It costs more to make your own bread?

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Im not sure if this is true and there are different ways of making bread which might be cheaper. I use an oven and a 'no knead' method which means putting the oven on for a very long time.

I think this is costing me more than a loaf of bread might do? Or at least the same

Oven goes on for 40 mins at 240 degrees, then bread goes in for about the same time, perhaps a little more. So nearly 1.5hrs of really high heat.

The ingredients probably dont cost that much, I get the flour and yeast in Aldi.

I think in a breadmaker it must be cheap as chips

Or if you only had the oven on a shorter time for properly made bread.

It costs more than bog standard sliced white, yes. But it's a very different food. Much more nutritious and much tastier. The 'artisanal' bakeries near me charge between £4 - God knows what but definitely at least £7 per loaf, and making your own is cheaper than that.

As pp says you need to compare to proper bread, not upf-filled rubbish.

as an aside you can probably preheat your oven less - I’ve found the pot heats up sufficiently with much less preheat - put it in from cold and pop the bread in as soon as oven reaches temperature

Yeah, like for like, a good Asian sourdough loaf is at least £4

To be fair I actually dont know how much a posh loaf is these days as technically neither of us eat bread!!

Well, except we do when I make it, sort of. I tend to keep it sliced in the freezer and we just have a little bit now and then, I cant really tolerate bread.

And from when I did eat bread years ago, naice bread, I will say that I have never tasted bread as good as my own bread, so quality is outstanding. The flavour is out of this world.

So if you're right and its about a fiver say, then yes its still cheaper even though the oven can be seen from space its that hot.

Funny thing to worry about if you don’t eat bread…

Yabu if you don’t now share the recipe for your out of this world bread ;-) pretty please

Why are you baking bread for hours if nobody eats it and it’s going in freezer? That’s madness?

Never having cooked bread, is it possible to use the oven for something else too for efficiency? So its not just one loaf

Amazing homemade bread from breadmaker - 5/6 ingredients: flour; water; butter; yeast; salt and possibly sugar.
Now look at the ingredients list on a cheap loaf of bread…

Sorry - you're cooking bread at 240c? or 240f? Neither seems right to me?

And why is it on for 40 minutes before you even put it in?

For comparison, I bake bread here, I heat up the oven with a dutch oven in it for 10 mins to 180c, the bread goes in the dutch oven for 10 mins with the lid on, then 25 with the lid off, and it's perfect.

If I did it for 40 mins at 240c (I don't think my oven even goes that high) then i'd have a burned crisp. If I did it for 40 mins at 240f, I'm not sure it would be properly baked at all.

Its 'no knead'

No need to thank me!!!

This is what I do, not sure if this is 'right'

3 cups of flour, 1/4 tsp of aldi instant yeast, 1.5 tsp salt, 1.5 cups of water

Mix it round in a bowl, put a lid on, leave it for 12 - 18 hours

I find best results at the moment with 12 hours but that might be because its summer and slightly warmer

Then do a strange fold thing, maybe once, maybe twice during that time. I cant describe that very well, its on youtube

Then get a cast iron casserole dish with a lid. Put the oven on for 240 with the pot in it, for 40 mins. Get the pot out while roasting, be very careful. Plop your dough out of the bowl into the pot. Quickly put the lid on, get it back in the oven, say 30-40 mins. Then take the lid off, then another 5-10 mins

You get used to what sort of timings you like and what sort of colour

Ive experimented with a mixture of bread flour, plain flour, spelt flour, wholemeal bread flour. Ive added spices and nuts etc over time. Its hit and miss. The texture is not always the same but the flavour is always out of this world which apparently is due to the long rise.

Well thats right, as with yours, just literally the 4 ingredients, nothing else. The flavour is out of this world.

Oh, OK - and I have read now, and see that a hot temp is good for oven spring - I'll have to try it.

I'm surprised the bread can take 40 mins at that temperature without burning, even in the dutch oven though.

40 mins warm up time still seems excessive - how long does your oven take to get up to temperature?

Well thats a good question, perhaps I need to check that so that Im not having it on for longer than need be

Ive always found that things need longer cooking in my oven so assumed it needed much longer to come up to temperature.

I cant remember her name but theres a lovely woman on youtube who does this bread and she said her oven took even longer!

Be nice in the winter, turn the heating off!

I make a loaf every other day. Bag of flour costs £1 and I get 3 loaves from it. Other ingredients are yeast (a pot costs about £2 and lasts for ages, water (free), salt (cheap) and depending on the recipe maybe a spoon of sugar and/or some butter or oil.

A loaf of Kingsmill sliced white is over £1 and is horrible and UPF. A fresh baked loaf from home is delicious and is not UPF.

2 hours of oven time is a max of 4kWhrs and realistically probably half that. So less £1 of electricity.

Plus ingredients, you’re less than £2.

Yes, I might just be spoiled, my oven gets up to temperature fast.

I do cook my turkeys hot and fast at Christmas and it's the best way, I'll give it a go for bread and see how different it comes out (I have teen boys, we get through a lot of bread, one of us bakes a 500g loaf most days)

I have just started making sourdough.

Tried one loaf in the airfryer, which came out OK.

Have not tried it yet, but when reading about it down the deep obsessive rabbit warren I have found myself in you can cook it in the slow cooker..I may have to try this too, as our oven is a range (think aga) so when it is on it heats the whole house!

I also make sourdough sometimes and that is cheap to make but a loaf from Gail’s is about £6. It does take a long time to make a sourdough loaf though as you start the day before you bake it

I do recommend getting some fancy flour at some point - we buy buy the 20kg sack as we eat so much, but there must be places that sell smaller bags. Better flour makes a difference.

@Mymiddlenameiscynic you have given me the nudge I need to get back into the habit of making my own bread again. You're bang on. Thanks.

I buy a sack of flour from my local mill 16kg for £22 including postage That gives me enough for 24 large loaves so 92p/loaf.

A pinch of salt, a teaspoon of sugar, a tablespoon of oil and two teaspoons of dried yeast brings it to £1. Then 45 mins in the oven costs about 20p

£1.20 for a large loaf, compared with £2 for Waitrose Heyford before they stopped making it, or our local bakery that charges £4.50 😮

Agree with the others - you are comparing two entirely different products. The cost of a proper loaf is about £4 or £5.

Plus most people who make bread put multiple loaves in at once.

My bread maker was not cheap, but the cost per use is minimal and after a year of bread making I must be breaking even when compared to buying medium quality supermarket loaves.

So you're using a Dutch oven, then? You definitely don't need to pre-heat for 40 minutes!!

I make my own sourdough. Ingredients just flour, water and salt (no yeast). The 'no-knead' principle just means the stretch and fold method.

My oven gets heated for 15 mins tops at 220. Then after initial 20 mins with lid on, down to 200.

No bread gets wasted. I freeze left over bits and grind them down for breadcrumbs for breaded chicken etc.