Cost of a loaf of HM bread pls?

[thesunflowergal]

I need to get my bum in gear in start to make my own bread. But I was wondering has anyone a rough idea how much their loaves cost to make please? I would be looking at an average size white loaf.

Thanks Nikki

[Rosendula]

It depends on what sort of bread you want to make. I made a very, very basic loaf. I use a mixture of wholemeal flour when I can get it, and ordinary plain white flour. Apart from that, it only costs the fuel to cook it. For my first loaf, I used so-called 'fast acting' yeast. Once that was mixed in, I took a cupful of the dough out and put it in the fridge. Next time I wanted to make bread I added that instead of yeast. I don't add oil or butter or anything else. Oh, a little salt is needed, and of course a couple of spoons of sugar or honey. I add a tiny bit of sugar to the cup of yeast to keep it happy. Put simply, it costs the flour, plus a few pence. It's cheap.

[Gray]

I make mine in a breadmaker, I make a smallish loaf made with 14oz flour an half an half milk / water it costs me approx 37p this is with all organic ingredients. I reckon if I bulk purchased the flour, rather than buying 3lb bags, I could dramatically reduce this cost.

[Rosendula]

Any idea where to buy flour in bulk, Gray? I've looked everywhere round here and can only find ordinary sized bags.

[Annpan]

I think we came out at a price of around 35p too - that is with non-organic flour.

[Anne A]

Wholemeal organic works out at 38p per large loaf tin here.

[Gray]

Annpan - I wish I knew where to source bulk flour but i dont - I was hoping someone else knew or had any ideas.

I had been buying as much as I could of 'Dove's Farm' strong white in Te**o for 69p for quite sometime however, its now gone up to the same a everywhere else - approx £1.15

I do hope that was an error on their part

[Cloud]

Just asked OH for prices, and did the maths myself...

For a medium to large loaf in a bread maker

flour 1.5kg @ 78p (500g used) = 20p per loaf
yeast 56g @ 67p (5g used) = 6p per loaf
butter 250g @ £1 (25g used) = 10p per loaf
milk powder 198g @ £3 (10g used) = 5p per loaf
sugar 500g @ £1.09 (5g used) = 1p per loaf
salt 750g @ 30p = negligible

(recipe uses spoons for small amount so I've approximated the weights)

Total = 42 p per loaf
+ cost of electricity for the bread maker

flour, butter, sugar is all organic and I think our prices are a little high because we're in a small town.

@ Rosendula, how do you not need butter?

[Annpan]

Where the heck are you guys getting organic bread flour so cheap?

Today we got some from Sinsburps (own brand) 78p - 1.5kg non-organic, both wholemeal and white (we use 400g white and 100g whole meal to do a loaf)

The last time I looked it was £1.30 or more for organic bread flour, and if we shop at the co-op that is what you pay for non-organic.

[Rosendula]

@ Rosendula, how do you not need butter?

I just don't put it in. I mix some honey (or sugar if I'm short of honey) with warm water, add the starter dough thingy out of the fridge then add flour to form a sloppy dough. Cover it up and leave it overnight. Next morning I add a little bit more flour, take a cup of the dough out (to which I add a tiny amount of sugar) and put that in the fridge for next time. Back to the big bowl, I add salt and more flour and give it a good stir. I never used to knead it, but my worktop's too high and it gets my shoulders trying to stir it up there. The table's the right height, but not usually practical with a LO about So when it's quite stiff, I knead it, adding more flour as neccessary. Then I put it in greased casserole dishes with the lids on and put them somewhere warm to rise. These days, that's often the greenhouse. When risen, I bake it.

Nice, simple and delicious.

[JulieSherris]

The bread I make costs around 80 cents (we're in euros here!) Bearing in mind that a typical loaf costs around 1.70 euros here, that's a good saving.

I use ordinary household flour, NOT strong flour.
I buy fresh yeast from the local baker's factory - and then I use cheap vegetable oil, not butter... and of course, salt & sugar...

I have to say that since I found a so-called 'French Bread' dough (it's really not though!) I've not made a bad loaf at all!

I never turn the dough mix out to knead it - I do all the kneading in the bowl, but I only knead it lightly until it's smooth.

I altered the recipe slightly, as it called for melted vegetable shortening - well, life's too short! So I use veggie oil...
I always use tepid water to mix the yeast, but then cold water to make the dough... I leave the dough overnight for the first rising, but through the summer, I shall probably leave it in the fridge now the temperatures are picking up.
Then in the morning, I divide the dough into 2 for loaves, or 4 for baguettes, & I use my rolling pin to roll it out quickly.... roll up the rectangles into cigar shapes, & leave for the 2nd rising....

I always pop a dish of water in the oven while the bread's cooking - brush with water halfway thru the cook time & then brush with milk when it first comes out the oven - perfect! Unlike bread machine loaves, it even tastes lovely on day 2, & stays white (not that funny yellow-grey colour that used to come out of my bread machine )

[Millymollymandy]

Similar to you Julie in price (the cheapest loaf I can make which isn't wholemeal costs 60 c for the flour alone for 500g) - I brought back Tescos stoneground wholemeal flour as it's half the price of supermarket bread flour in France and far less again than the only wholemeal bread flour I can get which comes from the garden centre (go figure ). Tescos instant yeast was a fraction of what I pay here too. I just wish I had a van!

[Fizzy Izzy]

Where the heck are you guys getting organic bread flour so cheap?

Today we got some from Sinsburps (own brand) 78p - 1.5kg non-organic, both wholemeal and white (we use 400g white and 100g whole meal to do a loaf)

The last time I looked it was £1.30 or more for organic bread flour, and if we shop at the co-op that is what you pay for non-organic.

When we were in the UK (about a year ago), we got organic wholemeal bread flour in Asda for about 70p a bag I think. Certainly it wasn't more than 80p. White organic was much more expensive (about the price you mention). Of course the prices may have changed a little over the past year - and shopping in Asda isn't the best of course

[Rosendula]

When we were in the UK (about a year ago), we got organic wholemeal bread flour in Asda for about 70p a bag I think. Certainly it wasn't more than 80p. White organic was much more expensive (about the price you mention). Of course the prices may have changed a little over the past year - and shopping in Asda isn't the best of course

Prices have shot up in the past year. In A$da last August I was paying
27p for ordinary plain flour and 35p for ordinary wholemeal. Cheapest white bread flour was 55p.
These days it's
43p for ordinary plain flour and £1 for wholemeal bread flour. Ordinary wholemeal flour isn't available in my local stores any more. Cheapest white bread flour is 68p.
I don't use white bread flour for bread very often, only when there's a shortage of ordinary flour. I tend to use bread flour to make pasta

I've been keeping records of what I spend my money on since last August so that I can monitor my Ishy progress. Sad, eh?

[CyberPaddy66]

I've been keeping records of what I spend my money on since last August so that I can monitor my Ishy progress. Sad, eh?

Not really, if you don't keep an eye on them they'll put their prices up without you realising it, I was shocked that the price of rice has doubled since I last bought it in bulk

We use a really simple bread mix recipe (that makes enough dough for a 2lb loaf) in our bread machine (actually only use the dough mix setting) which we split into 2 2lb tins and leave them to rise for 1 hour before putting them in the oven. This recipe would make 1 small loaf and 6 large baps or 4 medium 12" baguettes.

Warm Water 1 1/2 cups
Skimmed Milk Powder 4 Tbsp
Sunflower Oil 4 Tbsp (we use 3Tbsp of Olive Oil and 1 Tbps of Sesame oil for flavour)
Sugar 3 Tbsp
Salt 2 Tsp
Bread Flour 4 Cups (we use 2 Brown and 2 white as it makes a nice tasting loaf)
Fast Acting Yeast 1 1/4 Tsp (D0ves Farm is the best we've found)

Total cost of ingredients is around £0.74 based on today's T3sco's prices but we shop around and get much better prices than that ;) and although this sounds like a lot of money for a loaf of bread we get the equivalent quality of the top of the range bread at this price.

Note the price of our bread does not include cooking costs!