By the author of The Ultimate Guide to Frugal Living and What to Eat When You’re Broke
Who doesn’t love a hot, fluffy loaf of bread, fresh from the oven, drenched in salted butter, so tender it nearly melts in your mouth? The store-bought stuff in those cellophane bags doesn’t even seem like the same species of food once you grow accustomed to delicious, fresh-baked bread. But, to buy it from a bakery can be costly and to make it from scratch can be time-consuming.
My pro-tip for weekly fresh-baked bread on a dime? A bread machine can save you both time and money and can be a real boon for frugal foodies. I claim I’m not a kitchen gadget person, but my bread machine, crock pot, and air fryer get a whole lot of use.
When I was in Europe the last time around, most meals were served with a slice or two of freshly made bread. I noticed that the stores had the cellophane bags, but they don’t call it bread. The bags were labeled “toast” as Europeans are pretty picky about their baked goods and wouldn’t dream of aligning the two products. After spending the better part of the year with all the decadent bakery items a bread-lover could want, I tend to agree.
When I returned home, I was determined to keep up with many of the healthy, delicious foods I had enjoyed in Europe, and at the top of that list was fresh bread.
Buying a bread machine on a budget
We’re all dealing with sticker shock at the grocery store these days. While I want to be a food snob, I want to do it on a budget. I nearly died when I saw a $7 baguette at a local grocery store bakery. Buying that a couple of times a week seems completely unrealistic. Time on my feet is very limited due to my disability, but I still wanted homemade bread.
So, I decided to get myself a bread machine. I did some research and narrowed it down to these two: this one from Cuisineart and this one from KBS.
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But before spending Amazon money, I opted to search my local Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace. Much to my delight, I scored the exact Cuisineart I had my eye on for only $45. It was still in the box and had the instructions. Needless to say, I bought it immediately.
Bread machine cost and time analysis
It took me a few loaves to master my bread machine. The first loaf was approximately the size and density of a small meteor, capable of punching a hole in the earth if it entered the atmosphere at high speed. By the third loaf, I’d gotten the hang of it, and now, I get a light, fluffy, incredible loaf every time.
Here are my calculations, not including the use of electricity.
It costs 80 cents a loaf using standard flour bought in a ten-pound bag from Walmart and other standard ingredients. A loaf isn’t like a grocery store-sized loaf – it’s smaller. I’d probably make 3 to 5 loaves a week if I was making it for a family. For just me and one daughter, a couple of loaves keeps us in fresh bread.
Using organic flour costs $2.00- $2.35 per loaf. This ranges from regular organic bread flour to einkorn flour.
I buy my yeast in bulk, which saves a ton of money over those little packets.
It takes me three minutes, start to finish, to measure out my ingredients and hit start on the machine. The innards are dishwasher safe, though you may prefer to wash them by hand.
Get the most bang from your bread machine buck
Here are a few miscellaneous things I’ve learned:
- Wait an HOUR before slicing it. This firms it up more
- Store it in an airtight container for the first 24-36 hours. These are the perfect size.
- Store it in the fridge for the third day.
- If it’s not rising properly or is too dense, don’t be afraid to increase yeast, sugar, and/or salt. I find that mine works best with double the amount of yeast called for in the standard recipe that came with the machine.
- Bread machine bread makes epic breadcrumbs, which can be used in many different ways. I scrape my cutting board into a freezer bag, and then any leftover bread goes into the food processor and into the bag. You could also put your breadcrumbs in a dehydrator to make them shelf-stable. (This makes yummy stuffing, too!)
- A bread machine adds far less ambient heat to your house than baking bread in your oven, which is a bonus in hot weather. You still get the yummy smell though!
What are your thoughts?
I’m not knocking standard homemade bread that you knead and shape yourself – that stuff is wonderful. For me, it’s just not currently within my ability to make. For some, it might be a time constraint. The cool thing about some bread machines is that you can set the start time so your bread is ready right about the time you get home from work.
Would you consider getting a bread machine or pulling yours out of the attic where it’s hiding? Do you use a bread machine regularly? What do you see as the pros and cons? Oh, and settle the butter debate too: salted or unsalted?
Let’s discuss bread in the comments section.
3 Responses
Yes, I would definitely make fresh bread in a bread machine, and I have been looking for a bread machine to help me out. When I was a lot younger, living at home with my eight brothers and sisters, my mother made fresh bread from scratch all the time. It was delicious! I have not made much bread lately, but I have bought what I need to do it, and plan to do it soon. The rapid-rise yeast is what I prefer to use since it doesn’t require all the kneading. The older I’ve become, the more I want homemade everything, and especially so since they now put so much “junk” in the products offered for sale.
To find some of the very best recipes for a bread machine (and also by hand)–go to breaddad.com. Absolutely wonderful, and gives detailed instructions on every aspect, tips you wouldn’t be aware of until you had many failures, in very easy, readable form, attached to each recipe–so the beginner can just find the recipe he/she wants and see all the relevant info easily. Give it a look-see. I often make his french bread in the bread maker. He suggests pulling the dough out after it has been kneaded by the machine, forming it into a baguette, and popping it into the oven, but I prefer to just let it finish in the machine, which also gives a lovely loaf (although not a baguette). ALL his recipes are top notch and very easy.
My father used a bread machine when I was a kid, he had this odd one that made round loaves with a hole in the middle. He is blind so that helped him a lot when he wanted to make a loaf with minimal hassle.
I don’t think I’m interested in one, since if I’m low on energy or time there are a ton of short cut routes to bread such as no knead recipes. It seems to me that the time spent preparing a bread machine and cleaning it out after is about the same time I’d spend making minimal effort bread.
Regarding butter, I prefer salted always, the only exception being if I am making something that has very specific salt levels so I need to add unsalted butter to have better control.