Why Get a Bread Machine? Besides Saving Money, Here Are Some Benefits

Although I’ve long since graduated from the Wonder Bread of my childhood, I still love bread. But I don’t love paying the price for the fancy loaves I prefer.

So I bought a bread machine to save money (you can read about that here).

The breadmaker has paid for itself already. But I realized there were other benefits to making my own bread.

You may keep your kitchen cleaner

When I got my new machine, I made sure to stay in the kitchen the first few times I made bread. My first machine kneaded itself off the counter, and I wanted to make sure that didn’t happen again.

I had the machine knead French bread for me. As the recipe called for, I finished the bread in the oven. That let me shape a lovely loaf.

While the machine did its thing, I gave the kitchen a long-overdue cleaning. As time went on and I made more bread, the kitchen stayed cleaner, so I moved on to preparing food — roasting pumpkin seeds that had been in the fridge for a while and making sauce from frozen cranberries.

These days, I stay in the kitchen for about a half-hour to start making bread. That’s enough time to keep things tidy.

Bread machines subtract the work from breadmaking while adding joy

I often make a double batch of French bread, and I use my breadmaker strictly to knead the dough. But I don’t mind shaping the dough and setting a timer for the first and second rises and baking. As long as the machine does the kneading — which is the gnarliest part of breadmaking — I’m good.

If you let the machine do everything, you just need to be in the kitchen about a half-hour to make sure the loaf is well on its way. You’ll probably want to stay home for the next few hours so you can take the loaf out when it’s done, but there’s not much actual work involved.

So you get to feel a sense of accomplishment and enjoy the heavenly scent and taste of fresh-baked bread.

You can make bread with specialty flours, including ancient wheat

Gluten-free bread is costly (around $7 at the Walmart near me), and a significant number of buyers complain their pricey gluten-free loaves are moldy. You’re better off making your own bread that you know is fresh out of the machine. You can experiment with different recipes to find the one you prefer.

I haven’t felt the need to go gluten-free, but I am interested in making bread with ancient wheat. Ancient wheat varieties have less gluten than modern varieties, and many people consider them healthier. The science behind ancient wheat sounds compelling, and I’d like to try ancient wheat flour soon.

The cheapest price I’ve found for ancient wheat is about $4 per pound here. At about 3.5 cups of flour per loaf, you’d pay around $8 per loaf. That’s a decent price for such specialized bread. Still, that’s a bit expensive for me, so I’ll bake ancient wheat loaves when I’m a bit richer.

But making bread entirely with ancient wheat isn’t just about money. That kind of bread is hard to find locally or online at any price.

Again, the most reliable way to make sure you always have a fresh loaf of ancient grain bread made with your preferred recipe is to make your own.

Breadmaking can be a family activity

As chores go, making bread is fun and easy. So your partner or child may be willing to take on the task of making bread for the family.

Your required participation is to unfailingly admire the loaf and comment on how delicious it is. How hard is that?

Bread is a thoughtful gift

A handyman recently came to fix a thermostat and do some repairs. On the ride to Home Depot, I learned that the handyman, a civil engineer by training, is a Ukrainian refugee with 5-year-old twin boys and a 3-year-old daughter. He’s been in Houston for two months.

Of course, I paid the handyman for his work, but I wanted to give him a small gift that would communicate love and care. When I spotted the loaf of bread that I’d baked and sliced up the day before, I realized that was the heartfelt gift I was looking for. Hopefully, the bread will nourish the spirits and bodies of the handyman and his family.

Wrapping everything up

If the idea making your own bread, even in a bread machine, feels like drudgery, don’t do it. Save a few dollars elsewhere. But if you like the idea, there are lots of reasons making your own bread in a bread machine makes sense.

Bread machines make it fun for you, and maybe your family, to make bread. You’ll enjoy mouthwatering aromas and healthy, fresh, one-of-a-kind breads.

And it’s easy to whip up an extra loaf to spread the love.

Bon appetit!

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This post was previously published on medium.com.

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