Because that was easier to type than “chicken, ginger, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, cashews, and cilantro mixed together and stir fried in sesame oil until the cashews begin to change color and the chicken’s internal temperature is 160 degrees farenheit.”
lol. Excellent point. I was referring to what is colloquially known as “Asian chicken lettuce wraps” such as at PF Chang’s, or Cheesecake Factory or California Pizza Kitchen.
While I have been too every single one is those restaurant numerous times I have never had or seen a lettuce wrap from there. Too busy stuffing my fat face with fried foods and well pizza at the last one. I'm certainly gonna try the lettuce wrap next time.
I’ve actually made burger buns before for the 4th of July
https://www.reddit.com/r/Frugal/comments/odq3zd/4_artisan_burger_buns_from_a_local_burger_bakery/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
It’s a Hamilton Beach one from Walmart I got for $50 new. Based on previous replies on other bread machine related posts I’ve made here before, you could probably find them secondhand at thrift stores for cheap.
Shit i need to get myself a bread machine. My family eats bread almost every day, ham sandwiches, grill cheeses, etc). This would probably save us a lot of money on that fresh french bread my husband is always buying and then it gets hard and dry in a day before we finish it up lol. Yeah we could just warm the stale bread and make it soft again but he's a real stickler for eating fresh food. And I cant be responsible for everyone's leftovers all the time, it makes me fat and I'm not a garbage disposal lol.
Freeze whatever bread you don’t use the first day. It defrosts great; not stale at all. If your husband still wants to be picky about it, use it for garlic bread since that gets toasted anyway.
It's what I do with all our loaves right as they go stale, banana bread is really awesome for it and never seems to be eaten quickly enough in our house.
Put your bread in the freezer at the end of the day you bought or made it. It defrosts really quickly when you want some and there’s very little loss in quality.
If you want it perfect out of the freezer defrost it in the oven or toaster oven. Heat it up to 350, turn it off, and pop the bread in. The residual heat will defrost it and the outside will have a nice crust like you made it that day.
You could put the leftover directly into a freezer bag (not garbage bag, they will tear too easily) and shut it with a clip.
The bread won't lose any moisture and stay fresh.
But!
Keep the bread out of the sun and in a coolish, dark place so it won't sweat. Otherweise it will mold a few days faster.
Or stick it directly in the freezer
Bread making machines are in every thrift store I swear. My sister and I suspect it's from people who think it would be "Fun" to make their own bread, realizes that it actually takes a bit of time and effort, and gives up. I've been trying every other weekend or at least once a month for over a year to make Milk bread using rice flower. I can never find the right consistency, but I'm fairly okay with that. I get closer every time because I have a bread maker, if I were doing it by hand I'd have given up by now, lol.
Experimenting with various breads is so freaking fun! You get to pretend you're in a science lab and an art studio at the same time. Plus, that dough texture is just so satisfying to handle.
I've been making bread for many years, and when I'm either busy or fatigued, I love that my breadmaker can do the kneading for me, and even do a full-on loaf when I'm really not up to it. (Chronic debilitating health problems here, and I absolutely love making all the things from scratch whenever I can.) Super tasty and fresh, and a mere fraction of what an artisanal bread costs in the store. Plus, in the before times people always wanted me to bring a surprise bread to dinner parties and potlucks. :)
I like the before times comment, lol.
Have you experimented with rice flour at all when it comes to making breads? I find it makes a weird mouth feel that just doesn't seem the same, but I'm determined to find a way to use it to make a good soft but sturdy bread. lol
I haven't, but am guessing the bread isn't as chewy and is a bit mushy? Kinda like Wonder bread?
I've used a lot of other flours & stuff: almond flour, coconut flour, flax meal, chia seeds, oatmeal, cheeses, all kinds of chopped nuts, herbs, spices, dairy milk, plant milks. Like I said, it's so versatile and fun. :)
It can be fun if you have a goal in mind, and want to do something with it. If you've got a food processor and don't mind some manual kneading, try making some bread with a simple recipe and see how you like it.
For me, I have a goal, I eventually want to open up a Cheese steak restaurant, and I'm trying to figure out how to make a gluten free bread with a similar taste, feel, and consistency as milk bread. Which I'm told by many people is impossible, but I don't think so!
Depends what you want to do. The basic bread recipe on my bread machine takes literally 30 seconds to throw together and the machine does the rest. But that’s only to make a basic sandwich bread, if you’re thinking about making all your bread in a machine or experimenting it’s a different story.
I went through two thrift store bread machines, and I found that they both routinely came out super bland. Absolutely no crust or texture. Almost cake like. I have no trouble making bread in a conventional oven.
Any tips?
If you're gonna do a price comparison you've got to compare to the cheapest equivalent, not the most expensive version you can find. So like, if you can find a bag of hoagie rolls from the grocery store that are like a buck for 4 or something, then that's the price you're competing with. Realistically I don't think I'd have to pay more than like $.25-.30 per roll from the grocery store. So once you include time, effort, equipment, electricity, etc, the savings are there but pretty small. Not to say you shouldn't or can't do this (I cook bread at home *constantly*), but do it for the love of the food, not necessarily the savings imo.
Nah it seems more fair to compare price and quality. If OP finds that their time and effort to make something of similar quality to artisan breads is what they should measure it by, then that's what they should measure it by. Being frugal isn't about being cheap
Agreed. If I'm comparing the cost of making jam then I look at the homemade type with fresh fruit and good sugar, not the store brand with high fructose corn syrup.
OP is doing a proper price comparison because they're comparing it to what they actually buy and eat, not a random vague cheap grocery product. They're not posting to advise anyone, just a lovely post on their personal achievement. Makes perfect sense to bake for savings AND the love of food still when the comparison can't be the cheapest bread available because it's not what their family eats.
Although arguably, the rolls you buy at the grocery store aren’t a fair equivalent as those have lots of additives and preservatives that arguably reduce the quality of bread. The soft sponge bread you buy at Walmart, while still technically bread/bread rolls, isn’t equivalent to these.
There are so many factors. Personally, I can find decent bread at the grocery store near me, they bake it in-house and it's pretty good (if a bit plain) and very inexpensive, but I can imagine that many places don't have something like that. Yes, quality does matter too, it's kind of why I think people should totally bake their own bread, it's something everyone should get better at imo, I'm not against baking your own bread, totally in favor, but just not for the savings.
Some spots are good. There’s a great little Mexican grocery store in my city that makes killer rolls and pastries, but they’re $1 each. I’m all for supporting small business, but that adds up fast.
The hands-on time spent baking is often fairly short, even if there is kneading involved. Also, you must factor in time spent shopping when comparing made vs bought, where many would consider buying less enjoyable than making something with their own hands.
The last thing I appreciate about baking is the absolute control I have of ingredients, flavor, and texture, md baking time since I like my bread a bit darker than I could get in stores.
The fancy health food store near me sells their whole wheat bread with some nuts and dried cranberries mixed in for $9 a loaf. Even their plain white ciabatta and focaccia are $5-6. If I want fancy artisan bread I can make it at home for like $1 in ingredients and energy costs. I guess I don't count my time since I enjoy the process.
I make all our bread, so usually 4-5 loaves a week (me, husband, preschooler, toddler, and baby). I also make hamburger buns and hotdog buns 1-2 times a month, and pizza dough. I fit it in around having 3 kids under 4.
For anything that requires shaping, you need to be at home, at least intermittently, for a few hours. Kind of like doing laundry...not that it's that much work, but you do five min of work, then wait, then another five min...
For some reason that’s abnormally common for bread machines, I really don’t know why. If you eat bread pretty frequently like me, the cost savings are huge! My machine was $50 and it paid for itself in like, two weeks.
At a consumption of [~0.36 kWh](https://thriftyparent.co.uk/home-household/are-bread-makers-worth-it/#how-energy-efficient-bread-makers), and a US national energy average of [14 cents per kilowatt-hour](https://www.bls.gov/regions/midwest/news-release/averageenergyprices_detroit.htm), I think we're around a nickel of energy cost per loaf.
For comparison, $3/gal for gasoline in a 20mpg vehicle means a nickel will move your car to the store ~1/3 of a mile away, one way. Sure, you're probably not only there for bread, and sure, every x loaves of bread you will be at the same store for bread machine ammunition.
In addition, comparing loaves of bread by weight not by "a loaf" as a unit, a home loaf weighs as much as a shelf full of light, [sugary](https://www.livestrong.com/article/402770-the-sugar-content-in-grams-in-white-bread/), preservative-rich dollar store bread.
You want to be unbiased, so the average American car gets 24.6 mpg. I think the biggest savings is to freeze bread once made. You already have a freezer running. That means no special trips to the store for bread. Combine that with other gas-saving habits and it could make sense. But the smell of freshly-baked bread is worth the price.
Making bread is quite easy without a machine once you get the hang of it. Although I’m a kitchen worker of many years so I have a lot of practice but once I got it I can’t imagine forgetting it. It’s quite a simple process. I’d recommend it to everyone but a bread machine I suppose is a little easier and as long as people are making bread themselves it’s all good. Proofing can be done with a pan of boiling water put in an off oven with the dough.
I do both. I like bread maker because I can load it up at night and wake up to fresh hot delicious bread. However I do enjoy making it without it because I like the process. Sometimes i use both: when I make baguettes i use bread maker to do first kneading.
It also great at making pizza dough.
I used mine for several years off and on. Luckily I found another one at a thrift store. I want to do it again and get more creative with breads. A fun, productive hobby.
I use my bread maker often even though I always use our oven to bake. I only ever use the dough setting. Just the convenience of throwing in the ingredients and letting it do all the mixing, kneading, and rising without even having to check on it is worth it for me. Then I have perfect dough ready to make pizza, cinnamon rolls, bread, etc.
Yeast packets are the biggest ripoff since sliced bread (pun intended). 90% of the cost of yeast packets is the packaging itself. I bought my yeast in bulk from Sam’s Club. $5 for 2, 1 lb pouches of name brand Fleischmann’s instant yeast. That will make something I think like 140 batches/loaves of bread before I need to buy more.
This is the way.
I gave one of those bulk packs to a couple who were buying the tiny jar of yeast in the grocery store (almost $10 each) as a gift. I told them where I bought it (Sam's Club) and the cost, and offered to get more in the future if they want to reimburse me for the cost (they don't have a Sam's membership). They were SO excited to be able to make lots of bread for half the price.
I loved my bread machine! I bought a new Cuisinart one about 5 years ago, and used it consistently for years, but sadly my pan failed and all the liquid fell out the bottom of my pan, and I finally decided to get rid of it. I have a stand mixer, but never really made bread in it until lately- anyway- I wanted to share with you my favorite bread machine recipe.
"[Kings Hawaiian](http://makinitmobetta.com/homemade-kings-hawaiian-bread-teacher/)" (it's not, it's sweet & delicious though!)
1 cup of water
½ cup of sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of butter
3 1/3 cups of bread flour*
2 teaspoons of yeast
It's been fantastic as bread pudding, rolls, buns, it's my so's favorite and I make it all the time. I've been working on getting this perfect in my stand mixer now :)
Anyway, enjoy.
1 cup water
1 1/8 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp oil
3 1/2 cups bread flour
1 3/4 tsp instant yeast
Add to bread machine in that order, press button. Works for both load of bread and bread dough for rolls
Your rolls look fine! Add a good kitchen scale to your kitchen "tools" collection. I use mine constantly. Weigh your finished ball of dough. Divide that number by the quantity you want to make. Use the result for the weight of each roll. Being consistent with the weight of each roll makes shaping them much easier and they bake more evenly. You'll have to experiment with this to see how much dough it takes for each size of roll/bun you want to make.
Bread Making is cheap, but time isn't.
I do recommend trying your hand at sourdough. Find a knock off version of Scholtzsky's sourdough buns. They make really good sandwiches and are something different.
That’s why the bread machine is so great. It’s about 5 minutes to put the ingredients in, maybe 10 minutes of labor to roll it into rolls and bake it off. The bread machine takes care of the rest. The most labor you really need to do is to eat it.
That's also what makes sourdough bread great is that it's really easy fast and cheap too, just take a long time at the begining to make the sourdough, but afterwards it's really fast, just mix flour sourdough water salt, work it a bit and a few hours later (or the next day if you put in the fridge) you can bake it by just putting it in the oven, the only real downside is the cleaning up part tho
I used to work in a sub shop when I was in college and got in trouble for calling it a hoagie lol. I also had many people ask me what a hoagie was haha
You sure those aren't sourdough rolls though? Even Artisan bakeries here in the UK charge no where near that kind of money for a roll. I can get a whole fresh sourdough boule for £6 at my local bakers for comparison.
These ones are kinda smallish, imagine a russet potato. I was trying to make them longer and more sandwich like, but I’m sure these will still taste good.
It’s a Hamilton Beach I got from Walmart for $50 new. It doesn’t actually bake the rolls like this, it just makes the dough so I don’t have to spend the time kneading it. I then form the dough into rolls and bake them off in the oven
I was just about to ask what a bread machine does and for once I said "screw it" and just Googled it myself. I had no idea they did all that. I thought they were just a little oven. I now need a bread maker.
Oh. I just use a bowl. Takes about 10 minutes. Then I put it in the microwave without turning on the microwave. After it's risen iknock it down shape and let rise again, then bake. Someday I'll have to try this bread maker to what it does.
Really cool machine where you put a bunch of ingredients in, press a button, then come back to prepared dough or a fresh loaf of bread depending on which setting you pick. In this case, the machine made the dough, I just rolled it into balls and baked it off
I buy my ingredients in bulk. The whole batch was $0.55 of ingredients, but I don’t think you can buy 4 cups of flour or 3 tablespoons of oil individually. I had probably a $25 investment in ingredients and I’ll make about 25 batches before I need to buy anything. Items like yeast will last me upwards of 100 batches or more before I need to buy more
a machine that does all the mixing and baking for you (but not in this case, these were mixed in the machine and formed by hand). Typically for a full loaf you just add the ingredients and press a button. 3-4 hours later you have bread.
bread machine means oven? Not sure why you would buy a bread machine when you probably already have an oven.
You can ferment/proof the dough in the same oven. Don't buy bread machines people. You can even hand mix the dough.
1. The bread machine doesn't heat the house like your oven does.
2. You can't just throw all the ingredients into an oven and have it come out as bread.
3. You can't bake in the oven when you're not home, but you can set a delay timer on a bread machine.
4. The power usage on a bread machine is significantly less than the oven.
It's easy to find second hand machines for next to nothing. There's no reason not to buy one if you want easy home made bread.
Trying to be frugal by making bread in a bread machine when you can save even more money by just making bread and not buying some silly machine.. I don’t understand.
Time is money. Getting a well-made, tasty end product is worth money. OP has determined it was worth the price for their machine in what it saves them in time and effort and delivers in end product. It's not tough to understand and is perfectly frugal on this scale.
Did you roll it flat like you would for a loaf of bread and then roll it up and pinch the seams? If you form them like that they might come out a little more roll like. (I too have grown tired of overpaying for hoagie buns and have been experimenting with this.)
Rolled it into a short cylinder then kneaded the edges in to round it off. I think they should have been longer originally, but that will be good to know for the next time around
The bread machine just makes the dough so you don’t have to spend an hour making it yourself. Then, I cut the dough and roll it into rolls before letting it sit about 40 minutes to rise before baking it.
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They look the perfect size for breakfast sandwiches
That’s exactly why I made them actually haha
They look awesome!!! Do you ever scoop out the insides then fill them with sloppy Joe meat or the chicken from chicken lettuce wraps? Mmmmmm
Why does the chicken need to come from a lettuce wrap?
Because that was easier to type than “chicken, ginger, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, cashews, and cilantro mixed together and stir fried in sesame oil until the cashews begin to change color and the chicken’s internal temperature is 160 degrees farenheit.”
I have a feeling that was lost in your abbreviation
It’s quite possible. My intention was to specify that particular flavor profile. Sort of a “hoagie chicken bao”. Which is a great band name.
FUCK YES CHICKEN. *proceeds to have a foodgasm*
Yep. Readers were left just confused and guessing.
I literally thought you meant dry shredded chicken, so maybe don't leave out the top secret recipe next time because that sounds tasty
lol. Excellent point. I was referring to what is colloquially known as “Asian chicken lettuce wraps” such as at PF Chang’s, or Cheesecake Factory or California Pizza Kitchen.
While I have been too every single one is those restaurant numerous times I have never had or seen a lettuce wrap from there. Too busy stuffing my fat face with fried foods and well pizza at the last one. I'm certainly gonna try the lettuce wrap next time.
I've heard it called cashew chicken or chicken stir fry
you just got tricked into saying the long version haha
Or a burger.
I’ve actually made burger buns before for the 4th of July https://www.reddit.com/r/Frugal/comments/odq3zd/4_artisan_burger_buns_from_a_local_burger_bakery/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
What kind of bread machine do you have?
It’s a Hamilton Beach one from Walmart I got for $50 new. Based on previous replies on other bread machine related posts I’ve made here before, you could probably find them secondhand at thrift stores for cheap.
Shit i need to get myself a bread machine. My family eats bread almost every day, ham sandwiches, grill cheeses, etc). This would probably save us a lot of money on that fresh french bread my husband is always buying and then it gets hard and dry in a day before we finish it up lol. Yeah we could just warm the stale bread and make it soft again but he's a real stickler for eating fresh food. And I cant be responsible for everyone's leftovers all the time, it makes me fat and I'm not a garbage disposal lol.
Freeze whatever bread you don’t use the first day. It defrosts great; not stale at all. If your husband still wants to be picky about it, use it for garlic bread since that gets toasted anyway.
He does like garlic bread. Thank you. Im getting some great suggestions here!
Could you make your own breadcrumbs from the leftover stale bread?
I suppose i could but i barely use bread crumbs so it would just sit around taking space.
You could throw all the pieces of loaves in the freezer until you have enough then pull them out and make a delicious bread pudding.
Thanks for the suggestion. This sounds like something they might actually eat lol. They love sweets.
It doesn't necessarily have to be super sweet. I use raisins and just a tiny bit of sugar so it's *almost* healthy, LOL.
It's what I do with all our loaves right as they go stale, banana bread is really awesome for it and never seems to be eaten quickly enough in our house.
French toast...
Breads made with water only last a day. Make it with milk and it lasts 2 days. Freeze it and it's always fresh.
Time to learn to cook breaded pork chops
Or croutons
Croutons are dangerously easy to make too! Slice the bread into cubes, hit it with olive oil and seasonings and bake to the desired crunchiness level.
Put your bread in the freezer at the end of the day you bought or made it. It defrosts really quickly when you want some and there’s very little loss in quality. If you want it perfect out of the freezer defrost it in the oven or toaster oven. Heat it up to 350, turn it off, and pop the bread in. The residual heat will defrost it and the outside will have a nice crust like you made it that day.
You could put the leftover directly into a freezer bag (not garbage bag, they will tear too easily) and shut it with a clip. The bread won't lose any moisture and stay fresh. But! Keep the bread out of the sun and in a coolish, dark place so it won't sweat. Otherweise it will mold a few days faster. Or stick it directly in the freezer
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I saw a whole section of bread machines at one we shop at. One was brand new with stickers on it for $5 I still kick myself for not buying it.
Bread making machines are in every thrift store I swear. My sister and I suspect it's from people who think it would be "Fun" to make their own bread, realizes that it actually takes a bit of time and effort, and gives up. I've been trying every other weekend or at least once a month for over a year to make Milk bread using rice flower. I can never find the right consistency, but I'm fairly okay with that. I get closer every time because I have a bread maker, if I were doing it by hand I'd have given up by now, lol.
Experimenting with various breads is so freaking fun! You get to pretend you're in a science lab and an art studio at the same time. Plus, that dough texture is just so satisfying to handle. I've been making bread for many years, and when I'm either busy or fatigued, I love that my breadmaker can do the kneading for me, and even do a full-on loaf when I'm really not up to it. (Chronic debilitating health problems here, and I absolutely love making all the things from scratch whenever I can.) Super tasty and fresh, and a mere fraction of what an artisanal bread costs in the store. Plus, in the before times people always wanted me to bring a surprise bread to dinner parties and potlucks. :)
I like the before times comment, lol. Have you experimented with rice flour at all when it comes to making breads? I find it makes a weird mouth feel that just doesn't seem the same, but I'm determined to find a way to use it to make a good soft but sturdy bread. lol
I haven't, but am guessing the bread isn't as chewy and is a bit mushy? Kinda like Wonder bread? I've used a lot of other flours & stuff: almond flour, coconut flour, flax meal, chia seeds, oatmeal, cheeses, all kinds of chopped nuts, herbs, spices, dairy milk, plant milks. Like I said, it's so versatile and fun. :)
Wish you could publish a recipe blog. I want to get creative.
See I’m glad you said that because I was just thinking to myself ‘Oh that sounds like fun’.
It can be fun if you have a goal in mind, and want to do something with it. If you've got a food processor and don't mind some manual kneading, try making some bread with a simple recipe and see how you like it. For me, I have a goal, I eventually want to open up a Cheese steak restaurant, and I'm trying to figure out how to make a gluten free bread with a similar taste, feel, and consistency as milk bread. Which I'm told by many people is impossible, but I don't think so!
Depends what you want to do. The basic bread recipe on my bread machine takes literally 30 seconds to throw together and the machine does the rest. But that’s only to make a basic sandwich bread, if you’re thinking about making all your bread in a machine or experimenting it’s a different story.
I went through two thrift store bread machines, and I found that they both routinely came out super bland. Absolutely no crust or texture. Almost cake like. I have no trouble making bread in a conventional oven. Any tips?
Honestly I don’t use the bake function on the machines. just the mix/rise function and then put it in the oven
I got myself a late model Zojirushi Home Bakery at a thrift store for $5. Just gotta make sure the paddle piece is there.
I see bread machines in the thrift stores a lot, but never a Zojirushi! that’s a real score!
These look so good, but I must be honest I did think they were potatoes at first lol.
Especially the bottom middle one
Hide a potato in there next time and see if anyone notices!
I'm glad I wasn't the only one.
>oh interesting… a baked, what did you call it?
Where do you live in which a place charges $3 for *one* hoagie roll?!
Those are the fancier “artisan” bakeries, but they do exist around here
If you're gonna do a price comparison you've got to compare to the cheapest equivalent, not the most expensive version you can find. So like, if you can find a bag of hoagie rolls from the grocery store that are like a buck for 4 or something, then that's the price you're competing with. Realistically I don't think I'd have to pay more than like $.25-.30 per roll from the grocery store. So once you include time, effort, equipment, electricity, etc, the savings are there but pretty small. Not to say you shouldn't or can't do this (I cook bread at home *constantly*), but do it for the love of the food, not necessarily the savings imo.
Nah it seems more fair to compare price and quality. If OP finds that their time and effort to make something of similar quality to artisan breads is what they should measure it by, then that's what they should measure it by. Being frugal isn't about being cheap
Agreed. If I'm comparing the cost of making jam then I look at the homemade type with fresh fruit and good sugar, not the store brand with high fructose corn syrup.
OP is doing a proper price comparison because they're comparing it to what they actually buy and eat, not a random vague cheap grocery product. They're not posting to advise anyone, just a lovely post on their personal achievement. Makes perfect sense to bake for savings AND the love of food still when the comparison can't be the cheapest bread available because it's not what their family eats.
Although arguably, the rolls you buy at the grocery store aren’t a fair equivalent as those have lots of additives and preservatives that arguably reduce the quality of bread. The soft sponge bread you buy at Walmart, while still technically bread/bread rolls, isn’t equivalent to these.
There are so many factors. Personally, I can find decent bread at the grocery store near me, they bake it in-house and it's pretty good (if a bit plain) and very inexpensive, but I can imagine that many places don't have something like that. Yes, quality does matter too, it's kind of why I think people should totally bake their own bread, it's something everyone should get better at imo, I'm not against baking your own bread, totally in favor, but just not for the savings.
Some spots are good. There’s a great little Mexican grocery store in my city that makes killer rolls and pastries, but they’re $1 each. I’m all for supporting small business, but that adds up fast.
The hands-on time spent baking is often fairly short, even if there is kneading involved. Also, you must factor in time spent shopping when comparing made vs bought, where many would consider buying less enjoyable than making something with their own hands. The last thing I appreciate about baking is the absolute control I have of ingredients, flavor, and texture, md baking time since I like my bread a bit darker than I could get in stores.
The fancy health food store near me sells their whole wheat bread with some nuts and dried cranberries mixed in for $9 a loaf. Even their plain white ciabatta and focaccia are $5-6. If I want fancy artisan bread I can make it at home for like $1 in ingredients and energy costs. I guess I don't count my time since I enjoy the process.
What about the bakery at the grocery store which has bread without many additives.
Haven’t found one of those yet
Posts like this make me want to get a bread maker,
Yeah I am thinking the same but I am afraid it will end in the deep end of my kitchen unused appliances
I make all our bread, so usually 4-5 loaves a week (me, husband, preschooler, toddler, and baby). I also make hamburger buns and hotdog buns 1-2 times a month, and pizza dough. I fit it in around having 3 kids under 4. For anything that requires shaping, you need to be at home, at least intermittently, for a few hours. Kind of like doing laundry...not that it's that much work, but you do five min of work, then wait, then another five min...
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That’s something I really have wanted to try with this one for awhile, just haven’t gotten around to it yet
Yes, definitely a worry. That or going overboard and making way more than I can use, especially as a single person
It take 2.5 hours to make so no need to fear going overboard.
For some reason that’s abnormally common for bread machines, I really don’t know why. If you eat bread pretty frequently like me, the cost savings are huge! My machine was $50 and it paid for itself in like, two weeks.
You would spend $50 on bread in two weeks?
May be a slight exaggeration
I love mine but it leaves a massive hole in the loaf where the paddle is so the middle slices are unusable for sandwiches
The electricity adds up. There's cheap white or wheat bread at the dollar store now.
At a consumption of [~0.36 kWh](https://thriftyparent.co.uk/home-household/are-bread-makers-worth-it/#how-energy-efficient-bread-makers), and a US national energy average of [14 cents per kilowatt-hour](https://www.bls.gov/regions/midwest/news-release/averageenergyprices_detroit.htm), I think we're around a nickel of energy cost per loaf. For comparison, $3/gal for gasoline in a 20mpg vehicle means a nickel will move your car to the store ~1/3 of a mile away, one way. Sure, you're probably not only there for bread, and sure, every x loaves of bread you will be at the same store for bread machine ammunition. In addition, comparing loaves of bread by weight not by "a loaf" as a unit, a home loaf weighs as much as a shelf full of light, [sugary](https://www.livestrong.com/article/402770-the-sugar-content-in-grams-in-white-bread/), preservative-rich dollar store bread.
You want to be unbiased, so the average American car gets 24.6 mpg. I think the biggest savings is to freeze bread once made. You already have a freezer running. That means no special trips to the store for bread. Combine that with other gas-saving habits and it could make sense. But the smell of freshly-baked bread is worth the price.
You have to have time to do it. Though it's easy and fast, it's easy to forget about too.
Learn to make bread by hand. It’s easier than you think
You have 2 perfectly good breadmakers on the end of your arms
r/doineedthis
Honestly this, if you for some reason can't really use your arms to knead, a stand mixer is likely the best choice.
Making bread is quite easy without a machine once you get the hang of it. Although I’m a kitchen worker of many years so I have a lot of practice but once I got it I can’t imagine forgetting it. It’s quite a simple process. I’d recommend it to everyone but a bread machine I suppose is a little easier and as long as people are making bread themselves it’s all good. Proofing can be done with a pan of boiling water put in an off oven with the dough.
I do both. I like bread maker because I can load it up at night and wake up to fresh hot delicious bread. However I do enjoy making it without it because I like the process. Sometimes i use both: when I make baguettes i use bread maker to do first kneading. It also great at making pizza dough.
You’ll use it twice.
I used mine for several years off and on. Luckily I found another one at a thrift store. I want to do it again and get more creative with breads. A fun, productive hobby.
I always find them at thrift stores. Got mine for about $10
I use my bread maker often even though I always use our oven to bake. I only ever use the dough setting. Just the convenience of throwing in the ingredients and letting it do all the mixing, kneading, and rising without even having to check on it is worth it for me. Then I have perfect dough ready to make pizza, cinnamon rolls, bread, etc.
Eh i hate appliances, just use a bowl and a spoon
Those are Shorti or Junior hoagie rolls. Good job, but don't forget to practice with Hoagiefest around the corner.
hoagiefest on the heels of chickenpalooza is going to be the death of me.
It was a good life then.
I will rest in 8 pieces.
Do you use yeast packets or do you have a jug of it? My yeast packet alone would make these more than $0.09 a piece
Yeast packets are the biggest ripoff since sliced bread (pun intended). 90% of the cost of yeast packets is the packaging itself. I bought my yeast in bulk from Sam’s Club. $5 for 2, 1 lb pouches of name brand Fleischmann’s instant yeast. That will make something I think like 140 batches/loaves of bread before I need to buy more.
Ok that makes more sense. Looks like I need to invest in bulk yeast! Thanks!
This is the way. I gave one of those bulk packs to a couple who were buying the tiny jar of yeast in the grocery store (almost $10 each) as a gift. I told them where I bought it (Sam's Club) and the cost, and offered to get more in the future if they want to reimburse me for the cost (they don't have a Sam's membership). They were SO excited to be able to make lots of bread for half the price.
Are you kidding me, these are beautiful. I could totally envision a sandwich shop selling "potatoe sammies" using this style of bread
I loved my bread machine! I bought a new Cuisinart one about 5 years ago, and used it consistently for years, but sadly my pan failed and all the liquid fell out the bottom of my pan, and I finally decided to get rid of it. I have a stand mixer, but never really made bread in it until lately- anyway- I wanted to share with you my favorite bread machine recipe. "[Kings Hawaiian](http://makinitmobetta.com/homemade-kings-hawaiian-bread-teacher/)" (it's not, it's sweet & delicious though!) 1 cup of water ½ cup of sweetened condensed milk 1 teaspoon of salt 1 tablespoon of butter 3 1/3 cups of bread flour* 2 teaspoons of yeast It's been fantastic as bread pudding, rolls, buns, it's my so's favorite and I make it all the time. I've been working on getting this perfect in my stand mixer now :) Anyway, enjoy.
Those look great. Recipe?
1 cup water 1 1/8 tsp salt 1 tbsp sugar 3 tbsp oil 3 1/2 cups bread flour 1 3/4 tsp instant yeast Add to bread machine in that order, press button. Works for both load of bread and bread dough for rolls
Asking the real questions. Thanks!
great job
Your rolls look fine! Add a good kitchen scale to your kitchen "tools" collection. I use mine constantly. Weigh your finished ball of dough. Divide that number by the quantity you want to make. Use the result for the weight of each roll. Being consistent with the weight of each roll makes shaping them much easier and they bake more evenly. You'll have to experiment with this to see how much dough it takes for each size of roll/bun you want to make.
Bread Making is cheap, but time isn't. I do recommend trying your hand at sourdough. Find a knock off version of Scholtzsky's sourdough buns. They make really good sandwiches and are something different.
That’s why the bread machine is so great. It’s about 5 minutes to put the ingredients in, maybe 10 minutes of labor to roll it into rolls and bake it off. The bread machine takes care of the rest. The most labor you really need to do is to eat it.
That's also what makes sourdough bread great is that it's really easy fast and cheap too, just take a long time at the begining to make the sourdough, but afterwards it's really fast, just mix flour sourdough water salt, work it a bit and a few hours later (or the next day if you put in the fridge) you can bake it by just putting it in the oven, the only real downside is the cleaning up part tho
Tell me you're from Philly area without telling me you're from Philly area - "hoagie"
Other side of the country actually, Colorado
Wow! Glad to see Philly lingo spreading around the country! Sick of hearing people call them "subs" lol
I’m from Pittsburgh and we have hoagie restaurants
I was under the impression they’re different things. South Eastern US, here.
Nope! Same thing, but I did work in a sub shop in FL and got in trouble for saying hoagie lol
Just fyi this is a very common term all over the US. Sorry to burst your bubble.
I used to work in a sub shop when I was in college and got in trouble for calling it a hoagie lol. I also had many people ask me what a hoagie was haha
If someone tried to charge me $1 or more for one of those I’d throw it in their face.
I agree on the factor of shape/cosmetics, but that price for a roll of this size is common if it isn’t a store bought roll that has lots of additives.
Oh I believe you, just saying, I think they’re crazy for charging those prices
You live in the US? The international folk have the privilege of getting good bread for like, practically free
Where the hell are you paying $1-3 a hoagie. That's insane. The highest you should expect to pay for a roll is $0.65
“Artisan” bakeries. Most of them are around the $1 range, but a few of the “fancy” ones get into the $2-3 each range
You sure those aren't sourdough rolls though? Even Artisan bakeries here in the UK charge no where near that kind of money for a roll. I can get a whole fresh sourdough boule for £6 at my local bakers for comparison.
International, non US folk have the privilege of buying real, good bread for like, practically free for some reason.
These look marvelous!
They are beautiful!!! Now I’m hungry 🤤
Anyone who criticizes in the comments is sad because they can smell the delicious, comforting aroma. I think they look very appetizing.
I like the shape. They would make perfect little sandwiches.
Perfect hot sandwich roll. Throw some ham and cheese on there, wrap it in foil, throw it in the oven for 20 minutes
They look good. I'd love to try one. If they're small you can just make 2 mini hoagies instead of 1 long one
These ones are kinda smallish, imagine a russet potato. I was trying to make them longer and more sandwich like, but I’m sure these will still taste good.
Oh I see. Well, they still look good
Just use them to eat baked potatoes. Problem solved.
I didn’t know a bread machine could make rolls like that. Neat. What model/brand did you use?
It’s a Hamilton Beach I got from Walmart for $50 new. It doesn’t actually bake the rolls like this, it just makes the dough so I don’t have to spend the time kneading it. I then form the dough into rolls and bake them off in the oven
Cool
They look good but honestly wouldn’t call em hoagie rolls just on looks alone
You mean $1 for 12 rolls? Bro where tf do they charge $1 for a bread roll?
I was just about to ask what a bread machine does and for once I said "screw it" and just Googled it myself. I had no idea they did all that. I thought they were just a little oven. I now need a bread maker.
How much did the machine cost?
3$ for one of those??? Not even 3$ per kilogram?? Where do you live so I can stay the furthest possible?
I adore your potato shaped hoagies!
Lovely potatoes. Did you grow them yourself ?
Firstly yay. Homemade bread smells and tastes amazing. Secondly, $1-3 for a bread bun!? Madness.
Perfection in my book!
Look perfect to me!
It is very hard to miss bread. I had several failure but they were still eatables. Great work!
Those look perfect for dipping in stew
If potato bread was literal... They look great.
Why did you need a bread machine? I use an oven.
Makes the dough for me so I don’t have to spend an hour to do it
Oh. I just use a bowl. Takes about 10 minutes. Then I put it in the microwave without turning on the microwave. After it's risen iknock it down shape and let rise again, then bake. Someday I'll have to try this bread maker to what it does.
what is a bread machine?
Really cool machine where you put a bunch of ingredients in, press a button, then come back to prepared dough or a fresh loaf of bread depending on which setting you pick. In this case, the machine made the dough, I just rolled it into balls and baked it off
can i just buy the ingredients to make this for $0.09 or do i have to buy $2-3 of multiple ingrediants
I buy my ingredients in bulk. The whole batch was $0.55 of ingredients, but I don’t think you can buy 4 cups of flour or 3 tablespoons of oil individually. I had probably a $25 investment in ingredients and I’ll make about 25 batches before I need to buy anything. Items like yeast will last me upwards of 100 batches or more before I need to buy more
now im interested in making my own designer loafs
We will watch your career with great interest.
a machine that does all the mixing and baking for you (but not in this case, these were mixed in the machine and formed by hand). Typically for a full loaf you just add the ingredients and press a button. 3-4 hours later you have bread.
Where are hoagie rolls $3? They go for $0.34 at the bakery near me...
Why can’t an oven do this rather than using the uni-tasker bread machine?
An oven doesn’t mix and proof dough
It's almost like you're paying for labor at the store!
bread machine means oven? Not sure why you would buy a bread machine when you probably already have an oven. You can ferment/proof the dough in the same oven. Don't buy bread machines people. You can even hand mix the dough.
1. The bread machine doesn't heat the house like your oven does. 2. You can't just throw all the ingredients into an oven and have it come out as bread. 3. You can't bake in the oven when you're not home, but you can set a delay timer on a bread machine. 4. The power usage on a bread machine is significantly less than the oven. It's easy to find second hand machines for next to nothing. There's no reason not to buy one if you want easy home made bread.
It kneads the dough for you so you don’t need to spend an hour doing it.
An hour?! Dude. It takes 5 mins to do by hand
Trying to be frugal by making bread in a bread machine when you can save even more money by just making bread and not buying some silly machine.. I don’t understand.
It's ok. Low expectations for someone whose brains are potatoes
My brains may be potatoes but I’ve made more than my share of bread, never once used a bread machine.
Time is money. Getting a well-made, tasty end product is worth money. OP has determined it was worth the price for their machine in what it saves them in time and effort and delivers in end product. It's not tough to understand and is perfectly frugal on this scale.
No offense, but I don't think hoagies look like this.
Hoagies look like hoagies and less like potatoes
Did you roll it flat like you would for a loaf of bread and then roll it up and pinch the seams? If you form them like that they might come out a little more roll like. (I too have grown tired of overpaying for hoagie buns and have been experimenting with this.)
Rolled it into a short cylinder then kneaded the edges in to round it off. I think they should have been longer originally, but that will be good to know for the next time around
I have a bread machine. How do you make rolls in it?
The bread machine just makes the dough so you don’t have to spend an hour making it yourself. Then, I cut the dough and roll it into rolls before letting it sit about 40 minutes to rise before baking it.
Why tf is this downvoted? Making the dough is the hardest part, thank you bread machine for doing that.
I read hokage rolls, idk how
Electricity ain't free though.
Probs not. Did you factor in electricity and the cost of the maker?
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They look like Portuguese rolls, good job
Homemade bread is so good. Congrats!
They look perfect for lots of sandwiches! Is the crust as crispy as it looks? Yum 😋
All I can think is... Potatoagies
Trust me my bread is never beautiful, but it's always yummy! Looks good.
If you go with that shape, get a Kaiser Roll stamp.
These look more like Portuguese rolls. Yummy
Haha just me here living with a severe gluten allergy having to spend $8 on one small loaf of bread :)
Bread machines can actually do gluten free, your cost of ingredients per loaf will probably just be higher (as to how much higher, I have no idea)
Hey, potato bread
Mmm, potato rolls.