I've been trying to find time to bake bread for quite a few days and finally today was the day. I find breadmaking much easier and less time consuming since I learned to use my bread machine's dough cycle to do the initial work of the kneeding and rising. Once the dough cycle is finished I drop the dough into a greased loaf pan and let it rise in a warm oven for nearly an hour and then bake it to a golden brown.
In my quest to stretch my pennies (until they scream for mercy) .... I've learned I have to bake and cook ahead of time. If I wait until I'm out of an item then oftentimes I'll give in to the temptation to purchase the item instead. I was blessed with some large hotdogs from a food pantry. My husband wanted a chili dog so I made whole wheat hot dog rolls today and froze them until the mood hits him. I also made a loaf of whole wheat sandwich bread and gave half to my mother since she loves it for toast in the mornings. We try not to eat a lot of bread but my husband still likes his occasional sandwich.
I've been blessed to find whole wheat flour and white flour for breadmaking at $1.50 (5#). I have not figured out how much each loaf costs but I would venture to say that it's much less than half as much as the store bought loaves since you rarely can find a healthy loaf of bread for less than $3.00. I found a bread slicer at a thrift store for less than $3.00 which slices a thin piece for sandwiches.
A few days ago I made whole wheat tortillas. I froze them for future meals. In the past I've always made white flour tortillas so this was the first time I tried my hand at a whole wheat recipe.
Here are a few of the bread type items I try to make at home instead of paying high prices at the grocery store:
Here are a few of the bread type items I try to make at home instead of paying high prices at the grocery store:
- Tortillas
- Sandwich bread- Hot dog buns
- Hamburger buns
- Pizza crust
Do you make your own bread items? Do you have a favorite recipe?
