves obviously heard me talking to them and came out beautifully :)

Lucille, how do you bake 8 loaves of bread? 4 is the most I make at once, and my oven is very crowded.

Oh, perhaps you have 2 wall ovens. Duh!

I don't have a bread machine and don't want one. First of all because I have no room to store it. Secondly I find mixing up bread dough and kneading it to be a pleasurable process.

I make the communion bread for our church, a honey/whole wheat bread that is so good that I always make a little loaf just for me with the left over dough, and can hardly wait till it's cool enough to cut and eat. Other than that, I don't make bread because I'd eat way too much since there's only me here.

My mother made bread often and believe it or not, I didn't like it, even warm. But when she made dinner rolls I'd gobble them up - had to be warm, though. Once they cooled off I didn't like them.

Maxmom, I completely agree about the whole process of making bread by hand. I like kneading. :-)

I also make a honey-whole wheat bread, that is delicious. I really only have 2 breads in my repertoire, white and honey-whole wheat. I have a separate dinner roll recipe that is also excellent.

I'm not nitpicking, I'm really not. I'm just curious and have a question. I thought communion bread is supposed to be unleavened?

Jasdip, I have 3 sets of heavy duty Ekco four strap commercial loaf pans (only used two this time) that bake four 9 x 4 1/2 loaves each.
Two sets will fit comfortably in my ordinary size oven.

I love kneading too...something about the process that calms the being...but the shoulders and arms don't allow it any more so thankfully I have the bread machine... I can manage enough kneading to ready it for the oven after it comes out of the mixer or the machine...

Sherry I made your bread yesterday...It is very good..

I mentioned that I love kneading the bread, but I also know that many people can't, which is where the bread machine comes in.

Ruthie, I'm glad you like the bread, We love it. It has the right texture, taste and "pull" that we like.

I love to knead bread and really miss it because w/ gluten-free baking there is no kneading. :p

Have been using a bread machine for several years.

Flour, buying a bag or two when it's on special at just under $9.00 for 22 lbs. (10 kg), whole wheat costs some more and I usually use it for about a quarter of the mix: 4 cups makes about a 2 lb. loaf. I get a pound block of yeast for $5.00 and, at a teaspoon and a half per loaf, lasts forever .... well, more than a year, if deteriorating memory serves. Tablespoon of sugar and teaspoon of salt don't cost much. Recipe calls for 1.5 cups or slightly less of water; I use just under 1/4 cup 10% cream (often get on special at about $2.00 per just over a quart), a little under half a cup of 2% milk ($3.18 for 4 litres, 3.85 of which make a U.S. gal., on seniors' day at one store, I often manage to arrange that) and just under 3/4 cup of water ... which I haul in jugs from the city.

Without having done careful cost checking, I've figured about 50 - 75 cents per loaf, and it's hard to get a 1.5 lb. loaf here for under about $2.25 - more likely up closer to $2.75 - 3.00.

I don't figure that it takes a lot of power - my house, occasional use in the barn, and landlord's shop have been costing a couple of dollars or so either side of $100.00 per month usage in recent years.

I've been having some rather bad turnouts lately, not rising enough - think maybe I'd better get another pkg. of yeast tomorrow to see whether that fixes the problem.

I had not opened the last one for a while, and the rats dug a hole in the corner, so think that it started to deteriorate then, and it was some time before I began to use it.

I think that there are some loaf pans around here, from step-aunt's days, so I may start to use them when I find them: I've used a pie-plate-shaped aluminum throw-away pan, but am not enthused about the resulting shape ... getting old and preferring uniformity of shape and size, slice to slice, maybe?

This "Baker" hasn't been accused of being half-baked in some time: that's for when the power goes off, half way through, I guess.

ole joyfuelled ... with a bit of help from a slice o' bread, whether home-made or not