Made my 50th loaf of bread today in the bread machine. Store-bought bread averages about $2.50 a loaf, so 50 loaves would be $125. Bread machine cost $100 and I figure the flour and other ingredients for those was well under $25.
Here’s to 50 more loaves of fresh baked bread.
I bought a deLonghi Magnifica fully auto coffee machine about 15 years ago for about $1000. While I’ve had to fix it a couple times, the counter on it shows almost 50,000 shots. At 2 shots per americano, at $2.50/cup at Second Cup, I estimate that machine has saved me over $60,000.
I thought this when I bought my own espresso machine but then I realized that although the cost per cup is dramatically lower than what it would be if I paid for it at a coffee shop, I drink WAY more espresso (and coffee in general) than I did before I got it, meaning that any savings are purely theoretical. For example, I drink a double shot of espresso every morning as my morning coffee. On this basis, I saved money because the cost of my machine brings the cost per cup down to almost just the cost of the coffee. But before that, I was drinking coffee made by a $30 drip coffee machine that I had had since I moved out to go to college, which was already to that point. So on that basis, I didn’t save any money at all. I still think it’s worth it because I fucking love having a cup of espresso every morning but I no longer think of it as a “money saving” thing.
Would you recommend your bread machine? If so, which one is it? I was thinking of getting one.
My wife works at a local bakery and the loaves are $8. This is fresh baked limited ingredient bread so much closer to what you’re making. 50 loaves of that would be $400. You are way past breaking even…
Who tf is out here paying $8 for a loaf of bread? I have made a lot of bread in my life and can’t possibly see a way to get the cost of making a single loaf (taking into account that the labor/capital required to make an individual loaf decreases dramatically as you start making more bread at once) up that high for a bakery. If I were making that shit one at a time in my house yeah it would probably cost that much but with professional equipment there’s no fucking way they aren’t doubling their costs on that.
My bread machine died, developed a leak. So now I make the dough in the stand mixer and just let it rise. Sometimes I wish I still had it, but it’s mostly good. Just need to set a timer to punch it down then put it in the oven!
Its easier with gluten free bread! No rise time.
It also isn’t anywhere as good bread, but, you know, not really a choice for me so shittier breads it is!
If you find yourself missing it a lot, keep an eye out for secondhand. Many kitchen appliances can be found relatively easily secondhand.
Its been about a decade, so it’s a very minor missing!
Recipe?
I have a few recipes for bread or rolls? I use the King Arthur Onion Bun recipe that’s on their website fairly frequently.
Yeah, your bread recipe sounds quick and easy. That’s what I need so I don’t go down the sourdough rabbit hole every time.
Haha, it is easy! I never got into sourdough. The cat will bite me if I don’t feed her. Sourdough will just die.
The cat will bite me if I don’t feed her.
Cats have to do this, to teach their servants the priorities.
Nothing like the smell of fresh baked bread. I gotta make one this weekend now
I got my bread machine at the thrift store brand new for less than $20. I broke even a while back.
Nice. I haven’t had much luck thrifting the last few years.
Thrift stores have massively increased their prices in the last few years, but you can still find good deals here and there. I avoid going to goodwill and go to the habitat store and two of the local thrifts that actually benefit the community. I recommend looking at local estate auctions on hi-bid and going to garage sales. You might also check fb marketplace/ Craigslist / whatever is popular in your locality.
A 50-lb bag of bread flour is a little over $30 where I’m from. I think you still have a few loaves to go.
What about electricity costs? Might need to bake a few more loaves.
Costs about 17 cents per loaf in electricity, and my power rate is pretty high at $0.25/kWh.
- Blend: 7 minutes @ 100W (0.1 KW x 0.12 hours = 0.012 kWh). I’m being generous here since this is just an intermittent blend and the motor pulses slowly and doesn’t use 100 watts for the whole cycle).
- Rest: 1 minute @ 0W
- Mix: 25 minutes @ 100 W (0.1 KW X 0.42 hours = 0.042 kWh)
- Proof 1: 58 minutes @ 50W (0.05 X 0.97 hours = 0.05 kWh)
- Proof 2: 50 minutes @ 50W (0.05 x 0.83 hours = 0.04 kWh)
- Bake: 50 minutes @ 650 W (0.65 x 0.83 hours = 0.54 kWh)
- Keep Warm: I never use this, but up to an hour at probably 100 watts. (0.1 KW x 1 hour = 0.1 kWh)
Total: 0.684 kWh x $0.25/kWh = $0.17 per loaf ($0.20 per loaf if I use the keep warm feature for the full hour).
For comparison, the regular oven is 4400 watts and takes 10 minutes just to pre-heat. That’s $0.18 cents in electricity cost before I even bake the bread.
Thanks for doing the math. That’s really interesting. If we don’t count labor costs, electricity makes up about 40% of the cost of a loaf of bread. However, if you didn’t have a bread maker and just used your oven, it would take much longer to recoup your investment. I love how efficient that machine is.
Electricity is close to 5 cents per kW where I am so that’d be the least of my worries…
My bread bread pan spindle is seized and the pan is half the cost of the machine…
Oof. I have not priced replacement parts. The whole thing was only $100 and I fully consider it a “starter” machine. Wasn’t sure if I’d use it more than once or twice, so didn’t start out with a fancy one or anything.
I had one, but it’s not for me. Whenever I bake bread it’s all by hand. and no one (!) Touches my tin!
why a bread machine? I’ve never found them good at kneading compared to a stand mixer, and I don’t even like using a mixer so I knead by hand and use my normal oven.
Does the machine really work for you and add convenience, like, does it earn its keep / counter space?
I think I hate appliances and single-use tools, I hate even owning a food processor …
Totally agree about single use appliances, but the bread machine is the sole exception. Figured it wouldn’t get more than a few uses, so bought a cheap one to start with. Turns out I use it daily.
I used to use the Kitchen-Aid with the dough hook. Mostly just the convenience factor won out. Just pouring everything into one pan and hitting a button was the big sell. Plus, it’s got a timer so I can load it up before bed and have fresh bread in the morning.
Also switched to using a kitchen scale instead of measuring cups, and combined, that has massively reduced the amount of dishes and mess I have to clean.
The “set it and forget it” convenience of a bread machine is very enticing.
“used to use”…what do you use now?
presumably the bread machine, most have these little paddles that are supposed to turn and knead the bread for you - you just throw ingredients in the pan and the bread machine does the rest
I knead this
You don’t even need to knead (the only real ‘work’ in breadmaking) if you don’t feel like it.
Gluten forms all by itself over time.I have never managed to get enough gluten development from time alone, have you?
Besides, the kneading is good for my bones 😅
Sure, it’s quite common
https://www.recipetineats.com/easy-yeast-bread-recipe-no-knead/huzzah, the recipe worked!
click to see pictures
flavor and texture was good, I’m shocked! It’s a wet dough, like used for Neapolitan style pizza. I used a large amount of sourdough discard, which added a lot of flavor, too. (Threw off my hydration ratio, but I eye-balled it and looked to have a shaggy and wet dough like in the pictures, and it seemed to turn out well.)
Thanks for opening my world! 🌈 💖 🍞
You’re welcome, looks tasty!
amazing, thank you - I’ll try this recipe out; I wonder if I could use it to make typical white sandwich bread 🤔
I’ve been using no-knead recipes and some with a little kneading, don’t even have a mixer or bread maker.
But I am buying the little accessories.
And your math is right, you should be around .30
centsdollars a loaf. I’ve started using diastatic malt powder, so the cost goes up a bit but so does the taste..30 cents? Or .30 dollars?
God the simpler times.
oh crap, I had forgotten about that.
The latter, my bad.
What’s the labor factor though?
I think the fastest I’ve got it going is like 90 seconds.
Most of the ingredients are measured in tablespoons. I use a scale and just pour the flour into a bowl, add the dry ingredients on top, and throw it in pan.
Plus it just tastes better and makes the house smell amazing.
Likely under 15 min to gather the ingredients, dump them in the machine, then remove and slice when done. Especially after getting in the habit. If you premix and portion all the dry ingredients you can save even more time.
Plus you can make a much tastier and nutritious bread for the price of a crappy sandwich loaf
Are your loves all little one pounders? Otherwise, you’re definitely paying significantly more than that on ingredients.
I do 1.5 lb loaves. I also buy in bulk when things are on sale. All 50 loaves were made with just what’s in the pantry (which is why my estimated price-per-loaf is just a guess).
But the main thing is homemade bread just tastes better. Even if it costs more in ingredients, it’s still worth it
Agreed, I haven’t bought bread in a decade!
My bulk bread flour has jumped up to about 50¢/lb. but food is relatively expensive where I live.
I"m not sure what the actual bulk price is here, but the little 5lb bags are like $2.60. When I say “buy in bulk” I mostly mean I buy a lot of something when it goes on sale. Back in March, there was a weekend where you got 15% off your entire purchase on top of whatever was normally on sale. Flour was buy-one, get-one at the time, so I basically filled up a cart lol. I’m still baking through it and have about 15 bags left. 😆
Nice deal!
Can I ask what model of magic bread machine you are using?
Literally this one: https://a.co/d/gBi4XKq
Wasn’t sure if it was gonna be something I’d use a lot, so I just bought an inexpensive “starter” one. If/when it dies, I’ll probably get a fancier one.
This product photo is ridiculous.
Not only is there just a crazy amount of bread on that table, the scaling is all over the place. I love it.
Well I’m basically in the same boat, bread curious bread noob, looks good to me lol!
I’ll take a random suggestion from a lemmy user in dull mens club over… well actually a whole lot of other kinds of recommendations or ratings.
Thanks!
(Also don’t worry I’m not gonna instantly impulse buy this, but it’ll serve as a frame of reference for further research)
