Sarah Faith asked of my last blog post an excellent question: "And what does your bread cost?" Well, apparently I thought it cost nothing!
A complex analysis using a fancy Excel spreadsheet my husband helped me design reveals that my bread is on par with grocery store prices, or even more expensive.
Well, that's a little humbling! Seems I really need to read that book on which things are better to make, which to buy.
The final calculations of my spreadsheet reveal that the recipe I described in my last post costs $3.14 per standard size loaf (so $9.43 for the batch that lasts us one week). If I use water instead of milk and butter, it costs $1.55 per loaf.
This exercise in mathematics shows me that I need to be thinking about my ingredients. I still enjoy baking the bread because I think it is wholesome. But if I'm going to be baking our bread so steadily (instead of as a hobby every once in a while), then I need to start buying ingredients in larger quantities.
Some of my ingredients are outright expensive: I'm using whole milk and butter from a local farm, as delivered by a milk man. This dairy is from grass-fed Jersey cows, so the milk has a much higher nutritional content even than typical store bought organic milk (e.g., 14-15% higher protein and 21-27% higher calcium). Considering that our family eats a lot of bread and my sweet, picky boy eats a LOT of bread, I want it to contain as much nutrition as I can pack in. But the milk and butter I'm using are ridiculously expensive and I have to face that fact.
Can I get the flour cheaper? I am buying at the grocery store 5-pound bags of white-wheat flour (more expensive but more nutritious than all-purpose, and equally nutritious but tastier than whole wheat flour). Can I buy flour in bulk? Online searches are revealing to me that it is much easier to buy bulk grains than bulk flour, but that the grains are not that much cheaper. For example, I found a 45-pound bucket of hard winter wheat that costs 18 cents per cup, versus flour for 20 cents per cup. Sorry, I don't want to buy a grain mill and grind my own flour to save 2 cents per cup! Can I buy my flour in 50-pound bags locally? Can I buy it as white-wheat instead of nutritionally vapid all-purpose flour? Surely local bakeries buy flour in 50-pound sacks, so can I do the same? These are questions I am investigating.
The lecithin and wheat gluten contribute dramatically to the softness and crumb of the bread, so I want to retain those ingredients. It would be useful (but difficult) to calculate the nutrition added by the nutritional yeast and flax in order to know if they are worth the cost.
Truly, sometimes managing a home reminds me of managing a small business!
Very interesting! I have only roughly calculated the cost of making my own bread (mostly based on the cost of flour) and I thought it ought to be much less than store bought, but maybe I should look at it in more detail too. Although, I think there is also value to what you are NOT buying when you make your own bread! (I often read a lot of un-intelligible ingredients on commercial bread that I'd rather not be eating.) And since I usually buy "expensive healthy" bread when I do buy it at the store, that is the cost savings I am comparing to.
ReplyDeleteFYI, Trader Joe's white wheat whole wheat flour is $3 for a 5 lb bag. Whereas King Arthur regular price is more like $5? IIRC? Although, I do think the KA is higher quality, finer ground, etc. (Not sure what brand you use, but I was shocked by the difference!)
I've not bought more than 10lbs of WW flour at a time b/c from what I understand, WW flours are subject to spoilage/rancidity at a much quicker rate than white flour, so the best place to store bulk WW flour is in the freezer. However, I don't have enough room in my freezer(s) at this time to store 25 or 50 lbs of flour. (But maybe a flour sharing co-op would be a good idea? :) I've also read about sharing big ticket appliances like grain mills with like-minded friends. I love the practicality of the idea, but worry about the logistics... )
You could try using an egg instead of lecithin since eggs have their own lecithin naturally. (count the egg in your liquid measurements) I don't know how much per egg though.
I think the nutritional boost of grass fed milk and butter is really worth it!! But maybe if you did half milk half water it would save money without sacrificing too much quality? (Since the milk and butter also make the bread softer, from what I understand.)
I buy a LOT in bulk. You might want to see if there's a buying club near you. We use United Foods and get 25# or 50# of organic white, wheat, or whole wheat pastry flour for around $1/lb. Not great, but better. Our local flour runs about $0.34/lb when we can get it. We have a Mennonite store locally as well and buy yeast in larger sizes.
ReplyDeleteI haven't calculated the cost of my bread, but I suspect it's $1.50-2.50 per loaf. I use "homemade" organic whole "butter"milk, safflower oil and raw honey/local maple syrup in addition to what I mentioned above.
For me, though, it's less about cost and more about ingredients. Even "bakery fresh" at the grocery store has some additives/preservatives.
While it's helpful to know the price points, I do agree with your other commenters about how you can't really compare apples to apples with this. I mean, if you were to compare your homemade price to a bread that contained grass fed milk and butter, it would probably have to be from a farmers market and it would probably be closer to $6/loaf. So you see, you are saving when it comes to what you're getting. I think you're right that when you eat so much of something (and John has so many food issues) it's best to make every bit as nutritious as possible, and you're doing a great job with that!
ReplyDeleteWhen we get grass fed beef, it comes out to about $3.5-5/lb depending on the size of the cow (it's a flat rate per cow). Now, I know I could get ground beef from the store for $2.99/lb or even less if I wait for sales, but that's not a good comparison because it's not nutritious, pasture-raised meat at the grocery store. I compare it to the Whole Foods meat counter where I'd pay $8-9 for a pound of ground beef and way more for all the other cuts I'm getting - steaks and roasts and everything.
So, I hope I didn't discourage you from your efforts by inadvertently pointing out that it isn't as frugal as you may have thought. :) But at least you now know that if you find a fresh baked loaf of bread with grassfed dairy for $3/loaf you should snatch it right up! :)
by the way, I grind my own grain, but not for cost savings. it's MUCH more nutritious when it's fresh ground! And it's not really difficult at all. Just a little loud. I know mills can be expensive, so at 2c/lb difference it would take a lot of loaves to "pay for itself" ha ha. But if you are looking into packing a more nutritious punch and you wish to buy grains in bulk to save money (and they store longer than flour so you can do that with peace of mind) it might be something to keep in the back of your mind. Fresh ground hard white wheat is very mild and great for bread. Spelt's amazing too.
ReplyDeleteSarah Faith: You make a really good point about comparing apples to apples. I would probably not expend the money for the really nutritious $6/loaf bread, so by making my own bread, I am getting the really nutritious bread for the cost of what I'd otherwise be buying (not so nutritious).
ReplyDeleteIn the meanwhile, without committing to grinding grains, I am pondering if I can find a local source (no shipping) of somewhat larger bags of flour (10 lbs even?) so I'm not buying full retail cost.