Bread is ridiculously expensive. Making it is easier than I thought.

I've been experimenting with Artisan Bread in Five Minutes lately. I've been using the basic recipe from food.com, but I really should buy the book at this point, because I looked through it at a book store and it has other recipes and a lot of great advice. It's been out since 2007, so there are used copies on Amazon for a couple bucks. There's also a new a new version out that has even more recipes, though it's expensive and there aren't very cheap used versions out yet.

I haven't calculated the cost of making bread, though I seem to remember the book getting into that. Just roughly estimating it, the recipe requires 6.5 cups of flour (about 1.5 pounds) and two packets of yeast. Oh, and 1.5 tablespoons of salt. That's like $1.50 worth of ingredients without getting them on sale and/or couponing, and it makes four one-pound loaves. So, about 50 cents for a loaf of nice bread, which can be three or four dollars at a bakery or supermarket. The thing with this method is that you make a giant batch of dough that you can keep in the fridge and use for a week or two, so you can also pull out a chunk and make pizza on it.