Don Chambers asked if anyone had ever done a breakdown of
the costs to bake a loaf of bread. Amy Dacyczyn in the Tight-Wad
Gazette did this study several years ago, and looked at several
variables in the execution of it.
Assuming you are using bulk yeast and flour, baking a loaf
of regular white bread and doing it by hand, not machine,
her estimate was a good home-made loaf would cost about $.30
as opposed to about $1.40 for a store-bought loaf. That definitely
is a substantial difference! Of course if you add amenities and
name-brand or specialty flours the cost will go up. I don't know
if she added depreciation for pans in there, but they did figure
in the kilowatt-cost of using an oven. Her estimates are pretty
complete.
We can get thrift-store bread for about $.35 a loaf, but that of course
is nowhere near the quality of either homemade or bakery shop bread.
Check out The Tight-Wad Gazette II or, The Complete TightWad Gazette,
pages 451-455. Hope this helps! By the way - she has a great
recipe for quick-rising Cuban bread in there my family loves.
Sue Sack