Home-made bread made easy, healthy and cheap

   I've been using a bread-machine to make whole wheat bread for a few years now. I use a method that I think saves time and effort, with excellent results. The ingredient list for a 1lb (453g) loaf is as follows:
                    213g Water
                    18g melted butter or olive oil
                    287g  whole wheat flour or any other flour
                    42g brown sugar
                    7g salt
                    5g yeast

These five simple ingredients will make a wholesome loaf

     Put the bread-machine mixer on a kitchen scale and add the ingredients in the order listed above. After each ingredient is added zero the scale and add the next. Pour flour, sugar, salt and yeast right out of their containers and into the bread-maker. Stop pouring when the correct weight is registered by the scale. There will be no measuring cups or spoons. Select the appropriate bread type on the bread-machine, set it for a one pound loaf and 4 hours later the machine has baked a nice, wholesome loaf. This is so easy it almost feels naughty, like cheating. This bread has no preservatives, so I only make what our household can eat in 2-3 days. With the recipe in grams, it is so easy to size the loaf to what a household can consume in a few days by simply dividing or multiplying each ingredient.
       

Adding 287g of flour directly to the bread-maker mixer

Ever check an ingredient label on a commercial loaf of bread?


Ingredient list in store bread - Brownberry whole wheat
Whole wheat flour
Water
Sugar
Wheat gluten
Soybean oil
Yeast
Wheat bran
Salt
Enrichment (calcium sulfate,Vitamin E acetate,Vitamin A palmitate,Vitamin D3)
Monoglycerides
Calcium proprionate (preservative)
Datem
Soy lecithin
Citric acid
Grain vinegar
Potassium Iodate
Ethoxylated mono-and diglycerides
Calcium phosphate

Wow. What is all that stuff and is it any good for you?
   
              Home-made is cheaper than store-bought

  I calculated out the cost of a one pound loaf of home-made whole wheat bread.
     Whole wheat flour  287g x $.19c/g  = $.55
     Brown sugar  42g x $.14c/g  = $.059
     Butter  18g x $.55c/g =  $.099
     Salt  7g x $.09c/g =  $.066
     Yeast  5g x 4.05c/g = $.202

      Total cost home-made  = $.97

Based on ingredient costs as follows:
   Whole wheat flour, King Arthur $4.34 5lb (2270gm) or  $.19 cents/gm
   Brown sugar $1.29 for 2lb (907g) or  $.14cents/g
   Butter  $2.50 lb (453g)  or $.55 cents/g
   Water…..$0 cents/gm
   Salt  $.69 for 737g  or $.09 cents/g
   Yeast , Fleischmann’s bread machine $4.58 for 113g  or    4.05 cents/g
 
           Cost comparison store-bought vs home-made


Brownberry whole wheat bread  on sale $1.89 for 680g or .277 c/gm
Home-made  .97  for 506g loaf  or $.199c/gm


Estimated yearly cost of 2 loaves a week $196.60 store Brownberry
Estimated yearly cost of 2 loaves a week $100.88 breadmaker
   Savings $95.72

   Home-made bread is cheaper, simpler and fresher than store-bought. And what is all that stuff they put in there?