Gourmet Cooking on a Food Stamp Budget: A War Against Convenience Food

Last week, I sang the praises of homemade bread. I have since discovered there's a small pitfall to making my first loaves of bread in I don't remember how long. The loaves disappear like crazy! This is due to the fact that homemade bread simply tastes better than the store-bought kind. People who haven't thought about bread in years rave about the fresh bread in our house right now. The fact is that the loaves you'll make will be smaller yet still more dense and filling than what you're eating right now.
So, today, we'll go your method since we already talked about the ingredients last night. I'll mention that this recipe can be used for whole wheat bread if you substitute half of the all-purpose flour for whole wheat flour. It's also able to be used with bread flour in the same proportions. Like I said, when you get used to making bread, you'll probably want to learn to make others, but let's get used to it first.

Ingredient	Amount	Cost
Yeast	2 pkgs	$0.63*
Warm water	1 c.
Warm Milk	1 c.	$0.10*
Sugar	1/2 c.	$0.14*
Melted butter	1/2 c.	$0.22*
Eggs	2	$0.15*
All-purpose flour	6 - 7 c.	$0.64*
Total		$1.88
* Based on price per package divided by amount used.

This makes about 3 pounds of bread, which we made into 3 - 1 pound loaves. I'll mention that, because our loaf pans are smaller, that was equal to about one and a half store-bought loaves of bread. However, it's worth mentioning that a store-bought loaf weighs 14 ounces to be twice the length of my loaf pans. If I were to make a loaf the size of the ones on my grocer's shelves, it'd weigh 2 pounds. That should tell you how much more dense these loaves will be.
We made 5 pounds of flour worth of bread and came up with 9 loaves of bread, all in different shapes:

That ends up being about 62¢ a half loaf or $1.24 for the size you buy in the grocery store. Is that cheaper than the cheapest loaf you'll see? No. However, they're way cheaper than the average in my grocery stores. They're also a lot healthier. So, let's get down to how to make your bread.

1. Fill a mixing bowl with water that's approximately 115º F. Pour your yeast into the water, stir with a fork until it dissolves, and let it stand until it starts to bubble.

2. While your yeast sets, blend the warm milk, sugar, salt, butter, and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Mix these ingredients until the sugar and salt are completely dissolved.
3. Pour the yeast mixture into the mixing bowl.
4. Beat in 3 cups of flour until the mixture is fairly smooth.
5. Gradually stir in enough more flour to make a soft dough that pulls away from the bowl.

6. Knead the dough until it's smooth and satiny - about 8 to 10 minutes.

7. Place the dough into a greased bowl, cover it with a towel and set it in a warm spot until it doubles in bulk - about 45 minutes.

Our warm place is on top of our refrigerator. It's probably the best place to let your bread rise. Remember that heat rises, so the higher you can get your dough, the better it'll do.
8. Punch down and knead lightly 2 to 3 minutes on a floured cutting board or cabinet.

9. Allow the dough to rest for 10 to 15 minutes then form it into loaves.

Now, you'll notice that you don't necessarily need a loaf pan to to make bread. If you make your loaves properly, you come up with some beautiful round loaves. We also had a french loaf pan sitting around that we finally got to use.

10. Cover your pans and/or loaves with a towel and allow them to rise in the pan or on the board for another 30 minutes.