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.
12 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.
Amazon has several “compact” bread machines. I have a Cuisinart. Bought it awhile ago. Now they are more expensive, but they all work the same. I HIGHLY recommend getting one. You don’t need fancy. They also make dough for other uses.
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.
All I do is rinse out the bread pan in my compact machine. Takes me a couple of minutes to put the ingredients in. Push a button and bread is ready in 3 1/2 hours. Paid for itself many times over. I trade bread for eggs !
I LOVE my bread machine. I think it’s an Oster.
But I buy mine (this is maybe my third one over 20+ years?) at Goodwill. This one was $8.
I found my bread machine bread loaves were concave in the center. I increased the yeast, and it got worse. Then I tried reducing the yeast, and the loaves came out with rounded tops. No more concave loaves.
It seem that the additional yeast just makes bigger air bubbles, that collapse buring the baking cycle.
You were likely getting Brioche in Europe, not standard bread. Brioche has only a few ingredients, and is set to rise in the referigerator overnight for the first rise.
Hey Daisy,
I’ve been making bread in my bread machine for years. I enjoy experimenting. One that I like to make is a Guinness Bread. We have a Vitamix with a dry container that I use to grind hard winter wheat berries.
A couple of things that I have found:
Lecithin helps with the rising and reduces the density of the bread when using whole berry grain flour.
Adding gluten flour to standard all purpose flour which is usually made with soft wheat will help make a better bread. One of my summer jobs was working in a flour mill. Soft wheat does not have enough gluten to make good bread.
The 1992 Breadman’s Healthy Bread Recipe Book has excellent recipes and is available used on Amazon.
A large brick of yeast will last for years past expiration date. I keep mine in the freezer. You may need to double up on the suggested amount of yeast if it is several years past date.
I have 2 bread machines and they get put to work every other week. I do not, however, like the loaves that come out of them, so I always choose the dough setting. When it’s done, I pull it out, kneed it a few times and put it in a loaf pan, or make baguettes, a French loaf, or just a round one for fun. ( those I bake on a stone)
And butter? Salted 😉
Love your stuff Daisy!
My wife uses her Zojirushi bread machine at least a couple times a month. This brand is NOT cheap, but remember you get what you pay for.
We have two Zojirushi bread machines; one at our main residence and one at our BOL. We spend a month at the BOL just before; summer gardening and another month; just before wood heating and deer hunting season.
That way we get double Spring-times and double Fall-times. Spring and Fall are too short! So, this is our way to lengthen those two glorious and wonderful reawakening and resting seasons.
She makes all of our various shaped breads, buns and cinnamon rolls. One can “cook” bread loafs, in the bread maker, but they look lopsided. Also, the paddles are a lot harder to clean off if you do. Plus, your bread loaf ends up with paddle indentions on the bottom.
So, all the mixed and “mostly raised” dough; goes into the oven; after it is “finished raisings”. Having a delicious “treat”; of a freshly sliced piece of bread right out of the oven; is so heavenly. God Bless.
If you have a Kitchen Aid mixer, they have a grain grinding attachment for it.
Then you can buy wheat berries or other whole grains, and grind your own whole grain flour.
Lots cheaper than buying already ground flour, and intact grains have a very long shelf life.
You can buy organic grains on line.
Try Azure Standard, which is also a really good source for all sorts of organic foods and other household products.
I have some health problems, too, and going to the store can be a problem for me.
Using Instacart to do my shopping for me on my bad days has been a game changer.
There is an annual fee for it, but since I live so far out of town I actually save a bit of money by not having to use so much gasoline to get to the store.
Instacart was a real life-saver for me after my surgeries and when I lived in the downstairs apartment I couldn’t easily get out of on my own! I also had the annual membership at that time and it was wonderful.