Bread

When we first started trying to reduce our plastic we decided to have a go at making our own bread so that we could eliminate the endless plastic bags of sliced bread that we seemed to get through. So we bought bread flour and yeast and enthusiastically started baking. The Husband was very keen and I have to admit that he did make a much better loaf than I did, but with packed lunches to make and a 7 year who is almost constantly hungry we found we were getting through a lot of bread and it was hard to keep up with the demand, especially as the loaves were smaller than shop bought ones. Our local Aldi only sells bread in bags and there’s not a bakery in our town so that only left us with the option of getting loaves in paper bags from the bakery counter in Waitrose. I’ll be honest and say that we really can’t afford that on a regular basis, plus I quite like the idea of knowing exactly what’s going into my bread.

Just as we were debating what to do I had one of those lucky moments that rarely happen – a friend asked me if I wanted her bread maker as she didn’t use it. It was quite a lot larger than I was expecting and when it’s not in use it lives in the floor in our spare room as there’s not enough space in our kitchen ( I need to sort out my kitchen cupboards so I can keep it in a more practical place!). But it makes a mean loaf of bread and it only takes a few minutes to sort out the ingredients, plus the smell of freshly baked bread is amazing. It makes a bigger and less dense loaf than the ones we’d been making by hand – the kids definitely prefer it. A decent bread maker isn’t cheap but if it’s used regularly (I probably make 3 loaves a week) I don’t think it would take long to pay for itself – it’s definitely cheaper than buying bread and much tastier. We also use it to make dough for making bread rolls and occasionally I use it to make pizza dough. We all love breakfast muffins so my next plan is to have a go at making those – I’ll keep you posted on how I get on.