All right, I've gotten questions...

I've gotten a few questions from people about bread. Whether it is cheaper to make your own instead of buy it, how to make good bread, how to make healthy bread, and so forth. Well, I do NOT profess to being an expert by any means. I know what works for me and my family seems to enjoy my attempts. So this post, and the next one, will be dedicated to bread. Wheat bread, I might add.

To answer the "Is it really cheaper to make bread?" question, I'm going to stick my neck out and say I think it most definitely is. Maybe that's because I can't stand buying bread that is full of corn syrup and the only kinds that are made with brown sugar or honey and mostly wheat are the $3.00 kind. I don't have a real breakdown of cost, but all of my ingredients for this bread are from bulk items or wholesale prices. So, yeah... cheap, healthy, and yummy.

Now, I'm going to attempt to reason my way through why I think it's cheaper. I have not added up anything, broken prices down, so this is just what I've come up with in my head. I have a ton of wheat stored away. My ward has a wheat grinder that anyone can use at any time. So, I use that grinder about once a month and store my ground wheat in either the fridge or the freezer. I've been told that it stays fresher that way. I also buy honey at Sam's Club which is for a pretty good price and lasts for at least fifteen loaves of bread, maybe even more. All my other ingredients I buy at Winco in their bulk food department for basically pennies. Yeast can also be found in a brick pretty cheap at Winco. So, paying $3.00 for a loaf of bread, and going through two loaves a week, that's $6.00 a week when I'm making one loaf for probably about $1.00. You can get bread in the store for that cheap, but most of the time it's the kind that tastes like cardboard or is so full of fluff that there's no nutritional value to it.

The recipe I use for my whole wheat bread is from a friend of mine in Oregon. She got it from a grainery, I think, after she tasted their whole wheat bread and convinced them to give her the recipe. There have been a few friends of mine who have made this same recipe and all our breads come out different. I'm not really sure why (see, I'm not an expert), but still, they all have come out good. This bread is made with all whole wheat, honey, and cracked wheat.

The next post will be the recipe and my process for making this bread. I invite others to comment on how they make bread, whether it be whole wheat, rolls, or other kinds. I love to make bread and am always up for good tips and ways to make better bread, and I'm sure other readers would benefit from your input as well.