More bread, less dough

$7.00 for a basic loaf of ready-made gluten-free bread? For realz? Who’s buying bread for that kind of cash money? The only way you do that is if money is no object for you (and may I be the first to say, I’m jealous of people like that — but I’m not proud of it), or if you don’t know that there is another option within reach. That kind of $7.00 bread habit is just not sustainable on a Shoestring budget. And even the good gluten-free breads don’t hold a candle to the fresh-baked, homemade stuff.

Let’s face it. It’s time for an intervention. Step away from the overpriced bread.

I’ve previously listed a recipe for tasty Tom’s Sandwich Bread. You know that. But what you don’t know is that it’s magic dough. The other day, someone on the GFOAS Facebook Page asked for a good hamburger/hot dog bun recipe. She wanted some nice buns. As I was trying to dream up a recipe for some nice buns (because, really, who doesn’t like nice buns?), I remembered that I’ve used that same Tom’s bread recipe to make great rolls, too. (How many more times can I make the nice buns joke?)

Here’s what I’ve done to convert the Tom’s Bread dough into rolls. It’s super simple: Just mix up a batch, and scoop mounds of bread dough with a 1 1/2” diameter ice cream scooper (or larger if you prefer), an inch or so apart, on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Place in a draft-free, warm space to rise for about 45 minutes (perhaps less), and bake at 375 degrees for about 15-20 minutes. It really doesn’t take much more time than that.

Another way to make more bread with less dough is to be smart about how you shop for ingredients. Gluten-free flours are definitely more expensive than conventional flour, but you can find most varieties (rice, garbanzo bean, soy, etc.) for a pretty good price on Amazon.com. Another great way to save is on the other ingredients that go into bread. If you can lower the cost of your eggs and your milk, you can start bringing down your price per loaf right quick. One ingredient that is pretty expensive is yeast. I usually have to spend around $8 for a tiny, 4 ounce jar of Fleischmann’s yeast at my local supermarket. At least it cost less than those individual packets (which I don’t care for anyway, since sometimes I need more or less yeast than the standard 2 ¼ teaspoons), but that’s not enough.

So I called in my husband, Brian. He’s got the gift of google. Here’s what he found: Bob’s Red Mill saves the day. We were able to buy a shelf-stable box of eight, 8-ounce packages (64 ounces total) of Bob’s Red Mill Active Dry Yeast for $25.37 which works out to about 40 cents per ounce. And not only does the yeast get rave reviews on Amazon, but I have used it and I love it, too.

Let them eat … bread.

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