In addition to my sundry ramblings about our journey to home-baked bread (below), I wanted to specifically talk about the cost.

I’ve heard people wondering if, these days, you can really make bread at home any cheaper than you can buy it in the store.

I think the answer is, “Yes, and No.”

The bottom-line calculations for this would involve a lot of time, measurement, and calculation. When I looked at all the issues, I decided it wasn’t worth it to even “go there.”

A cursory online search found people’s calculations of the cost of a loaf of homemade bread, including energy, between $0.50 and $1.50 (which included beer). In an absolute sense, I suspect that my bread would come out about on par with the cheapest loaf of bread I can buy at the store (about $0.89 around here for a loaf of Publix grocery store brand white bread). If you have a bakery outlet near you, or similar opportunity, you can probably get it cheaper.

But I have absolute power over my bread.

My bread has no High Fructose Corn Syrup and no preservatives. I use baking powder that has no aluminum, and unbleached four. I use real butter, not artificial and chemical stuff. I add nonfat dry milk for extra protein, and I can switch it up by adding some whole wheat four, oatmeal, herbs, or whatever strikers my fancy.

It makes the whole house smell wonderful, tastes wonderful, and makes my family feel nurtured and happy.

…And I’m positive that my bread costs far less than the price tag of the kind of bread I prefer to buy in the store – approaching $4 per loaf!

I started out using the basic boule recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking.

It tasted nice, and would be fine as bread with soup… but there’s just no way you’re going to be using that for sandwiches.

Luckily, I was pointed towards the terrific blog Everyday Food Storage (actually part of a set of three!), and her recipe for EZ Bread (which I double).

We’ve been eating nothing but homemade bread for over a month now. Each batch we’ve tweaked the recipe just a little, as we learn more about what works, and what we like.

• I use 1 cup of rolled oats in place of 1 cup of four. I’m working on getting some wheat germ in there, too. The kind of “bitter” taste of whole wheat four is just not something the family can seem to get over, so I’m trying to find other ways to get some more nutrition in there.
• Nick and I are learning about watching the dough in the mixer “kneading,” and knowing when you need to add a bit moe flour or water. Recipe or no recipe, there are enough other factors (temperature, humidity, etc.) that this part is more art than science.
• To get the bread nicely done inside and out, we had to lower the cooking temperature and increase the time.
• On a suggestion from an online forum, I butter the top of the loaves when they come out.  Yummy!

We did decide it would be worth it to invest in some better bread pans.  The kind most people have at home (and what I had) are actually smaller than a “real” bread loaf – great for banana bread, but not so much for regular bread-making.

I chose a pair of 1 1/2 lb. Chicago Metallic Commercial Bread Pans, and have been simply delighted with the big, beautiful, evenly-cooked loaves they’ve turned out.

We’ve made our bread into monkey bread, dinner rolls, and pizza crust. My next project is to work on hamburger buns (there’s a great recipe for that on the original Homestead Blessings DVDs I reviewed on Life on the Road!).

It’s surprisingly easy, takes very little hands-on time (especially if your KitchenAid is doing the kneading), and is one of the most gratifying homemaking tasks in my day.

The Everyday Food Storage blog had another great tip for saving even more time: When you bake a batch, make up several more batches of dry ingredients in zip-top bags. Then making the next few batches is super-quick!

You can also make multiple batches on a big “baking day,” and freeze them – slice first for ease of straight-from-the-freezer use.

If you’re not making bread for your family, you’re missing out on a blessing!

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