Hey, c/frugal, I was reading through this little post, (https://lazysoci.al/post/23833029) when a comment about baking bread reminded me of something I had heard back on reddit: that apparently baking bread is a great way to be frugal. <br> I haven’t had bread for a while, and would love to engage with the bread-eating community again, and so I wish to ask your favorite frugal bread recipes! From loaves to naan, I would love your input :) <br> P.S. I would also love to ask what you all think of breadmakers, are they a good frugal buy?
Here’s a 4 ingredient Artisan loaf recipe that is foolproof:
Less than $1.75 cad with ‘regular priced’ groceries. If you buy bulk, etc, the cost drops below $1.40.
I have been doing this for years. The recipe you linked is too much work for me, I usually just finish the dough in the same bowl, less clean up.
I use a canadian “all-purpose” unbleached flour, water, salt, and instant yeast, and vary additives based on the kind of loaf. For sandwich bread I add rolled oats and red river cereal and a bit of dairy (for crust softener) and bake in a loaf pan at lower temperature than the dutch oven for a boule.
Tonight is an extra dough for pizza too, so that dough will be just white flour but not as “slack” (wet), and I will turn it out onto a pastry board for shaping.
I like like the pizza bread recipe by @Aragusea@youtube.com. I use it as a pizza dough as well as focaccia dough. I find it good to use after 3 days in the fridge and up to 5 days where as Adam Ragusea wait for a week. But it is easy to make. I cook it in on a sheetpan with no need of specific equipment and it can be store quite long for a fresh bread dough, neatly packed in the fridge.
I once did some math just before starting to make my own “bread”. I learned it’s about 3-4 times cheaper to make it myself (and to get much more at the same time).
So, after maybe fifteen years I retried making it myself. It’s a chore, yes, but the fruits are a little bit more rewarding than how awful the tedious work feels like 😅
(of course, if you can buy old bread which date is past the best before, you can go cheap without making food yerself).
My wife bakes two loafes of sourdough bread every Weekend, without a breadmaker or anything Its always great, even when its “bad” its still way better than any storebought bread
