Nothing beats the flavor, smell and cost of making homemade bread. But it has another benefit, too – it allows you to control the ingredients.
I love bread. Not just any bread – I’m talking about fresh, right out the oven, homemade bread. Not only does it smell and taste heavenly, it also saves you money. I love the way my kitchen smells while the bread is baking in the oven.
My favorite reason, though, is that it gives you control over ingredients that go into your recipe. Let’s take a look at each of these benefits so you understand what I mean.
Control Factor
In this day and age, convenience seems to be the winning ticket. How many of you would rather pop a frozen dinner in the microwave, heat something out of a can, or eat something quick out of a box or wrapper? Of course it can be nice on occasion if you’re on the run, but did you ever stop to think just how or why your food is able to stay so long on the shelf? Next time, take a look at your ingredients list and see just how many additives and preservatives there are. We’ll get more into what goes into bread next time, but basically, in anything homemade, you know exactly what’s going into the recipe.
The Cost Of Making Homemade Bread
Another reason to switch to homemade bread is cost. If we take a look at the ingredients in a standard loaf, all you need is flour, yeast, and a liquid. Flour usually comes in five-pound bags ranging anywhere from $2 to $6. Those five pounds translate to about 18 cups of flour. In a conventional recipe that yields one loaf, it can call for three to four cups of flour. So right there you can potentially make five loaves of bread from one, five-pound bag of flour. As far as yeast, a three-pack of dry active yeast costs about 75 cents, or 25 cents for each individual packet. To cover the five loaves from your bag of flour, you would need five packages of yeast totaling $1.25. As far as the liquid, all you need is water, while additional salt and sugar (to tame and feed the yeast, respectively) should be staples in your pantry. In total, you can make five loaves for about $5.25 (assuming you bought a $4 bag of flour), or a little more than a dollar each. Not bad, eh?
The Flavor Of A Homemade Loaf
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, is taste. I promise you, nothing beats the smell of fresh baked bread or the taste of a freshly made loaf. The flavor of a fresh-torn piece of bread right out of the oven is enough to make you want to start baking a second loaf right away.
Now you know the benefits of homemade bread, but what about the ingredients. Check out this post that explains the essential and non-essential ingredients to baking the perfect loaf. I also share an easy recipe so you can try for yourself.
Have you ever made homemade bread? What do you love, or hate about it?
Hi, I’m Heather – a registered dietitian, busy mom, consultant, adventure junkie and travel addict who has mastered living healthy on the go. My blog is where I share simple recipes and healthy living tips to help and inspire others to live their best life.