Making Bread

 

The ingredients

 Today, let's talk about making bread.

Back in December, when Dear Darling found out that he may be let go (from the third job in five years) I decided that we had to go back to cutting corners where we could to put our energies into areas that we really needed the money, our savings.

Since I try very hard to NOT eat too much bread, I dragged out our bread maker and decided to make a loaf of bread each week.  Certainly that had to save money, right?

 

 

 

Here is the recipe that I use each time I make bread in the bread maker.  Easy peasy.

 

 

Country White Bread

 

1 cup warm milk (110 - 115 degrees F)

1 and 1/2 tablespoon of butter or margarine

1 large egg

1 and 1/2 teaspoon salt

4 cups bread flour

1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons active dry yeast



 

First, after assembling my ingredients, I make sure the paddle is in the pan of the bread machine.  Let me tell you!  It can get pretty interesting when you look to see how your bread is doing and it's not moving!  Putting that in while all the ingredients are in the pan is fun.

 

 

 

Be sure to use the right tools while making bread.  Liquid needs to be measured in a liquid measuring cup, seen here on the right, and the flour in a dry measuring cup, seen on the left.  I forgot to photograph the measuring spoons.

 

 

 

First, I warm the milk in the microwave for about 1 minute and 30 seconds.  Then I put into the bread pan, next the butter, then after a few minutes, the egg.  You don't want to put the egg in right away, because the milk is a bit warm at first.  I usually put it in after having measured the flour into an old pie pan.

 

After the egg, I put the flour in to cover the liquid.  Next is the salt, sugar and lastly the yeast.  You don't want the yeast to touch the wet yet.

 

Then I put the pan into the bread machine, close the lid, touch the start button, and three hours later we have bread!

 

I buy King Arthur flour now, all kinds of it, but I use their bread flour for our bread.  I like that is it milled here in the USA and it is made using wheat grown in the USA.  That is important to me. When I see it on sale, as it was this week for $2.99, I purchase at least 4 bags.  I also got an unbleached white all purpose and an unbleached white whole wheat, also $2.99.  I figured out that we get about 5 loaves of bread out of each 5 pound bag.

The  milk is from a local dairy.  Their milk is a bit more expensive than the grocery store, but here I know where it was raised and how, and it is days old when I get it.  Cost approximately $3.00 depending on the kind of milk, sometimes less.  That's for a half gallon.

 

The egg I use is from a local farmer, free range egg, those are $2.50 a dozen.  Yes, more than the grocery store, but at least I know where it's coming from, that it is days fresh and it supports a local small farmer.

Butter, I try to buy on sale from what ever grocery is having the best deal when I need it.  Usually at $2.00 to $2.50 a pound.  (I am going to try my hand at making my own though.

 

The sugar, now there is an item whose price seems to be driven by the season.  AND if you haven't noticed, they aren't 5 pound bags in the grocery store anymore.  They are 4 pound bags.  This last bag of sugar I got was from SAM's club and it was $4.98 for a 10 pound bag, a very good price.

 

The salt, well, I don't use much and haven't bought a jar of salt in years, so I don't know how much it currently is.

 

The yeast I buy when I see it on sale and check for a long expiration date.  I can usually get the jar seen for about $5.00 sometimes less with a coupon.

 

So, how much does my bread cost?

Approximately:

 

Bread flour  .60

Milk             .38

Sugar           .02

Egg              .21

Yeast           .27

Salt              .02

total            1.50

 

Now, could I buy a loaf of bread of a $1.50?  Yes, I could, but I wouldn't know where the ingredients came from, or when it had been made AND it would have preservatives in it.  Plus, the bread we used to buy would run about $3.99 a loaf.

So our savings is about $2.25, I left off .25 for electric use.  Savings is about $120 a year, and that is at just one loaf a week, sometimes I make two.

Be sure to remove the paddle BEFORE cutting the bread!!