We have not bought bread since we decided to be serious about getting out of debt. It’s one of many changes we’ve made to lighten our debt burden.
First of all, you must know that bread is not something we take lightly. No Atkins diet for us! We often have PBJs six days a week. We also use bread for toast or french toast for breakfast. Sometimes, especially when there is hot bread just out of the oven, we have bread and butter for a snack or with dinner.
There are a few problems with buying bread:
- Delicious bread is expensive.
- Healthy bread is expensive.
- Since bread is a staple, it is often the main reason for a trip to the store (where you will, without fail, buy much more than just bread).
Making homemade bread has solved all three of these problems for us. Homemade bread is delicious, healthy, inexpensive and doesn’t cause us to make extra trips to the grocery store!
I typically make 6-8 loaves a week. I usually make 4 loaves at a time, but if I know we aren’t going to finish it in 3-4 days I will just make 2, since it is best when it’s fresh.
The recipe I use makes two loaves and works great for a standard size Kitchen Aid mixer. I usually do two batches (4 loaves), one right after the other since my mixer bowl is two small to mix a double batch. Even though two consecutive batches takes a little extra time, it saves an hour of oven usage since I bake all 4 loaves at once. I also only have to clean my mess and dishes once.
Whole Wheat Bread (2 loaves)
- 3 c. warm water
- 1/3 c. honey (or brown sugar)
- 1/3 c. oil
- 3 c. whole wheat flour
- 1 T. salt
- 1 T. yeast
- 5 c. whole wheat flour
Mix first 5 ingredients together in mixer, then add yeast. When yeast is mixed in well, let mixture stand for 10 minutes. Mixture should be bubbly. Add the remaining 5 cups of flour (give or take a little), about half at a time. The dough should pull together into a ball, but not stick all over your hands. Divide the dough in half on a floured surface. Knead each loaf 30-50 times, then shape into a nice loaf. Put into greased bread pans. Cover with damp cloth and let rise 30 minutes. Bake at 325 degrees for 40 minutes. Remove from pans and cool on a wire rack.
- 3 c. warm water
- ⅓ c. honey (or brown sugar)
- ⅓ c. oil
- 3 c. whole wheat flour
- 1 T. salt
- 1 T. yeast
- 5 c. whole wheat flour
- Mix first 5 ingredients together in mixer, then add yeast.
- When yeast is mixed in well, let mixture stand for 10 minutes. Mixture should be bubbly.
- Add the remaining 5 cups of flour (give or take a little), about half at a time. The dough should pull together into a ball, but not stick all over your hands.
- Divide the dough in half on a floured surface. Knead each loaf 30-50 times, then shape into a nice loaf.
- Put into greased bread pans. Cover with damp cloth and let rise 30 minutes.
- Bake at 325 degrees for 40 minutes.
- Remove from pans and cool on a wire rack.
Another favorite bread recipe is Soft French Bread. It’s delicious and versatile. You’ll never buy it again!
Your blog is so inspiring to me. In September, my wife and I made the decision to work hard to pay off our debt. We owe almost $200,000 and can’t even fathom how long it will take us to pay this off. We pay less each month than the interest that accrues and I don’t know how to fix it… But we are taking things to extreme measures, like you. we’re doing a No Spend Challenge, we started making all our own pasta and did a cost analysis of it on my blog: we save over $100 a year doing it. Now we are getting a bread maker for Christmas and will be making our own bread too. Thank you for posting all of these! I love your blog!
http://www.diyjahn.com
I LOVE baking bread, and I am So glad to have been looking for bread recipes today.. My husband and I are trying to pay off our student loans, and with that, we’ve been trying to budget and live the frugal life… And it’s Not been easy;
It’s so wonderful to find your site, and I’m so excited to read more and gain more insight and inspiration. Because, we have no idea what the heck We’re doing.. Lol.
Thank you for sharing your experience and tips. I appreciate you. God bless.
Hi Star! I’m glad you found my site too! That’s great that you’re ready to jump in and get those student loans paid off! Stick around and we’ll cheer each other on! 🙂
If you don’t have loaf pans, I always just make “rustic” loaves on a cookie sheet. they just aren’t as uniform as loaf pans (but still darn tasty) 🙂
I prefer to mix my bread dough in my bread machines on a dough cycle and then finish the shaping, final rise & bake in the oven. Definitely not cheating, just saves the motor of my KitchenAid. You can find new machines used less than a handful of times at yard sales & thrift stores for less than $10. My last one I paid $1 for. Homemade bread isn’t a symbol of frugality but of those with great taste! After a series of unfortunate bank issues we have discovered our emergency fund is gone along with all of our bank balance. Blessed to know how to cook fro, scratch & can. Glad I found your blog to help me get back into living in reality. Thank you for being transparent!
I enjoyed reading this post. My family and I also love making homemade bread and have greatly reduced the amount of bread we buy at the store. The only thing I do differently than you is I use a bread machine. I know it’s probably “cheating”, but I won the bread machine at our annual Christmas party at work (my company gives out prizes instead of bonuses) and we have enjoyed it very much. Anyway, I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed your post and I agree that families can definitely save money by making their own bread. Bread prices in the stores has gotten completely outrageous! Thanks again.
Using a bread machine is fine!! I’m not a purist. 🙂 I just don’t have one (or really even have room for one).
I have always been scared to try making homemade bread, but would love to try it! How much do you estimate your cost for making one recipe?
Do you use the bread hook attachment for your mixer? Mine came with the whisk and paddle attachments. I wonder if the paddle would work?
I use the bread hook now, but before that I always used a wooden spoon and my hands. If the paddle doesn’t work well, you can do it easy enough without the mixer.
What type oil do you use? I am trying to eat healthier.
I use canola oil. I’ve never tried coconut oil, but maybe I will try that! I’ll let you know how it goes! 🙂
I`m so glad I found your blog, although my debt is very low compared with yours, there is so much to learn on your blog and I love your tips how to save even more money.
Today I get a used breadmaker machine and because I`ve really almost none experience in cooking/baking from scratch, here`s my question: can I use this recipe for the machine too?
Hope my question isn`t to stupid 🙂
Thanks so much in advance!
Not a stupid question at all Jessie! I would start with to a recipe specific to your bread machine. You can google the make and model and download a manual for free (some sites will try to get you to buy it, but you can find it for free). My recipe makes two loaves, so it would be too much for a bread machine since they usually just make one loaf. Once you get the hang of the standard recipe for your machine, you can branch out an experiment a little. Hope that helps!
That’s it? I thought there was way more to making bread than this.
I don’t have a kitchen aid mixer though–can I do this by hand?
I just got a kitchen aid for Christmas a couple years ago, but before that I *always* made bread by hand. It’s totally do-able 🙂
Oh Stephanie! I started crying after reading this post. Our family’s student loans will be out of the grace period in December and I’ve been trying to rework budgets and research everything I can on getting rid of student loans. I also have three little ones, all under the age of 5 and are in the 6 figure debt too, but for undergrad and pharmacy school for my husband. We’re LDS and pay tithing like it’s no one’s business! lol We also have food storage, most of it stock piled up from food stamps while in school and that’s what we’ve been trying to live off of. I still don’t like the taste of powdered milk but the kids will drink it and that’s all that counts! 🙂 We make tons of pbj’s too and I’m always making bread for them. I’m not very good at making bread though! 🙁 and sometimes it doesn’t turn out and I get mad because it takes soooo long for it to rise and bake. I am definitely going to try your recipe and I need to find another bread pan. You are my inspiration! I’m so glad I found your blog!
Hi Liz,
It sounds like we have a lot in common. That’s great that you’ve been planning ahead for when December hits. Good for you for budgeting, stockpiling, making bread, paying tithing, and living frugally. Stay positive! You can do it! I’m glad you found my blog. We can cheer each other on!
We had someone from church give us a bunch of their food storage when they moved away, so we have powdered milk around here too! I used to add a touch of vanilla and a tiny bit of sugar to help with the taste (mostly for me, because my kids don’t seem to mind the powdered milk at all).
Check the thrift store for bread pans. Let me know how the bread goes. I can help you troubleshoot if needed 🙂
This was amazing to read! I can’t wait to try this out!
Just curious though, about how much does it cost per loaf when making it yourself, and about how often do you have to restock on your bread-making ingredients?
I need to calculate the price, as several readers have asked. I need to see what wheat costs now (it’s been over a year since I purchased any). I buy a year’s worth (or more) of wheat at a time. It comes in 25 lb bags that we keep in storage bins under our bed. I get yeast in bulk at Sam’s Club and buy enough to last quite a while.