Budget Cooking, Cooking

Baking Bread

2 Comments

Sliced Loaf of Bread

I like to make my own bread for a couple of reasons. It is cheaper, easy to do, I know what is going into to it and it tastes better. First the cheaper.  The cheapest loaf I can buy locally is $1.49 for a 350g loaf. The recipe I use makes two 700 g loafs.  I use weights in the recipe because it allows we to adjust things easily and makes it easier to get the ingredients.

Ingredients

Ingredient Last Purchase Price Cost in Recipe
495g Milk $4.08/4 litres $0.51
58g Margarine $6.49/3lb box $0.27
24g Lemon juice n/a n/a
51g sugar $11.15/10KG bag $0.06
10g salt n/a n/a
420g Whole Wheat Flour $11.15/10kg bag $0.47
300g Flour $11.15/10kg bag $0.34
9g Yeast $5.69/113g bottle $0.45
50g Ground Chia Seeds $14.95/500g bag $1.50

Total cost with Chia is $3.60 for 2 700g loaves, $1.80 per loaf, $0.90 for and equivalent 350g loaf.
Total cost without the Chia is $2.10 for 2 700 g loaves, $1.05 per loaf, $0.53 for an equivalent 350g loaf.
NOTE: If you remove the chia you need to add 50g of flour preferably the whole wheat.

I like adding the chia in as it is an excellent source of Omega 3, fiber and many other good things.

I make a 3lb batch in a 2lb Bread Machine set to dough only.  That way it does all the mixing, kneading and rising on its own.  I then take out the dough and divide it equally between two pans using the scale. This gives me nicely shaped loaves. Role into loaf shapes and place in the loaf pans.  Pour some olive oil over the loafs and run it round the loaf and the side of the pan. Let rise for 45 minutes then bake for 35 minute in a 375deg oven.

Tips: I cut of the ends of the bread and either cut it into cube for stuffing or toast it and run it through a food processor for bread crumbs both I keep in the freezer.

Baked Loaf of BreadTime commitment

8 minutes to measure the ingredients and set up the machine. (I use a digital scale with the insert on the scale and just keep zeroing the scale for each ingredient.)

2 hour wait for the maching to do its bit.

5 minutes to shape the loaf and put in pans.

1.5 house wait for it to rise and bake.

5 minutes to slice, freeze one loaf and deal with the ends.

3 minute to wash everything.

Total 21 minute of actual work and 3.5 hours of waiting and doing other things.

Budget Cooking, Cupboard finds

Pork Souvlaki

2 Comments

Pork Souvlaki

My First twitter follower asked me for this recipe but its a bit of a cheat.  It started with finding a bottle of Souvlaki Marinade in the cupboard.  I have a $100 per week grocery budget to feed five so normally I would make my own marinade.  Search google for Souvlaki Marinade and take your pick they are all cheaper than the bottle.  I will certainly be making this again this summer and I will pick and probably alter some recipe and post it here with how it came out.  The  Tzatziki on the other I have made before without good results.  The trick is to buy Greek Yogurt it is much thicker and to salt and drain your cucumbers.  For me Greek Yogurt is only available at a specialty store and at a price that I mine as well buy the Tzatziki.  I bought the cheapest pork I could find at the store, bone in pork steak.

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs bone in pork steaks
  • 1 bottle Souvlaki Marinade
  • 1 Red Pepper
  • 1 Zucchini
  • Olive oil
  • Tzatziki
  • Pita bread

Instructions

  • De-bone it and cut it into cubes.
  • Put it in a ziplock bag with the marinade.  Put it in the fridge. I did this first thing in the morning so it marinaded for about 8 hours.
  • Soak Skewers in water to keep them from burning. (I didn’t soak enough of them)
  • Cut the Red Pepper in to 1 inch squares
  • Cut the Zucchini into thick slice.
  • Toss the Red Pepper and Zucchini in some olive oil.
  • Feed the meat and veggies on to the skewers.  Mine have only one veggie per skewer due to the various personal preferences.
  • Preheat the BBQ on high.
  • Start on high turning frequently to searing and get that nice brown crispy bits on the meat.
  • Turn down the BBQ to low and finish cooking until the veggie are soft and the meat is cooked through.
  • At the last minute throw the pita on the warming rack to warm through.

Enjoy.

Tips, Tricks and Humor of Being a House Husband