Cost Savings in Bread Baking
Cost Savings – what does it cost to make a loaf of bread?
This is a guide to show you how economical it is to make your own bread.
Your 4 main ingredients are flour, yeast, canola oil and sugar.
I purchase a 10 kg bag of flour regularly and I typically pay around $7 to $8 for abag of flour. This bag contains 70 cups of flour or 17,500 ml. Let’s say we paid$8.50 for this bag of flour your unit price per cup = .12 cents per cup or 250 ml.
Yeast can vary on price depending on where you buy it and the type of yeast. I purchase fast-rising yeast at “Nutters”, a bulk food store. I will purchase a 16 oz or 454-gram package for around $5 - $6. This package will yield about 45tablespoons or 15 ml. And you are going to use 2 teaspoons or 10 ml in this recipe. Let’s use $6 and divide by 45, which will give us about .14 cents per tablespoon; and you need 2 teaspoons. There are 3 teaspoons in 1 tablespoon. Let’s make it simple and say the yeast is .15 cents per tablespoon. 1 teaspoon will be .5 cents so 2 teaspoons will be .10 cents.
Canola oil – I will purchase a 3 Litre container, which = 12 cups. You are going to use ¼ cup or 25 ml of oil in this recipe. Canola oil can be purchased for about $5, therefore 12 cups will cost about .42 cents a cup, your ¼ cup or 25 ml will cost.11 cents.
White sugar – a 4 kg bag holds 18 cups of sugar. You should be able to purchase this for around $5. Therefore, one cup or 250 ml of sugar is going to be about .28 cents and we only need 1/8 of a cup or 25 ml. Divide the .28 by 8 and your sugar is about .035 cents – so we’ll say .04 cents.
One loaf of bread is going to take about 3 ½ cups of flour. This is your main ingredient in your recipe.
Let's Do the Math:
Flour: 3.5 cups x .12 = .42 cents
Yeast: 2 teaspoons = .10 cents
Oil: ¼ cup oil = .11 cents
Sugar: 1/8 cup = .4 cents
Your total to make a loaf of bread is .67 cents.
If you go to a good bakery and purchase a loaf of nice fresh baked bread you will probably be looking to spend around $4.00. The savings in making your own bread are astronomical. Yes, it takes time. But, if you are home, it is an easy thing to do. Of course, the larger-sized baking ingredients make it more economical, but even so the savings are huge.
