Saturday, January 22, 2011

Frugal Food Tips: Bake Your Own Bread - bread baking tips and hints

Frugal Food: Bread Baking Tips
There's absolutely nothing that smells as delicious as freshly baked bread! Slathered with butter and jam, it's a simple, old-fashioned treat that really satisfies. Here are some bread baking tips to make yummy homemade loaves that are frugal and fantastic all at the same time:

  • Research to find the most frugal ingredients: basics like flour and yeast might seem cheap already and they are when compared to prepared commercial bread. But, make a comparison search of the prices of bread ingredients like all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, and yeast. Buy in bulk for those ingredients and really reduce the overall cost of each loaf of homebaked bread.
  • Freeze it: Running your bread machine or oven too often won't help with the electricity bills! Instead, bake a few loaves at a time, and then freeze the loaves, or switch things up by also baking a batch of rolls or cinnamon buns with basic bread dough.
  • Add Interest: Basic bread can be turned into some decadent gourmet treats - add herbs, spices, cheese, or sweet ingredients like dried fruit, sugar and cinnamon to create all sorts of wonderful treats from one basic bread recipe.
  • Make Mine a Pizza: Remember that yeast bread dough also makes amazing pizza dough. Just spread fresh dough in a pizza pan, making sure to grease the pan first and add a sprinkle of cornmeal to make the pizza pie just slip right out when you're ready to eat it. Pizza is a frugal meal that can be made healthful - just add more fresh veggies, less processed meats, and lower fat cheeses for a yummy meal that the family won't even realize is good for them.

Always looking for new frugal tips? Please check out my NEW book: Living Large On Less: A Guide to Saving without Sacrifice for inspiration to get you started on your reasonable new frugal lifestyle.