The primary goal of baking bread at home is to save money. When you eat the bread you just made, it will taste better than store-bought bread because it’s fresh. In order to bake and improve your skills, you might have to work at it but it’ll be worth it in the end.
In this article, we will compare the cost of buying all the ingredients for bread to buying bread daily. We will also list some of the benefits of baking your own bread at home.
How Much Does It Cost to Bake Your Own Bread?
The expenses of creating a whole wheat bread recipe using normal ingredients are shown in the table below. In various locations, costs may differ significantly. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, prices are based on market conditions at the time of publication.
Ingredients
- Whole wheat flour; 3 ½ cups. The cost of buying a 5-pound bag is $3.99, so this translates to around $0.78 for 3 ½ cups.
- Wheat bran; ½ cup. The price of one pound of wheat bran is $1.28, ½ cup will cost $0.08
- Honey; ¼ cup. A jar of honey costs $11.99 making ¼ cup cost $0.41
- Unsalted butter; 3 tablespoons. A pound of butter costs $1.99, so 3 tablespoons will cost $0.19
- Wheat Gluten; 2 tablespoons. A pound of wheat gluten goes for $5.46, making the cost of 2 tablespoons $0.26
- Yeast; 4 tablespoons. A pound of yeast costs $4.59 making the cost of 4 tablespoons to be $0.19
- Salt; 1 teaspoon. It costs about $0.01
If you add the ingredients’ total costs together, you get $1.92. This whole wheat bread recipe makes two loaves of bread. The cost of operating an oven for an hour and a half is approximately $0.26 in energy bills when you consider all factors.
Electricity costs about 10 cents per Kilowatt hour. Top of the line bread machines use about 2600 watts an hour and that costs $0.26 per hour, or $0.52 for two loaves of bread. So, it would cost about $2 to make two loaves of whole wheat bread at home, which is
Cost of Buying Bread at the Store
The price of white bread is $2-$3 per loaf, whereas the cost of whole wheat bread is about $3-$4 per loaf.
Pricier breads like the sourdough bread and the cinnamon-raisin bread will cost you around $5.
When you take price into account, homemade whole wheat bread is substantially less expensive than store-bought. It costs a bit less per loaf. The idea is that making your own bread is less expensive than buying it from the store.
Other Benefits to baking your own bread at home
Other than being cost-effective, baking your bread has a number of advantages. Here’s a rundown of some of them.
Custom Recipes
Another advantage of making your own bread is that you may add or remove anything from the mixture. You may add more healthful ingredients to your recipe and exclude milk-based components like butter and cheese if you follow a particular diet.
People who want to watch their calories can do without refined sugar. Some people need special diets like gluten-free bread. It is harder to find in stores because there isn’t as much demand for it. But some researchers found that baking your own Gluten-free bread costs around 50% less than buying it from the store.
Gluten-free bread usually goes for $8-10 per loaf. You are better off making your Gluten-free bread as most bread machines come with a Gluten-free setting in their program.
Your Bread Tastes Better
vanilla. Some bakers will add healthier ingredients like pumpkin, flax seeds, honey and the rest. One advantage of baking your bread is that you allow the yeast to fully develop when leaving the dough to rise, resulting in bread with a better flavor and done exactly how you like it.
You can Bake In Batches
The bread in your neighborhood store may not be freshly baked; some are most likely old and moldy. Fresh bread every day at minimal cost is something you can achieve if you bake your own bread. Your family will never run out of fresh bread with this method, since you may freeze any extra. Homemade bread tastes better than commercial bread produced in factories.
What If You Can’t Afford A Bread Machine?
If you don’t have access to a bread machine, you may use a slow cooker instead. They can reach temperatures of up to 200 degrees Fahrenheit, which is ideal for making bread but it does take a few hours to finish.
The only disadvantage is that you must knead and combine all of the components yourself. In addition, the slow cooker isn’t as quick as the bread machine, but it’s an option.
Bottom Line
The data and figures we’ve gone through in this post demonstrate that home bread making is less expensive than buying bread from the store. You may also modify the recipe to include more ingredients for extra delicious bread.
Buy the best bread machine you can afford and begin customizing your bread at home!
