Stop Buying Bread.
It’s only flour + water. Easy stuff.
I’ve been making my own bread for years. Not only do I save money by making it myself, the bread I make is 100x better AND fresher than the crap they sell at the store or farmers market.
The Recipe:
- 3 cups of flour
- 1 and 1/2 cups of water
- 1 teaspoon of salt (optional)
- 1/4 teaspoon of yeast
TIME: 3-4 hours for rush bread, or 24 hours for maximum awesomeness.
I use this all purpose flour from Trader Joes. And this type of dry yeast you can pick up at most supermarkets.
Salt is only 99cents at the 99cent store. Cheap!
The Cost:
| INGREDIENT | COST | BREAKDOWN | RECIPE CALLS FOR | COST 1 LOAF |
| Flour 5LB bag (16.5 cups) | $2.99 | 18.1 cents per cup | 3 cups | 54.3 cents |
| Salt 1LB (80 x tspns) | $0.99 | 1.2 cents per tspn | 1 tspn | 1.2 cents |
| Yeast 4OZ (40 tspns) | $4.58 | 2.8 cents per 1/4 tspn | 1/4 tspn | 2.8 cents |
| Water (tap water) | $0.00 | 0 cost – tap water | 1.5 cups | 0.0 cents |
| TOTAL | 58.3 cents |
TOTAL = 58.3 cents per loaf
How To Make:
1. Put all dry ingredients into a bowl. Mix it up with hand.
2. Add the water. For fast bread, add hot water. Slow bread can be cold or warm water.
3. Mix it up for 15-20 seconds only, should look “shaggy” like this:
4. Cover it up and leave it for 18 hours. Its OK if it sits longer, and totally fine if you cut it short a few hours.
5. Should look like this in 18 hours:
6. Pour/scrape dough onto a floured surface. Put a bit of flour on top.
7. Fold it in half a couple times, should look like this:
8. Put it in a proofing bowl, or in a tea towel with some flour on it.
OR:
9. Let this sit for another 1 – 3 hours.
10. Pre-heat oven to 475 degrees. This can take a long time depending on your oven. BE SURE TO pre-heat WITH the cast iron pot+lid in it already.
11. Put the dough in. Cover it with lid. Bake for 15 minutes with LID ON.
12. Take LID OFF, continue to bake for another 15 minutes until your bread looks like this:
12. Remove and put on cooling rack. Don’t freak out if you cook for a few mins longer or shorter. The bread will be fine.
13. ENJOY 🙂
I found this 7 minute cool video to make the short 3-4 hour version. Maybe I should have just posted this video at the start instead of writing all this out!
Now, stop buying expensive artisan bread! (Except from my stall at the farmers market, whenever I get around to opening one 🙂 )
Cheers!
I still keep meaning to make bread so you’ve re-inspired me! Yum! Have you tried other kinds of breaks like olive or rosemary?
Awesome! Yes, I add all kinds of stuff. Rosemary is good – chop a little and add at the very beginning mix. Italian seasoning – add at the beginning also. For sunflower seeds, oatmeal, granola and stuff I usually add it in the ‘fold’ phase.
But, TBH the best tasting bread that my friends like the most is just the basic flour/water recipe. Weird!
My mom has been making bread, as well as Mrs. Adventure Rich has been posting about her homemade bread and now I am now very jealous cause it all looks amazing. I already have the pot to make it in, just got to make it happen. I suggest you bring some of this deliciousness to our next meet up!
When I first started reading frugal posts there were a lot of people writing about baking bread. I was really skeptical… and then we tried it. It’s not hard, and it’s so good! Sometimes we buy a loaf if we’re short on time. The crazy thing? Store bought bread was moldy in 3 days. Ours only gets dry, it has yet to go bad.
Awesome. Home made bread also makes a good gift, if you plan ahead. I too buy some bread for hamburgers and sometimes a cheap toast. Sometimes I’ll freeze it if it’s going to go bad. I know what you mean.
Thanks for reading!
Made this over the weekend and it turned out great! I’d like to try it with some different mix ins as well. Thanks for sharing, this is a keeper!
Hey Morgan, I like to add sunflower seeds (maybe 1/2 cup) or sometimes I add a sachet of instant oatmeal at the beginning of the recipe. Just be careful, if you add anything with dry oats you might need to add a tiny bit more water also because the oats suck up a lot of water during the rise. Good luck! Shoot me an email if you have any questions.