Bake your own no-knead bread for under $1.50

Fresh bread for less dough: Not only is it possible, it’s easy.

I have been baking my own no-knead bread since 2010; that’s about 250 loaves and counting. The baking has become a comfortable, twice-weekly routine for me and Stephan that feels as regular as cooking dinner. One loaf lasts the two of us 3–4 days on our typical schedule: toast for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch.

We are not bakers. Anything remotely finicky to cook, I will mush it, deflate it, over-spice it or set it on fire. I also have no patience for kneading dough (though yes to the suppressed rage and/or sugar high). Our bread recipe comes from the book My Bread; here is the recipe for basic white.

So how much does it cost?

The bread pictured above cost under $1.50. I was shocked when I broke-down the cost of our favourite recipes (details below); baking your own bread is cheap! Not only is that cheaper than ‘fancy’ breads at bakeries, that’s as cheap as the squishy, bland generic pre-sliced bread at the grocery store!

The recipe we follow produces a robust, flavourful bread, with a chewy crumb and crunchy, earthy crust (see pictures below). The texture, density and flavour are qualities I can only find in a good bakery or market. White bread of similar quality and size in our neck of the woods, Vancouver, costs from $3.00–$7.00 depending on the bakery.

But how can it be so cheap to make your own? Because bread has only four essential ingredients: flour, yeast, salt and water. Here’s a break-down of our basic white and brown/flax recipes:

We also like tossing seeds, nuts and fruit into the dough. Nuts add to the cost substantially, but a ‘fancy’ (to me, anyway) bread with figs and hazelnuts looks amazing when sliced (pic in slideshow) and still costs less than $4. Here are a couple of our favourite combinations; you can make any of these yourself following the basic white recipe above (Note: we double the recipe), adjusting the ingredients as given:

If you’ve never made your own bread but are curious, I encourage you to try. The most basic bread recipes are pretty forgiving, meaning you don’t have to follow them to the letter to get a tasty product. And hey, even if it doesn’t work the first time, it cost you less than $1.50!

If you’re a seasoned bread baker, what’s your favourite recipe? Do you have any tips, techniques or experiences you’d like to share?