Sunday, March 25, 2012

Baking Good Bread to Save

Photo from freedigitalphotos.net

So it is no secret that we are trying to save money however we can.  In addition to making our own laundry soap, dishwasher soap, and spray cleaner, we’ve also been working on finding a good recipe for easy sandwich bread.  My goal was to be able to shy away from the store bought bread since the prices average between $3 and $4 a loaf for the healthier brands.  

Here is what I was looking for in a recipe:
  • Soft crusted with a texture that mimics store bought bread
  • Easily adaptable to pan baking since I don’t have a bread maker
  • Makes two or more loaves at a time
  • Uses  whole wheat flour and no “junk” for a healthier loaf of bread

I set about hitting the interwebs, and tried a couple of recipes.  We have some of the Bob’s Red Mill wheat flour that I was planning to use, so I checked that site first....  The recipe was good, but the bread was a bit too dense to really fit what we were looking for.  After a bit more poking around, I came across a blog called “Tammy’s Recipes”.  I gave this one a shot, and right out of the gate, it was a hit!  According to her breakdown in one of her  recent posts, it only costs about a dollar per loaf to make your bread at home!  I can handle using a hand mixer for a bit and doing a bit of baking to save some cash! The full recipe for this wheat/white bread is on her blog that is listed above, but here are the single loaf ingredients:

1 cup warm water (110-115 degrees F)
1 tablespoon milk
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons instant active dry yeast (active dry yeast will work also; get more info on active vs. instant active dry yeast here!)

Not much to it really!  I would highly recommend checking it out if you want to try baking your own bread.  It is very easy,and if you have a mixer with dough hooks, it takes like five minutes to get the ingredients together and then the rise/baking time. 

6 comments:

  1. Yay for great bread! I was all set to recommend the recipe I found, but yours is very similar--the one I use has oats and no oil. Right now I'm experimenting with adding in some sprouted wheat flour and playing with the ratios of white/wheat. I add ground flax in, too--the golden-colored variety is undetectable by children:).

    My next bread frontier is sourdough that actually tastes like sourdough:).

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    1. I fell in love with Dave's Killer Bread, but that stuff is like 6 bucks a loaf. I would love to try to make some like that, and I think experimenting with sprouted wheat, flax, and various seeds is definitely going to be happening. This bread is REALLY good. It's light and fluffy and perfect for sandwich bread!

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    2. I'm trying sprouted quinoa next. I'm going the flour route with it this time for the sake of the other people in the house:), but I'll just slop it in on the second try and see what happens...sounds good to me;).

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  2. I put up my Rye bread recipe on my blog. It takes about 10 minutes to put together and mix, and overnight rest, 5 minutes to form into a loaf, 40 minutes to rest, and then 35 minutes to bake. Simplicity!

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    1. Oooh, that sounds good! I'll get Gavin to take a look. We both like rye bread!

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