Its easier with gluten free bread! No rise time.

It also isn't anywhere as good bread, but, you know, not really a choice for me so shittier breads it is!

If you find yourself missing it a lot, keep an eye out for secondhand. Many kitchen appliances can be found relatively easily secondhand.

Recipe?

Who tf is out here paying $8 for a loaf of bread? I have made a lot of bread in my life and can't possibly see a way to get the cost of making a single loaf (taking into account that the labor/capital required to make an individual loaf decreases dramatically as you start making more bread at once) up that high for a bakery. If I were making that shit one at a time in my house yeah it would probably cost that much but with professional equipment there's no fucking way they aren't doubling their costs on that.

Nice. I haven't had much luck thrifting the last few years.

Costs about 17 cents per loaf in electricity, and my power rate is pretty high at $0.25/kWh.

1. Blend: 7 minutes @ 100W (0.1 KW x 0.12 hours = 0.012 kWh). I'm being generous here since this is just an intermittent blend and the motor pulses slowly and doesn't use 100 watts for the whole cycle).
2. Rest: 1 minute @ 0W
3. Mix: 25 minutes @ 100 W (0.1 KW X 0.42 hours = 0.042 kWh)
4. Proof 1: 58 minutes @ 50W (0.05 X 0.97 hours = 0.05 kWh)
5. Proof 2: 50 minutes @ 50W (0.05 x 0.83 hours = 0.04 kWh)
6. Bake: 50 minutes @ 650 W (0.65 x 0.83 hours = 0.54 kWh)
7. Keep Warm: I never use this, but up to an hour at probably 100 watts. (0.1 KW x 1 hour = 0.1 kWh)

Total: 0.684 kWh x $0.25/kWh = $0.17 per loaf ($0.20 per loaf if I use the keep warm feature for the full hour).

For comparison, the regular oven is 4400 watts and takes 10 minutes just to pre-heat. That's $0.18 cents in electricity cost before I even bake the bread.

Electricity is close to 5 cents per kW where I am so that'd be the least of my worries...

Oof. I have not priced replacement parts. The whole thing was only $100 and I fully consider it a "starter" machine. Wasn't sure if I'd use it more than once or twice, so didn't start out with a fancy one or anything.

Totally agree about single use appliances, but the bread machine is the sole exception. Figured it wouldn't get more than a few uses, so bought a cheap one to start with. Turns out I use it daily.

I used to use the Kitchen-Aid with the dough hook. Mostly just the convenience factor won out. Just pouring everything into one pan and hitting a button was the big sell. Plus, it's got a timer so I can load it up before bed and have fresh bread in the morning.

Also switched to using a kitchen scale instead of measuring cups, and combined, that has massively reduced the amount of dishes and mess I have to clean.

You don't even need to knead (the only real 'work' in breadmaking) if you don't feel like it.
Gluten forms all by itself over time.

I think the fastest I've got it going is like 90 seconds.

Most of the ingredients are measured in tablespoons. I use a scale and just pour the flour into a bowl, add the dry ingredients on top, and throw it in pan.

Plus it just tastes better and makes the house smell amazing.

Likely under 15 min to gather the ingredients, dump them in the machine, then remove and slice when done. Especially after getting in the habit. If you premix and portion all the dry ingredients you can save even more time.

Plus you can make a much tastier and nutritious bread for the price of a crappy sandwich loaf

Literally this one: https://a.co/d/gBi4XKq

Wasn't sure if it was gonna be something I'd use a lot, so I just bought an inexpensive "starter" one. If/when it dies, I'll probably get a fancier one.

I thought this when I bought my own espresso machine but then I realized that although the cost per cup is dramatically lower than what it would be if I paid for it at a coffee shop, I drink WAY more espresso (and coffee in general) than I did before I got it, meaning that any savings are purely theoretical. For example, I drink a double shot of espresso every morning as my morning coffee. On this basis, I saved money because the cost of my machine brings the cost per cup down to almost just the cost of the coffee. But before that, I was drinking coffee made by a $30 drip coffee machine that I had had since I moved out to go to college, which was already to that point. So on that basis, I didn't save any money at all. I still think it's worth it because I fucking love having a cup of espresso every morning but I no longer think of it as a "money saving" thing.

.30 cents? Or .30 dollars?

I do 1.5 lb loaves. I also buy in bulk when things are on sale. All 50 loaves were made with just what's in the pantry (which is why my estimated price-per-loaf is just a guess).

But the main thing is homemade bread just tastes better. Even if it costs more in ingredients, it's still worth it