For the people who make thier own bread..

[McQueenofHrts]

I was considering asking Santa for a bread machine for Christmas to reduce grocery costs. If we made our own bread, will we eventually save money by making our own bread rather than buying the store bought bread? I have two small kids that like peanut butter and jelly in thier school lunches. Also, we live in a small town so I don't have the option to go to the discount store to buy bread and rely on sales to buy loaves of decent wheat bread that seem to get smaller and smaller each year.


I just don't want to make an investment into a machine that won't be helpful to the household. Thanks for any help anyway can provide!

 

[Marionnette]

I was considering asking Santa for a bread machine for Christmas to reduce grocery costs. If we made our own bread, will we eventually save money by making our own bread rather than buying the store bought bread? I have two small kids that like peanut butter and jelly in thier school lunches. Also, we live in a small town so I don't have the option to go to the discount store to buy bread and rely on sales to buy loaves of decent wheat bread that seem to get smaller and smaller each year.


I just don't want to make an investment into a machine that won't be helpful to the household. Thanks for any help anyway can provide!

You might save money. It will depend on the materials you use. If you factor in the cost of the bread machine itself, it will be a very long time and alot of loaves baked before you break even. You will also spend time looking for good deals on quality ingredients instead of good deals on store bought bread. Being in a small town could make that difficult.

 

[SILLYANDI]

We love making our own bread BUT I don't think I could keep up with my kids consumption with all the work that goes into it- especially slicing it! I have 4 kids and we use 1/3 of a store bought loaf a day. I buy the 2 pack of sara lee multigrain for $3.42- not too hard on the budget.

 

[seven dwarfs]

I have six kids and we make our own bread. We use the recipe "depression era bread" and it saves us money. It also makes me happy to know there are no chemicals in our bread now. You do not need a bread maker. It is so easy to just make it in a large metal bowl. We make four loaves (one batch) and that last us one to two weeks. I bought long skinny bread pans from IKEA that are perfect. I do own a bread machine and it sits in the closet.

 

[ndfi78]

If you are doing it solely to save money, don’t bother. It will take you so long to recoup the cost of the machine it won’t be worth it. Most likely the machine will fall apart before you break even. If you want to save money on bread you need to buy flour in bulk (25 lbs + bags) and do it by hand. You can make 6-8 loaves at a time and freeze the extras. That’s what my mother always did anyway. If you are doing it because it taste better and it is better for you then go right ahead and get the machine. My wife makes 90% of the bread we eat and I love it. Word of warning, if you do buy a machine you get what you pay for. We had two cheaper ($40-$50) machines and they both broke in a very short amount of use. We bought a Panasonic and it’s been rock solid for us.

EDIT: BTW, reading back over that it kind of sounds like I'm trying to discourage you from getting a breadmaker/making your own bread. I am not, I think it’s a great thing and I love that my wife makes our bread. Just trying to give my opinion on cost savings

 

[ndfi78]

BTW, this is the Panasonic we got. http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-SD-...QFL0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291667553&sr=8-1

 

[usnuzuloose]

I just bought a cusinart convection for 129 on black friday. If I would of had to pay full price I would have not bought it. I made my first loaf and it turned out awesome. My husband really likes it to. I can make a few loaves and freeze one. It will also make jellies, jams, all kinds of dough including pizza. You could always get one from the thrift store and try it out and see if it something that will work for you. If it does then you can buy a better one down the road later. Jo

 

[kappyfinn]

Wife to ndfi78 here. I love our breadmaker. For us, we wanted one to make our own bread not to save money. It's nice to make whatever kindof bread I want for that day. I also use the dough feature a lot. It's a breeze to have the machine do all the kneading and all I do is form the loaf and bake.

Betty Crocker has a good recipe book specifically for breadmakers.

 

[SandrA9810]

You can usually find it for 5-10 bucks at a thrift shop. I picked up a sunbeam for $5 at the flea market a few months back. Most the time, I make the dough in the machine, and then bake it in the oven. Get a good quality bread box too, since there's no preservatives in it, it'll go bad faster than store bought.

I love having the bread machine, because I don't have many kitchen gadgets, mixing bowls, and other things I'd need to make a good loaf.

 

[MrsPete]

Over the last 15 or so years, three bread machines have found their way into my house. The first was a gift, and it had a relatively short life span. My husband bought a replacement because he thought I liked the first one. It sat around collecting dust a while, and then I gave it away. I don't think the second one was ever used. My husband, thinking that the second one had broken, bought me a second replacement. It has made exactly one loaf of bread in the two years it's been taking up valuable storage space.

If you want one, know that they're really only good for MIXING dough. They stink at baking.

I'd just as soon make bread by hand. It isn't all that much work.

Consider a bread bucket instead. It's an old-fashioned bucket with a hand-turned crank. It can't break, and since the electric model is no good at baking anyway, loss of that feature is nothing.

Since you want to make bread frequently, I suggest the book Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day (I could have that title a bit wrong). Their method, as you might guess, requires mixing a large quantity of dough once a day, then just doing a small amount of work and baking daily. You'll also need a large container for the dough.

 

[ancestry]

I love my bread machine and use it for just about everything -- from baking bread to baking to bread to making homemade jam and even for cakes and meatloaf. It does save us quite a bit of money during the year. HOWEVER we also paid a small fortune for the bread machine as I have a Zojirushi. I personally wouldn't trade it for anything.

Despite loving the machine and using it like crazy, I do still buy regular sliced bread from the grocery store for basic PB&J sandwiches for the kids. The bread machine is great for a lot of my specialty breads but I don't find it to be a replacement when the kids just want a PB&J sandwich.

 

[Teresa Pitman]

I do think you can save money by using a bread machine, if you have been buying fairly high-quality bread. But I would suggest using it as a mixer rather than for baking as you will get easier-to-slice loaves that way. Just use the dough setting, then shape and put in a bread pan, and let rise again before baking. The machine is also excellent for rolls, pizza dough, cinnamon buns, and many other yeast doughs.

You could also try the "five minutes a day" artisan bread approach. This is a no-knead, sourdough type recipe that you mix, store in the fridge, and then bake up each day.

Teresa

 

[njsweetP]

I have six kids and we make our own bread. We use the recipe "depression era bread" and it saves us money. It also makes me happy to know there are no chemicals in our bread now. You do not need a bread maker. It is so easy to just make it in a large metal bowl. We make four loaves (one batch) and that last us one to two weeks. I bought long skinny bread pans from IKEA that are perfect. I do own a bread machine and it sits in the closet.

Could you share this recipe? Thanks!

 

[beansmom]

i like the machine okay but prefer handbaked bread. I generally just buy the frozen unbaked loaves and bake them myself. I don't like the coarse hard texture of the bread from the machine.

 

[seven dwarfs]

Depression Era Bread

5 lbs flour
4-5 Tbs yeast
6 tsp salt
6 cups warm water (i just warm it in microwave be sure it isn't hot)

Dump flour in large bowl, add salt. Make a well and add yeast. Pour warm water into well. Mix yeast and water with fingers to dissolve. Mix more flour with hands adding water as needed. Spray bowl with cooking spray. Put dough in bowl, turn oil side up. Cover with towel, let rise in warm place (30 mins) after it has risen, punch down and divide it up in loaves. (you can make it free form but i put mine in the pans and push it all around to make it nice for sandwiches) Cover loaves with a towel and rise again. (30 mins)

Cook in preheated oven at 350 degrees for 30 mins


We use 1/2 white and 1/2 wheat. I add maybe 3 tsp of sugar to the well of yeast and let it sit 5 mins then slowly add the flour that is around the well. If you make it with wheat it is a dense bread. We love it toasted, makes wonderful grilled cheese. My kids say it fills them up and last longer in their belly then regular bread. I have learned to store it in the fridge. I have also frozen it before but we eat it so fast don't need to anymore. I will slice it as needed and wait till it is cool which keeps it from drying out. It is very easy to make and worth it to me. I buy large bags of flour and the large packages of yeast from sams club.

This is a depression bread so it is not special like breads that have honey, eggs or other flavors. We also make those kinds of bread but for special occasions. Tonight we had homemade rye bread. Yummo!

Good Luck! If you have any questions just ask!

 

[Happy Mom2]

We make our own bread without a bread machine. We just mix, let rise, and bake. Yummy!

 

[Pigeon]

I use my Kitchen Aid stand mixer with the dough hook, and don't have a separate bread machine. I don't want to store a bunch of single-purpose appliances.

I don't know that I really save any money over buying store bought bread on sale. It does taste much better though.

 

[disneychrista]

I love home made bread but it always turns out too dense to use for sandwhiches, though makes great cheese toast.

 

[williamson_ja]

I use my Kitchen Aid stand mixer with the dough hook, and don't have a separate bread machine. I don't want to store a bunch of single-purpose appliances.

This is what I do. It works much better than the bread machine... and does so much more than just helps me make bread. BTW, it does save us lots of money. I've been making our own bread for a couple of years now. My bread costs $0.35 a loaf to make. There is no way that I could buy the kind of bread I make for less than $4 a loaf at the store around here. I make several loaves a week. I do grind my own wheat fresh each time I make it, so that makes it cheaper.

 

[3goofyboys]

I use my Kitchen Aid stand mixer with the dough hook, and don't have a separate bread machine. I don't want to store a bunch of single-purpose appliances.

I don't know that I really save any money over buying store bought bread on sale. It does taste much better though.

This is exactly what I do. I make probably 90% of our bread and the Kitchen Aid makes it easy. If it were me, I'd invest in a great mixer (I love my Kitchen Aid) rather than a one task tool.