And Why It’s Easier Than You Think!
For many of us, bread and other gluten-containing foods are essential parts of our regular diet. To me, a day without a homemade loaf is a day wasted.
Bread is incredibly important and, in my opinion, something worth investing your time and energy into to make yourself. In this post, I’m going to walk you through the plethora of benefits that can come from making your own bread instead of buying a loaf from your local grocer. I’ve been making fresh loaves on a weekly basis for quite a while now and I will never go back.
Homemade bread is better for you
This probably won’t come as much of a surprise to you, but homemade bread is honestly just better for you than the bread you would find at the store. I’m not saying that a loaf of bread’s mere presence at a grocery store makes it inherently bad for you. In fact, there are a handful of healthier bread choices that you can buy at the store.
HOWEVER— the vast majority of the bread you’ll find in the market contain an unbelievable amount of added ingredients such as high fructose corn syrup, processed flour and sugar, ammonium sulfate (fun fact: this is also a prominent ingredient in lawn fertilizer) and many more. See for yourself on the back of any loaf of Wonder bread.
Homemade bread, like my sourdough sandwich bread, contains only a handful of real ingredients without any added chemicals or preservatives, so you can be confident that you know exactly what is in your morning toast! Sourdough itself has many benefits, which you can read about in my "What is sourdough?" post if you'd like to learn more!
It’s more cost-effective
As I said before, you can absolutely find healthier bread options at the grocery store, however, they often don’t come cheap. If you are looking for a high-quality organic loaf, it could cost you $5-6 (sometimes even more!) for a single loaf. You can make it at home with simple, organic ingredients for a fraction of that price. I’m talking $1-2 depending on the ingredients!
If you’re like me, your family might go through a loaf on a weekly basis. If you are buying a $6 loaf once a week, you’ll be spending an average of $288 a year on just bread! Whereas if you make it at home, you would only be spending $96 per year– if that.
Bread baking is therapeutic
Have you ever kneaded dough by hand? If you haven’t, you need to try it! At the end of a hard day, there is honestly nothing better than kneading dough to release your stress and frustrations.
The process of bringing together an assortment of ingredients and turning it into food is satisfying and rewarding! The act of baking also stimulates your senses which releases endorphins and improves your mood. When I am particularly anxious, I find focusing my mind on the feel of the flour or dough and immerse myself in the process; it’s grounding and brings a lot of comfort!
You aren’t the only person your baking could bring comfort to. Homemade bread makes a wonderful and thoughtful gift to share with your friends and family. The effort and time that you put into making it for them is a true expression of fondness that you can’t buy!
The smell of homemade bread is basically heaven
This is a no-brainer. There is absolutely nothing that compares to the smell of freshly baked bread. I always look forward to bread day and the aroma that fills my home as it bakes in the oven. The smell itself will boost your mood tremendously and make you excited for each bread day to follow.
Baking is a great creative outlet
There is so much that you can do with bread — the sky is the limit when it comes to recipes you can make at home. Want cinnamon swirl bread without the raisins? Make it at home. Want a chocolate loaf? Peanut butter? Cheese and garlic? You can make it all! Once you get the hang of an easy baking routine, you could easily start experimenting with new and fun ideas.
Additionally, you can physically make bread into art with scoring techniques. This is really popular with sourdough bakers and you’ve probably seen tons of content about it on social media. If you haven’t scored a ball of bread dough before, I highly recommend it; it is incredibly satisfying and the end result is beautiful!
It honestly just tastes better
Not only is homemade bread better for you and your wallet, but it is also much tastier than its store-bought competitors. It has a richness that processed bread cannot replicate no matter how much it tries.
Commercial bread is made in massive batches at factories with the primary focus being to produce as much bread as quickly as possible for the least amount of money in order to make the most profit. It follows that this would lead to a decreased quality in a lot of cases. This is not to say that store bough bread tastes bad…It’s just that homemade bread is way better! The minimal amount of ingredients and lack of preservatives really allow the different flavors to shine in my opinion.
The joy of being self-sufficient
There is a comfort that comes from knowing that if needed, you could provide bread for your family without needing to buy it at the store. One thing that I think we could all take away from the last few years is that nothing is guaranteed, especially food supplies during a time of crisis. Having a pre-established routine of making your own bread can greatly help you be ready when the inevitable happens!
Additionally, when you run out, it is SO nice to just be able to whip up a new loaf instead of having to go to the grocery store. I find this to be really convenient for me as we go through a lot of it in my house and I don’t always feel like going all the way to the store just for some (expensive) bread.
It is SO much easier than you think
There are some types of bread that are a bit more challenging than others (ahem, sourdough), but even those aren’t that difficult! Sourdough is honestly just a bit more time-consuming than making your standard loaf of bread.
When I'm planning ahead, I’ll typically make some sort of sourdough loaf as it requires roughly 6-12 hours for the starter to be active enough for baking and 12 minutes for it to bulk ferment. If I run out and need something fast, then I’ll make a delicious loaf made with standard active dry yeast.
If you are short on time and aren’t looking to make sourdough, you could easily make a loaf of regular bread in as little as 1-3 hours! Plus, the majority of that time is just spent proofing and baking, so there really is only a small 10-20 minute window that actually requires your presence. If you have a stand mixer, there’s even less for you to worry about since it can knead the dough for you right in the bowl!
Recap
Baking is a fun and beneficial hobby that anyone can enjoy! If you're reading this and love bread, then I highly recommend giving it a try and seeing how great it is for yourself. If you try any of my recipes, be sure to let me know what you think in the comments!
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