price of bread and flour

Shop bread (especially sliced and wrapped) will tend to go mouldy before it goes stale. I have yet to see a mouldy piece of home-made bread and the stale crusts can always be used for breadcrumbs, croutons or bread-and-butter puddings (I like to make a bacon, cheese and leek bread-and-butter pudding).

If you bake cakes and pastries, you have all the equipment you need. Bread is actually very simple to make. It takes longer than the average cake because you have to let the dough rise before baking but, otherwise, it is extremely simple. You will need a 'stronger' flour than is used for cakes. 'All-purpose' flour (as sold in the US) will do at a pinch but you get better results by using a flour marked 'Bread' flour or 'Strong' flour. This contains more gluten and is made from a different variety of wheat. You will also need yeast (which is often sold dried in sachets), though you can make 'sour-dough' bread which just uses whatever yeasts are floating around in the atmosphere. These are NOT harmful yeasts or anything to do with the yeasts that cause yeast infections! Flour, yeast, water, a little oil or butter and a little salt and sugar are all that you need for a basic bread. The whole secret of making bread is in the kneading (something you would NEVER do if you want light pastry!) Once you have mixed the dough thoroughly, you put it on a convenient flat surface and work it HARD for 10 minutes with the heels of your hands. Many people love this bit because they can release all their angers and frustrations! Then you leave it covered in a warm place to rise. Some people like to knead it for 5 minutes again and let it rise once more but I often merely press it down a bit, divide it into whatever sizes I want and bake at 200C/400F for between 10 minutes (for rolls) and 20 minutes or so for a loaf. When you can pick the bread up (in a cloth, of course - it's hot!) and knocking the bottom of the loaf gives a hollow sound, it's done.