Is there a point where you'd say, "enough is enough. I'm making my own bread." How much for a loaf is too much?

No one could ever get me to say that.
I will not bake it in a box.
I will not bake it with a fox.
I will not do it Sam I am!
Can’t make me
:)

Good god, if I ever attempted to make any bread my house would be ablaze within minutes. I kind of like living here so i’ll leave the cooking to the missus I think. I love the smell of home cooked bread, delicious :¬)

ucme, most of the “making” of the bread is letting it rise on a table. The actual baking doesn’t take that long. I made cinnamon rolls from scratch decades ago and it took hours (mostly of rising) and they were Out of This World.

@Aster Now you’re just showing off. Okay I can’t cook to save my life, I get it… :¬)

@Aster—If you make cinnamon rolls,I’ll throw you a plate to go with them.Yum!
Throw a plate on the potter’s wheel,of course ;)

Excellent!

I think you will find that with a bit of practice your bread will be right up there in quality with many of the “artisan” breads that the high end shops charge an arm an a leg for. Additionally, I hope you find that the act of making your own bread to actually be quite relaxing and gives you a connection to your food, not to mention makes your house smell wonderful. Yep, it takes a bit of extra time, but then again, it takes a bit of time to earn the $$ you spend for the commercial variety.

Bread is fairly easy to make if you learn to make it by feel. From scratch it’s also pretty economical.

Ucme, all you have to do is read the instructions. LOL
lucille, I’d love to give you some with your choice of beverage!

facepalm….doe!

@Aster ; I’ve had a bread machine since 1989 and I don’t use mixes. Track down some recipes for bread machines and play with them a bit to see what you like best. Bread ingredients are not that expensive (unlike the mixes where you pay a lot to have someone else do the measuring). Have some fun with it! I do a great bread with tomato juice as the liquid, italian herb mix, some grated parmesan and it smells like pizza. Great for grilled cheese sandwiches, or even just toasted.

@JilltheTooth That sounds friggin amazing!

@JilltheTooth I agree. I got one of my cookbooks out and made two dreadful loaves in the machine. Maybe you have to use bread flour? They were gross.

I used to bake fresh bread to give for Christmas gifts along with tiny jams and jellies (!) from Hickory Farms. I used a recipe I found in my grandma’s recipe box called Old Fashioned Kansas Yeast Bread. I loved the way the house would smell when it was baking. I haven’t done that in years and I miss it. I now buy sourdough bread from the Publix bakery for $3.89 a loaf. Sometimes they run a sale on it and it’s $2.99. I stock up and freeze it. The time and effort one puts into making fresh baked bread is no small thing. Also the ingredients are going up in price (along with everything else!). Flour will be at premium this year due to floods in Australia, droughts in Russia, and inclement weather in the US midwestern grain belt.
But happy baking to you. Something to remember when baking bread, kneading the dough is everything unlike baking biscuits where the less you handle the dough, the lighter the end result.

I have to buy sandwich bread for the kiddies and I am still seeing pretty reasonable prices on quality bread and I am fortunate that every week some bread company is offering BOGO free. I do though go out of my way to get a loaf or two of cracked wheat bread at a local bakery that is heavenly and worth the price.

But now after reading the bake your own bread replies I am ready to give it a go. I will hit the homebrew store in town and get some whole wheat and barely grain grind it myself and make a whole wheat beer bread! Yum

OK @Cruiser. I predict you’re gonna say you make 2 loaves a day, right?

@Aster If it comes out as good as I think it will…damn straight! Plus the possiblities are endless and I would simply add the kneading of the dough to my nightly workout regimen! I will have rippin guns in just 2 weeks!! lol!

@Cruiser , ok I was wrong but you still seem like the bake it yourself type. BTW; I can easily swing three bucks. This is a matter of bread GOING much, much higher. Hey; maybe it won’t. Let’s watch and see.

I make my own bread, from scratch usually but also have a bread machine. Personally bread froms scratch is way better than bread machine bread. Cutting homemade bread is a bitch without an electric slicer, it can get crumbly. Certain substances (like cinnamon) inhibit yeast, so watch out for that. Bread flour is important, your bread will never be truly chewy without it, it is higher in protein than regular flour and makes a better crumb (the inside of bread, the holes). I suggest King Arthu flour, it is the best for bread making. You will at some point probably find bugs in your flour when you are regularly going through flour. Such is life. You have a lot more freedom with bread made from scratch. Making it by hand is MESSY. You will get dough on everything, especially because a good bread should be wet (it has to do withh the liquid to flour ratio) and that makes it hard to handle. If making by hand, it will take at least half a day typically, since it needs too rise a few times. I love my bread machine, but I love making it by hand because I feel connected to the bread. There is nothing quite like watching it rise in the oven and become a food staple from a few simple ingredients.

Important: Homemade bread usually doesrn’t have preservatives, and it can go stale in a few hours if there’s no oil in it, and in a few days even with oil. You must freeze it if you wish it to keep for longer. I usually pre-slice before freezing, but you don’t need to.

@Cruiser I can picture it now: your dough is rising and after your yoga workout you’ll pop it in the oven and play the guitar while it bakes.

IMHO, bread machines are not worth the material they are made from.

The only equipment you need to make excellent bread is a bowl, a spoon, your hands, and an oven.

The process is basically the same regardless of what type of bread you are making.

Mix your ingredients together (follow the recipe here folks), kneed the dough until it forms a nice dough that is smooth and elastic. This takes a grand total of about 10–15 minutes. Cover and let sit until it doubles in size. (yep, walk away and do something else for an hour or so. Read a book, walk the dog, take a shower, make love to your spouse, whatever…) Now punch it down the risen dough and form into loaves. This takes a grand total of about 10 minutes. Now walk away for another 15–20 minutes or so while it rises a second time (great time to go back for round 2 with your spouse). Now pop into a 350 oven until golden brown.

Actual hands on time is really only a few minutes, although you have to plan to be back to tend to your dough at the appointed times. It’s really not that big a deal.

I have a big assed Kitchenaid mixer with a dough hook. All you need to make some great stuff.

Mixers can be pretty damn expensive if you don’t already own one

@Adirondackwannabe you can make bread with one of those?? That sounds super easy! I’d only buy one used. They’re atrociously expensive and take up a lot of counter space which I don’t have.

To all the “bread machine” naysayers, I respectfully disagree. From my own experience I can’t tell the the diff, but I’ve had over 20 years using the machine to perfect it. @Aster I get gluten flour from the health-food store and add some (not too much) to the regular flour to enhance the rise and the texture. It just takes some practice and tweaking of your system to come up with some truly yummy loaves.

@JilltheTooth hmmmm you mean like ¼ cup or less to the flour in the machine? Who on here adds some sugar to the mix?

@Aster It makes superb bread. I think new it was $269 but well worth the price. If it ever breaks I’m getting another.

This book will revolutionize your bread-making world, as will this one if you want healthy bread. It really does take only five minutes a day! And it is so much cheaper and tastier. The authors also have a very helpful website.

No bread machine needed- just a pizza stone, a hot oven, and a pan of water.

@Aster

The books I link to talk a lot about the gluten flour and how to use it. It depends on how much and how many low-gluten flours you have in the bread. But there are also many recipes for no-gluten breads, for those who swing that way :>)

@Adirondackwannabe so it mixes the dough and then you remove it to let it rise? Why would a mixer make a better loaf than a machine? You put flour inside both; so why would the mixer make it better tasting?

@Aster Because I can mess with the dough as it’s mixing to get it just the way I like it. I adjust the flour to get it just right and usually I like it with a little more butter in the mix than most recipes. It’s a little moister than most recipes or mixes.

@Aster pretty darn close there my only worry would be I wouldn’t hear the timer go off….burn the bread and never want to do it again! lol!

Wait: you add butter to the mix? I’ve never heard of that! I luvvvvv butter.

No.

@Aster The liquid is milk and heated gently so the butter melts. Just be careful with the yeast so the butter doesn’t coat it. It’s great. I can get you the recipe if you’d like.

I used water per the instructions on the breadmix box. So I should substitute milk for the water and put some butter in there? This is very interesting!

No experience with bread machines, so I don’t know. That’s why I like the mixer. I can feel the dough and get it right.

@Adirondackwannabe ”@Aster The liquid is milk and heated gently so the butter melts.”
So here you’re saying you use milk and not water? Because if you use those with one kind of mixer you’d do the same with another kind. (aka breadmakers)

@Aster I think it would work the same but I’ve never used a bread machine so I don’t know how they work. I would assume you could use milk with melted butter in place of the water. There’s only one way to find out. Try it.

I definitely will – and soon !!! what about sugar? lol

The recipe is the milk, butter, salt, and sugar are heated together until everything is dissolved. I don’t remember the proportions so I’ll look it up tonight.

How about just a ballpark figure on the sugar. I’m really curious. thanks so much.

I always make my own. I found a really good recipe on my favorite cooking website and it makes awesome bread. And it is VERY cheap to make. Not that bread is expensive to buy either, but there are tons of preservatives and shit in it that I don’t want, plus I really enjoy making bread. It makes a nice big loaf. I put half in the freezer after I’ve sliced it, and half in the fridge. It usually lasts about 2 weeks til I have to make another. We don’t eat that much bread.

@Aster the one I use lets you decide if you want to use sugar or honey. Either way it’s only 1½ Tbsp of whichever one you choose. I use honey. :)

I’m guessing around two to three tablespoons but that’s only a guess.
@deni My loaf is lucky if it makes it through more than two meals. I love it fresh out of the oven.

I’ve made bread for years and years. You can make infinite variations, even in a bread machine. I wasn’t fussy about the bread machine recipes I tried but I’m going to try more. I used ti find kneading bread dough very soothing and fresh bread is the most satisfying thing!! I’ve always used regular flour and used to add cream or wheat cereal so my kids would be happy eating ‘white’ bread because the neighborhood kids did. Currently because of arthritis in my hands, I make Michael Smith’s No Knead bread- very good.

@faye that first warm piece with butter melted into it. it’s one of those things….theres nothing else like it.

@deni You bet. I always made one loaf into flat bread and it would be ready when the kids came home from school. Some days nobody needed much supper!

Flour and other baking goods have gone up, and bakeries have been forced to raise prices do to the economy. In the U.S. relatively few people value bread the way Europeans do. At home if you start making bread you won’t really notice the price hike. It’s the people who buy in bulk who are effected if the cost rises $0.25 per lb. If you’re buying 200 pounds of flour each week, that $0.25 adds up quick. So really, is $5 to feed your whole family for a day, too much? Would you rather buy crap bread that doesn’t ever get stale for some mysterious reason? Good bread is very important, support quality bread, and it’ll have a noticeable difference in your family’s health over the long run.

There also is this super affordable and easy-to-understand bread machine out there, I forget what it’s called, oh yeah… Your hands. This is coming from an arthritic baker. Just saying a bread machine is a scam. Now if you’re going to spend money on useful kitchen appliances get a Hobart or Kitchen Aid mixer with a dough hook.

5–19 years in prison is too much spend on bread.
Bread for 80 Billion Mark a loaf, is too much.

@everephebe : The OP said she already has a bread machine, and it’s a great time-saver, and produces a delicious product, despite your rather…er…derogatory assessment.

@JilltheTooth I know, I read that. I meant that comment for everyone else, in the future, kind of thing. It’s partially why I whispered it, another reason was it’s derogatory nature. I’m obviously not overly fond of them (or their product in fact).

@everephebe : Well, I guess I’ve been put in my place, then, huh.

Is this thread making anyone else hungry?

@JilltheTooth ? I.. don’t think so.

@Adirondackwannabe I bought bread today :D

@Adirondackwannabe : I’ve already dusted off the old girl and I’m thinking pizza bread on the menu!

Does anyone have a good recipe for my dusty bread machine? Phewf, yes, hungry, I want bread!!

I just Googled “Bread Machine Recipes” and there were a lot! Take your best shot!

@JilltheTooth I’ve tried a bunch and didn’t love them. I’d like a tried and true one, though it’s sure not hard to try them.

Damn, I’m mostly a “bit of this and some of that” cook, and it’s been awhile, I’ll see if I can find some of my old recipes. What do you like?

I like dense, chewy bread, thanks for looking.

Full of “twigs and weeds” as my Dad used to say? ;-)

Oh, yeah!

I’m looking, I’ll PM you with what I find, OK?

I love Trader Joe’s Sourdough bread. I love my sourdough bread to be sour, and not all sourdoughs are sour, but Trader Joe’s is, and it’s only about $2.89 a loaf.

I have a breadmaker and I love it. I love that it’s foolproof and almost effortless. The effort comes from getting the damn thing out of the cabinet and then putting it back when I’m done. I have to admit I only make bread about 4 times a year, and I have always used mixes, but I like the convenience of the machine. I would like to spend some time playing with some recipes, as I have read some interesting ones above. Also, according to the owner’s manual, the breadmaker can also make cinnamon rolls and also, something I have never tried making, jams and jellies, too.