Make bread at home and you can save a tremendous amount of money. Not only that, but you can also control the ingredients and flavors so that your baked goods are just as you like them.
You can bake everything from quick breads like Carrot Bread, muffins like Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins, yeast doughs like Homemade Sub Rolls, or even sourdough like Sourdough Rye Bread. Whatever you choose, you’re bound to save money when you make bread at home.
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You don’t have to be a skilled baker or pastry chef to make bread at home. In fact, it’s incredibly simple to do and at the base of it, requires little in special equipment.
Sure there are Bread Baking Tools that come in handy, but c’mon, Ma Ingalls regularly baked all her family’s bread. I’m pretty sure she didn’t have a gourmet stocked kitchen.
It’s in your reach to make bread at home!
Why Do This
If you enjoy breads and baked goods, then one of the best ways you can enjoy the best quality at the lowest prices is to learn to make bread at home.
There are so many great recipes and easy strategies for bread making, you can easily try your hand and see success in one go.
Ingredients for Bread Making
Typical ingredients for bread making include:
flour – Unbleached, all-purpose flour is all you need to start. As you get more experienced and try different techniques, you can add in whole wheat, rye, and other flours to vary the flavors and textures of your breads and baked goods.
salt – Salt helps both the texture and the flavor of the bread. You don’t need much, but typically you don’t want to omit it.
water – Clear tap water is fine, though I use filtered when I make bread at home.
leaveners – The leavener you use will depend on the type of bread you’re making. You’ll need baking soda or baking powder for quick breads, yeast and sourdough starter for other doughs.
enrichments – Depending on the recipe, other enrichments can be added to homemade breads, such as eggs, milk, oils, spices, herbs, cheese, and other enrichments.
Methods
1. Use a bread machine.
If you’re apprehensive to make bread at home, using a bread machine can be a great way to start. That’s what I did many moons ago.
A bread machine makes it so much easier. Since the shape of the bread machine bread is a little funky, I often just use the machine just to make the dough.
Then I transfer it to traditional bread pans or, more often, form it into rolls or hamburger or hot dog buns. This works wonderfully well and is kind of a gateway to more advanced bread making.
2. Make quick breads and muffins.
That said, you don’t have to have a machine to make bread at home. In fact, quick breads don’t even need rising time. Just stir them up and bake.
Believe it or not, some thinly sliced quick breads can also work for sandwiches. Carrot or zucchini bread would be a great base for chicken salad. Biscuits work well for breakfast sandwiches. English Muffin Bread is fantastic for toast and breakfast sandwiches.
Plus, there’s a whole host of muffins, coffee cakes, and other quick breads to try. Here are some favorites:
3. Try Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day.
Years ago a method revolutionized home bread baking was described in Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. I used the method for awhile with great success. It involves mixing up a very wet dough, allowing it to rise, and storing it in the fridge.
You can shape and bake a loaf anytime you like. Keeping a box of this dough in the refrigerator at all times can help you make pizza or focaccia or pretzels in the blink of an eye. No need to plan ahead.
The Olive Oil Dough is particularly good. Yum! I made focaccia rolls with it for sandwiches that were out of this world.
Based on the price of unbleached bread flour and the minimal amount of salt, yeast, and oil that you might use in a recipe, it costs about $0.25/loaf to make bread at home.
4. Bake with Yeast Doughs & Sourdough
Making a yeasted or sour dough can seem next level intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be. You can make great bread at home with these recipes:
Tell us what you think!
We love to hear your experiences with Good Cheap Eats. Click the STARS on the recipe card or leave a STARRED comment to let us know what you think of the recipe.
This post was originally published on May 11, 2012. It has been updated for content and clarity.
Demetria Elms
This is a great article! Thanks for posting because I’ve been wanting to give bread baking a try. However, as I read the article with my 6yo boy over my shoulder, he commented that we shouldn’t make bread in the toilet. Ah, sigh, he’s never seen a bread machine before and now I’m concerned that he may not eat from one if we had it! j/k, but I thought you might laugh along. 🙂
Jessica
@Demetria Elms, THAT is hilarious! I never would have thought it would get mistaken for a toilet! {snort}
Chelsea Martin
We love the Artisan in 5. Sometimes I have trouble with my loaf puffing up enough. We use our left over bread or ends to make croutons and breadcrumbs for other dishes. It beats the store bought stuff hands down!
Anne @ Quick and Easy Cheap and Healthy
I love the artisan bread. I usually make it into some kind of flatbread though rather than loaves, because I’m not great at those, lol.
Jessica
@Anne @ Quick and Easy Cheap and Healthy, I love the pizzas and making the olive oil bread into rolls.
Melinda P
I used to bake my own bread (usually 100% whole wheat) all the time. I was pretty darn good at it too, and pretty much was in love with my bread machine (just to make the dough, then bake in the oven). Then something happened and I haven’t made bread other than a few quick breads in almost a year. I have the book Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day (the follow up book using more whole wheat, etc), but I’m not sure about the size of the container to keep it in, so I’ve never tried it. Space is at a premium in our refrigerator.
Donna
Love love love Artisan in 5 bread. What a money saver and great addition to my arsenal! I recommend buying the book and trying a bunch of the recipes in there. I have the Artisan in 5 and the Healthy Bread in 5…the sandwich bread in Healthy in 5 is terrific. My kids like it. Teach your kids how to mix it up and bake it!!
Charlie
Hi Jessica!!
Can you post the recipe that you double for the artisan bread? Any other recipes for a family of 8 would be appreciated!
Jessica
@Charlie, the recipe is in the book, Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day.
Jen D.
@Jessica, If you look up Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day on Amazon.com they have a video you can watch to get their basic recipe.
barb
@Charlie, king arthur has no-knead artisan bread recipe, super easy, dough lasts over 1 week in fridge.
Shannon
I second the comment about King Arthur Flour’s website. There is a lot of good, well-written information about baking. I have learned quite a bit just from reading the comments from their blog.
I have looked at the recipe for the Artisan bread but it seemed like the container you needed to store the dough in was so large and would take quite a bit of space in the refrigerator. Any comments on this? Jessica, what type of container is in your photo as it look smaller that I thought you would need.
Jessica
@Shannon, I make a double batch of their dough and the container takes up about half of one refrigerator shelf. It’s a little bulky, but I am learning to adjust.
Donna
@Shannon,
I make the artisan in 5 and I found a tall, higher rubbermaid container that works perfect for one batch. i like it because it takes up less “shelf” space because it’s tall. I can put it into the milk slot on the door or on the larger milk/drink shelf in the fridge without it taking up too much space.
Gina S.
Does anyone have a recipe for double Fiber bread? We’ve been buying the Oroweat kind but it’s so expensive. We have diabetes in the family so I try to get bread that has a lot of fiber like 5+ grams per slice.
Katie
I’m glad you tried the artisan bread in five minutes again. I’m no expert in French baking, but I did spend a couple years in Germany and Italy, and being able to easily and inexpensively bake a decent bread is so nice! Being able to store it in the refrigerator to develop flavor is great, too. The only drawback is the heat in our hot inland summers!
Misty
Great tips here! I too have issues with the shape of bread in a bread maker, but I like you suggestion. And I’m loving the $0.25 / loaf idea! Linked up to this on facebook. Thanks!
Jessica
@Misty, thanks for sharing the love!
Stacy
I’d like to start making bread too, but it has been such a failure so far, that it’s uninspiring. To be honest, I don’t enjoy the process, but I feel that I should get over it. I live up at high altitude, and I think some of the problems are due to that but after many searches online, I’ve not found a satisfactory solution. I just need to get more educated, I think.
Jessica
@Stacy, I don’t love the process, either, but the artisan bread has been making it easier.
little bit
I plan on trying this out this week… I’ll be making your Applesauce Walnut bread for snacks, and then some crusty artisan bread for later on in the week. thanks for posting this tip to remind me!
Jessica
I’d love to hear how it goes for you.
Char Haas
not to mention that baking at home takes the corn syrup out of your bread.
And that reminds me- I need to get a couple of loaves started.
Candy J.
Oh, and if you ever read what some of the store bought bread has in it – ICK!
Jessica
@Char Haas, the custom ingredient bit is a selling point, for sure. A lot of bread also has soy in it, something I’m trying to avoid.
Tiffany @ DontWastetheCrumbs
Argh, I need to bake my own bread. I’ve been lazy… I have a mixer but no bread machine and the ONE time I tried making bread, it flopped. I just need to SIT DOWN and actually try again!
Carol
I love, love, LOVE, L-O-V-E this blog!!!!!!!!!! So very well done.
I posted it on the Dave Ramsey Fans SparkPeople team, and on my SparkPeople blog.
Jessica
@Carol, thanks for sharing the love!
J
Your bread looks really nice. What is the pan that you have your french bread dough on? I have never seen one. Where can I get one?
Jessica
That is a baguette pan. I think I bought it at Williams-Sonoma, but I think you can order them on Amazon, too.
Lisa
For the past couple of months, I’ve been baking at least one loaf of honey wheat sandwich bread using the bread machine (on dough setting, then shaped and put in a loaf pan). I usually try to do something else as well, since one loaf doesn’t really last a week with 5 of us using it for lunches. Your pita bread recipe is a favorite, but I’ve also done some hot cross buns and cinnamon-raisin bread. But now we are spoiled… when we pick up a pack of rolls or other packaged bread product at the store because of lack of time/planning, they taste so bland!
Diane
Can I just make regular bread or pizza dough and keep it in the refrigerator to use during the week? If so, when do I take it out to let it rise etc… and how long would it keep in the refrigerator?
Jessica
@Diane, I am not sure how long it would be good. I know a day ahead is fine. I know Trader Joe’s sells dough in their refrigerated case, but I’ve never bought it.
Stacy
@Jessica, If you’re talking about the pizza/foccaccia/bread stick dough, it does last for awhile. Maybe a week or more.
Hillary
I do make my own bread and pizza dough. BUT, I agree that my bred comes out in super small batches if I make it in the bread machine. I also have a devil of a time getting it to rise correctly. It will rise once, I knead it, then set it in a warm oven to rise a second time—nothing. So we get flat-ish, dense bread.
I checked my yeast—fine. Using normal bread flour. I put it in a warm oven preheated to 300 for a minute.
UGH
I’d like to try adding more wheat, healthier fiber into the bread but it makes it SO dense.
Jessica
You might want to get some bread books from the library. The front matter of cookbooks is usually full of information about how to make great loaves. My editor says people rarely read that section of the book. But, I love them for learning.
Lisa
@Hillary, Having had a bit of practice recently, one thing I’ve noticed is that I have to be very diligent to not leave the dough rising too long on that first rise. If I pull it out of the machine and shape it within minutes of it ‘pinging’, I get the best results. Any time I’ve left it there long enough to sink a bit on the top, I get a poor second rise and wind up with a small dense loaf. Also, your oven might be getting too warm, even if you just have it on for a minute. Stick your hand in and it should only feel warm, not hot. And finally, even though the machine will warm the ingredients, I get better results when I put slightly warm water in the pan rather than cold! Hope some of this helps.
LizA
Baking really is a science. There’s a product called “vital glutin” that you can add to lessen the density of your bread. I know King Arthur Flour has a terrific mail order company for all their products — and more — online, and a super helpful forum for learning all things about baking as well. They have a traveling road show that teaches different aspects of baking, so you can check their schedule for that online, too. I’ve gone — it was free and absolutely the most fun you’ll have in an afternoon.
Peggy
@LizA, I routinely use at least 4 teaspoons of vital wheat gluten in every loaf I bake. Some recipes call for more. I purchase mine in five-pound bags from our local vegetarian grocery….it’s cheaper there.
Stacy
@Hillary, I’ve only tried maybe 10 times to make bread, with and without the breadmaker. However, my brother-in-law is really into it and has experimented a lot. He says that if you use “vital wheat gluten” it makes the bread a lot softer and lighter. My husband was into bread making for awhile, and a woman at the health food store told him the same thing. So I can’t say it from experience, but I’ve heard that more than once. Obviously it’s not a good choice for anyone worried about gluten, but neither is the bread itself.
Kelly
You can also bake the bread after it has risen the first time. Not being conniseurs we dodn’t notice the difference.
Dayna
I have been interested in breadmaking for a while, but I am a little scared of it. I have started making my own pizza dough and rolls and my own bisquick. Love them! I would love to learn to make loaves. I don’t have a bread machine. What is the expense of getting one along with the other accessories you might need for breakmaking (pans, etc)?
Jessica
I have the cheapest model bread machine, they run between $35 and $50. A few pans wouldn’t be much more. I use Pyrex most of the time.
Tiffany C.
@Jessica,
I found my bread machine at Goodwill for $8!
Candy J.
I love the bread machine for making dough. We recently lost the bread machine paddle, I think it was accidentally thrown away, and we found another complete bread machine for 5.oo at a thrift store! Bread pans for baking are fairly inexpensive too!
Jessica
@Candy J., we have done that before, lost the paddle, or let it get sucked into the garbage disposal. Many online appliance stores sell replacements. That’s how we remedied it, but thrift store is a great place to check, too. So many people don’t know how to use their bread machines.