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?
I bought an old bread machine from a thrift store for $15. Took a little bit, but I found it’s original manual online and it had a bunch of recipes in there. We usually use the basic white bread recipe in a 2 pound loaf (matches the programs it has). Recipe is as follows:
1.25 cups +2tbsp of hot water
3tbsp sugar
3tbsp oil
1.5tsp salt
4 cups bread flour (I use all purpose and it works fine)
4tsp yeast
The program mixes the bread for about 5-10 minutes, then bake for a little under an hour. So in about an hour and pennies worth of ingredients, we have a homemade loaf of bread. The only issue I have is storing it and keeping it away from the air. The stuff gets stale pretty quick. That’s when I make French Toast. Good luck with your search.
For making a bread that doesn’t go stale, there’s a trick of mixing about 40% of the flour with a bit of water, heating it on a stove until it turns into a coagulated paste and then chilling it before mixing it back into the dough. That’s how I make a brioche type yeast bread, but it should be possible to do for regular bread too.
I second the “check a thrift store” idea. People buy them, use them 3 times, then eventually donate them so you’ll likely find several barely used models.