Bread Maker and Saving Money

[Maria1212]

One of my New Year`s resolutions was to really work hard at was decreasing unnecessary spending. I am single and had felt like I was wasting a lot of money on a food budget because items would go bad before I could use them up. This year, with a lot of planning, I am doing much better. I have saved a lot of money by shopping at Costco. I freeze items and then thaw them as needed.

Since this fall I have saved a lot of money by making soup from scratch on the weekends. I freeze the soup in individual tupperware and then take them to work for lunch.

I spend a lot of money on bread. I love pecan rasin bread and consider it a luxury. I am considering buying a mini breadmaker. It makes one pound loaves and I think it would be economical in the long-run compared to what I spend on bread at the store. The quality sounds like it would be better too.

For folks who own breadmakers, do you think it saves you money in the long-run? I know a lot of people buy breadmakers and then never use them. I own a lot of kitchen appliances and use them every day so think I would use a bread maker on a weekly basis but am wondering if it is cost effective. I use my juicer on a daily basis so know if I had one, it would not just collect dust. But I am on the fence as to whether it would save me money.

I`d welcome thoughts from folks on whether you think a bread maker has saved your family money.

Sincerely,

Maria1212

 

[Jermosh]

I have celiac and its saves consider amount of money as compared to store bought gluten free. Tips:
Buy loose yeast and keep in the fridge, or you can make a mother. Always make sure your yeast blooms before putting in machine.
Get a model that has pre-progamed and delayed.
Other then bleached flour, keep all other flours in the freezer, whole wheat flour can go rancid quickly if in the right enviroment.

 

[StillWondering]

I have celiac and its saves consider amount of money as compared to store bought gluten free. Tips:
Buy loose yeast and keep in the fridge, or you can make a mother. Always make sure your yeast blooms before putting in machine.
Get a model that has pre-progamed and delayed.
Other then bleached flour, keep all other flours in the freezer, whole wheat flour can go rancid quickly if in the right enviroment.

Since you are a celiac, what type of flours do you use? I did some research and was told that I need like 2 parts rice flour, 2 parts potato starch, and 1 parts topica flour. However, I have not progressed far enough in cooking to get bread making for celiacs down. Do you have any advice? Lastly, what do you mean by making sure the yeast “blooms”?

 

[Maria1212]

I have celiac and its saves consider amount of money as compared to store bought gluten free. Tips:
Buy loose yeast and keep in the fridge, or you can make a mother. Always make sure your yeast blooms before putting in machine.
Get a model that has pre-progamed and delayed.
Other then bleached flour, keep all other flours in the freezer, whole wheat flour can go rancid quickly if in the right enviroment.

Thanks for the tip. I didn`t realize whole wheat flour could go rancid that quickly.

Sincerely,

Maria1212

 

[EEgirl]

Breadmakers can be great, but you might want to consider a mixer instead.

The nice thing about the breadmaker is you can set up all the ingredients at night and have fresh baked bread ready in the morning, but a mixer is much more versatile.

I enjoyed my breadmaker when I was single, but I am married now and ever since I got a KitchenAid mixer, I never use my breadmaker. The mixer does a wonderful job kneeding bread, and it is easy to make pizza dough or cinnamon rolls too! Also,I have much more flexibility on the size of loaf I want to make.

I finally gave my breadmaker away, so hopefully it is getting good use again now.

 

[st_lucy]

As someone who loves to make bread I would never buy a bread maker simply because making bread the old fashion way yields a lot more bread.

Just my two cents.

 

[ThyKingdomCome]

I am a mom who barely has time to go to the store to *buy *the bread. However I like making my own, for the nutrition, the flavor, and the cost. Clearly making it the old fashioned way is too much work for me. Even a mixer would be too much work also, because you have to be involved at every step. If I had the time to use the mixer the way it is meant to be used I’d probably try that first (you have more control), but since my life isn’t set up that way, I love my bread machine. I set it up at night, and it gets the dough ready by morning. I still bake it in the oven, but that’s easy. I bought the expensive one ($200), and calculated the cost of bread vs. the cost of bread ingredients. I figured out that the way my family eats bread, it would take about a year for me to pay off the machine in savings if I made most of my bread. After that point, it is cheaper.

 

[dixieagle]

Breadmakers can be great, but you might want to consider a mixer instead.

The nice thing about the breadmaker is you can set up all the ingredients at night and have fresh baked bread ready in the morning, but a mixer is much more versatile.

I enjoyed my breadmaker when I was single, but I am married now and ever since I got a KitchenAid mixer, I never use my breadmaker. The mixer does a wonderful job kneeding bread, and it is easy to make pizza dough or cinnamon rolls too! Also,I have much more flexibility on the size of loaf I want to make.

I finally gave my breadmaker away, so hopefully it is getting good use again now.

I was going to say the same thing. I’ve had a breadmaker for years, and was never particularly thrilled with the quality - very inconsistent. I recently got a stand mixer after 35 years of marriage, and LOVE it! It is so versatile - bread dough, pizza (I make a lot of home-made pizza, and the dough is perfect), homemade cinnamon rolls, etc. Also, the mixer is just there on the counter, and the bread machine, due to its size and specificity, is tucked out of sight.

If you have to choose between the two, I say get a good quality stand mixer (mine is a Hamilton Beach “Eclectrics” - excellent, but far less expensive than the Kitchen Aids).

 

[happymommy]

I have celiac and its saves consider amount of money as compared to store bought gluten free. Tips:
Buy loose yeast and keep in the fridge, or you can make a mother. Always make sure your yeast blooms before putting in machine.
Get a model that has pre-progamed and delayed.
Other then bleached flour, keep all other flours in the freezer, whole wheat flour can go rancid quickly if in the right enviroment.

Note to self…throw out whole wheat flour in the pantry…oops!

 

[Maria1212]

Thanks for all of the excellent posts. I do have a mixer and have made bread from scratch but just don`t have the time to do it on a regular basis. The nice thing about a breadmaker is that I could turn it on at night and have fresh bread in the morning. I am hoping the quality will still be good though. (I know nothing beats homemade bread by hand).

Sincerely,

Maria1212

 

[purplesunshine]

check thrift stores. People have habits of buying then never using bread makers.

 

[beckers]

I was going to say the same thing. I’ve had a breadmaker for years, and was never particularly thrilled with the quality - very inconsistent. I recently got a stand mixer after 35 years of marriage, and LOVE it! It is so versatile - bread dough, pizza (I make a lot of home-made pizza, and the dough is perfect), homemade cinnamon rolls, etc. Also, the mixer is just there on the counter, and the bread machine, due to its size and specificity, is tucked out of sight.

If you have to choose between the two, I say get a good quality stand mixer (mine is a Hamilton Beach “Eclectrics” - excellent, but far less expensive than the Kitchen Aids).

make sure if you do go for the mixer that it has enough housepower. My BF had the standard kitchen aid mixer. After a few years it has given out. I gave him my professional one and it works wonderful!

 

[StrawberryJam]

I’d factor in the cost of running the electric. I have no idea what the usage would be for a loaf of that wonderful sounding pecan bread, but if cost is a factor in your decision I would make sure to find out. I do like the other poster’s advice to check thrift stores and test it out for a while because I bet there are many there that have barely if ever been used.

 

[Jermosh]

Since you are a celiac, what type of flours do you use? I did some research and was told that I need like 2 parts rice flour, 2 parts potato starch, and 1 parts topica flour. However, I have not progressed far enough in cooking to get bread making for celiacs down. Do you have any advice? Lastly, what do you mean by making sure the yeast “blooms”?

I use most of my stuff from bobsredmill.com/gluten-free/. They sell it in most store as well, but you can buy larger amounts in bulk online. I use brown rice, chickpea, potato, and xanthan gum.

Yeast bloom means you want to add it to a bowl and add the water and sugar and look for foam. This means the little guys are working and doing their job. What happens is they can be shocked or killed, which results in really thick flat bread that is good for weighing stuff down or throwing at pigeons. Although yeast is pretty hardy, they found active yeast in Egyptian tombs with live cheese as well.

On that note, being a celiac sucks!! Some studies are showing that 5-10% of our society has it, but only a fraction are diagnosed. Its getting better though with variety.
But I also found a brand of rice pasta that is better then wheat pasta.

 

[LilyM]

In my (admittedly limited) experience with breadmaking machines, just having that baking-bread smell in the house caused us all to eat a lot more of the product when it came out of the machine than we would of store-bought bread.

Then there’s the fact that you have to slice it by hand - meaning some people at least will slice thicker than a store-bought loaf.

 

[Shin]

I bought a, I believe Sunbeam breadmaker at Walmart once. Inexpensive, on sale.

It never made particularly good or successful bread, and I wish I had taken it back before the return date expired. The dough would come out too yeasty and moist regularly.

OTOH, just doing it in the oven has worked out far more easily for me. A simple beer bread recipe / self-rising flour turns out every time.

So I think, if you have a mixer and use the oven that might be better. Or perhaps, a different breadmaker – or the vigor to return one if it doesn’t work well.

You also might want to check out the true cost savings of making your own bread. Flour isn’t necessarily that cheap, along with yeast, and the other ingredients. And the bread might not in fact be quite as good or as tasty as store bought bread. Home made does not always equal better result.

 

[LilyM]

I bought a, I believe Sunbeam breadmaker at Walmart once. Inexpensive, on sale.

It never made particularly good or successful bread, and I wish I had taken it back before the return date expired. The dough would come out too yeasty and moist regularly.

OTOH, just doing it in the oven has worked out far more easily for me. A simple beer bread recipe / self-rising flour turns out every time.

So I think, if you have a mixer and use the oven that might be better. Or perhaps, a different breadmaker – or the vigor to return one if it doesn’t work well.

Aah, beer bread - now you talky my language. I won a slab of 24 beers in a competition a few years back. I’m really not a beer-drinker, so I thought I’d cook with it instead, and discovered the joys of beer bread.

I SO hate (and lack the finesse for) the fussing, fiddling, proving and kneading and whatnot, that goes with normal bread that beer bread is about the only kind I ever could really get to grips with.

 

[Shin]

Aah, beer bread - now you talky my language. I won a slab of 24 beers in a competition a few years back. I’m really not a beer-drinker, so I thought I’d cook with it instead, and discovered the joys of beer bread.

I SO hate (and lack the finesse for) the fussing, fiddling, proving and kneading and whatnot, that goes with normal bread that beer bread is about the only kind I ever could really get to grips with.

Honestly, me too. It seems impossible to fail at making. I’ve totally messed with the recipes I’ve been given for it, and it somehow always has come out just fine.

But try something else… explode… collapse… something oft seems preordained to go wrong.

 

[Phemie]

Aah, beer bread - now you talky my language. I won a slab of 24 beers in a competition a few years back. I’m really not a beer-drinker, so I thought I’d cook with it instead, and discovered the joys of beer bread.

I SO hate (and lack the finesse for) the fussing, fiddling, proving and kneading and whatnot, that goes with normal bread that beer bread is about the only kind I ever could really get to grips with.

I make beer bread but the process is no different from any other bread. What’s different about yours? Oh, and a recipe would be lovely, please.

I have a bread maker and while I used it a lot at first, the novelty wore off quickly. The taste was OK but I didn’t particularly care for the texture of the bread. Very dense and heavy. I still prefer hand made, although using a mixer does a good job too. The bread maker is usually in the basement, brought up only when time is limited and I reeeealy want fresh bread for supper.

 

[LilyM]

I make beer bread but the process is no different from any other bread. What’s different about yours? Oh, and a recipe would be lovely, please.

I have a bread maker and while I used it a lot at first, the novelty wore off quickly. The taste was OK but I didn’t particularly care for the texture of the bread. Very dense and heavy. I still prefer hand made, although using a mixer does a good job too. The bread maker is usually in the basement, brought up only when time is limited and I reeeealy want fresh bread for supper.

What’s different is that you mix the ingredients, put the mix straight in the bread tin and bake. Easy as packet cake. None of this ‘leave to rise till doubled in size, then punch it down, then let it rise again’ palaver.

Although I know you can use beer simply as a raising agent, as you would yeast, and treat the dough as you would regular bread dough. I think you’d use a slightly different recipe for that, though.

The basic recipe is 12 fl oz beer, 3 cups self-raising flour (I’ve used wholemeal) and 3 tbsp sugar. You can experiment with adding different seeds, or different flours, or putting some cheese in the mix or whatnot.