I have just started using a breadmaker and have been using ready mixed packets.

Does it work out cheaper to buy the ingredients separately?

Is it much more work to do it this way?

Before I started using the breadmaker, I used to normally buy a large loaf for about £1.35.

The ready mix for a small loaf costs about 67p, so I think making my own, including the electricity/butter actually costs more, but it's more convenient for me and tastes better/is healthier. What do others think about the cost of making their own v shop bought?

Thanks.

You can buy a 1.5kg very strong white flour for £2 and a tin of easy bake yeast for £1.
You will get 3 standard loafs out of the flour and I think it's 16 loafs out of the yeast.

As degsyhufc says, its cheaper to buy your own ingredients. I've never used ready mixed packets in my machine but what ever works for you I guess.

I do think that if you're gonna use ready mix you may as well buy shop bread TBH it'll have all the same stuff in it, like "improvers" etc anyway.

you put butter in???

I always buy the ingredients myself rather than the mixes, I find it cheaper plus you can make what you want then. Once you have bought your tin of yeast it lasts ages so its really just your flour as most people have sugar, salt & butter/ marg in the house anyway.

I tend to buy the Tesco own make strong white flour - 68p for 1.5kg - to me, it tastes the same as the more expensive brands. So, for me it works out cheaper than buying bread, and tastes nicer.

I make my own bread normally, but sometimes use the packet mixes for more 'speciality' bread, like seeded bread, because it is cheaper than buying all the separate ingredients.

Just checked and the very strong bread flour is £1.48.
I find it better than just strong bread flour which is cheaper. It's not so much the taste but the consistency of the dough and the texture of the finished bread.

I agree about ready mix not being much better than buying a loaf, preservative and ingredients wise.

OK, I think I might give that a go when I've finished my current jarful of flour. I'm willing to be converted if the bread is even better

I never use the mixes because as someone said they have too much other stuff in. Once you are set up for making bread from scratch it is really quick. On one shelf in a cupboard I have my bread flours, yeast, sugar, salt and dried milk powder. Then I stick the bread pan on the scales, weigh in the ingredients and stick it in the machine... Job done!

I do the same, I have a little cupboard just for my baking stuff & one shelf is for my bread flour & other ingredients. Its so eas like you said stand the pan on the scales to measure, can't be doing with messing with the cup.

I too have a baking cupboard . Just above my breadmaker with scales at hand.

QUOTE=whoever,hey;56966103]I agree about ready mix not being much better than buying a loaf, preservative and ingredients wise.[/quote]

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Hmmm, I never thought of that. The Tesco Crusty White Bread Mix I have states it's ingredients as:

Wheat flour, yeast, salt, chickpea flour, vegetable oil, dextrose, flour treatment agent (ascorbic acid.)

Does anyone know what the last dodgy sounding ingredients are?


Yes, I have only made wholemeal bread so far. The instructions on both the packet and the book that came with the breadmaker said to put in (I think it said one ounce) of butter.

Don't you add it to yours?


Yes, I can see the sense in buying ready mixed for that reason. Waitrose delivered some to me the other day. The driver accidentally tore the packet, so refunded it for me and let me keep it! You can't get any cheaper than that lol.

Dextrose is a form of sugar
Ascorbic Acid is another name for vitamin C which I've seen in other recipes (1/2 a tablet or so) as an aid to get a better rise.

Thank you

I don't use butter in my bread recipe, always use vegetable oil instead.

Only reason is the dough recipes I've used over the years have always used oil

Busy making bread atm as I make loads of bread rolls at the weekend for my packed lunches during the week

Good idea, but do they keep fresh until the end of the week (without the preservatives that shop bought bread has).

Maybe you freeze some?

Just used a packet mix in my bread machine added water, a drop of milk and a knob of butter excellent, home made bread needs to be eaten on the day for best results.

The chemicals in sliced bread prevent it from going dry but it soon goes mouldy.

No it doesn't last a week, but it tastes loads better.

Yep once cooled down, they're bagged in 4's and frozen

Some of my man sized rolls I make

http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/a...2/a91d7a31.jpg

I don't know if anyone on here is from York but I visited there recently to stay with a friend and we visited a little deli called the Hairy Fig. They sold about 5 different varieties of flavoured breads and were absolutely delicious.

I have tried to find somewhere that sells them in Leeds but had no joy so I thought I would give it a go myself using the breadmaker. As it was the first time I bought a ready mix - sun-dried tomato and chilli from Waitrose.

It finished about 30 minutes ago and is absolutely delicious! I followed the instructions except changing the butter to veg oil and I can't believe how well it has turned out and how nice it is.

So to move on - I don't want to keep buying ready mixes as they are expensive and they don't allow me to indulge in any whims I may have for flavours.

Now I have the basic ingredients - flour, yeast, oil, dried milk but I obviously want to add extra ingredients such as olives, herbs, seeds, garlic, cheese, fruit etc. Can anyone offer advice on using these extra ingredients - should I weigh them and then remove that amount of flour? Can they all be added at the beginning?

Thanks for any 'top tips'!

those rolls look amazing

I am making bread for the first time today made a packet mix and have some from scratch stuff rising at the minute.

The bread mix i used was this one - its just baked and it smells gorgeous. I just out of the oven and seems to taste ok.

I did have breadmaker, but it didn't seem to be working properly and I ditched my first mix, well hubby did, and he also got rid of the mixing tool so its useless.

I've just had a look at the recipe book (well, leaflet ...) that came with my breadmaker, because it has a few different breads in it.

From what I can see, cheese, onions, sun-dried tomatoes, herbs and seeds can all be added at the beginning, but fruit (raisins etc) and nuts should be added later (mine has a beeper that tells you when to add them - it's about 45 minutes into a just under 3 hour bake. I have tried a herb bread and a cheese and sun-dried tomato bread, both of which came out delish, but I do fancy trying your tomato and chili bread - perfect for the summer, to have with cheese.

Hi Gooby

Here's my basic white bread dough recipe, which you can add what you like to, for something that little bit different with hardly any adjustment to the recipe.

560g Strong Flour
5g Dried Yeast or 10g fresh
10g Salt
20ml Oil
300ml Water

For savoury breads keep the recipe as it is, and just add the extra bits you want. For sweeter style doughs add 20g of caster sugar to the basic recipe.

For adding the extra bits, I just play it by eye tbh by just adding enough till I think it looks right
Any dry ingredients can be added from the start of the mix, anything soft like dried fruit has to be added right at the end of the kneading process, as the kneading will damage soft stuff by breaking it up and may ruin the look of your dough also the acids in soft fruit can affect the rise of the dough

If using grated cheese, I find this gets lost taste wise in the dough, so I always just top off rolls with cheese before baking

With making bread doughs get used to your recipe first, before messing with it too much and trying different things. Also all bread flours are different and require different amounts of water, again this is why practice is important.
If using Sainsburys strong white or Hovis strong white flour the above water measure is perfect.

If you have anymore questions post them here and I'll try and help

I do that too. Every night before bedtime, I weigh the flour, bung in the rest and set to finish for when I get up in the morning. I use Tesco Strong white flour at 60p a bag.