Made my 50th loaf of bread today in the bread machine. Store-bought bread averages about $2.50 a loaf, so 50 loaves would be $125. Bread machine cost $100 and I figure the flour and other ingredients for those was well under $25.

Here’s to 50 more loaves of fresh baked bread.

    • Iced Raktajino@startrek.websiteOP
      8·
      13 days ago

      Costs about 17 cents per loaf in electricity, and my power rate is pretty high at $0.25/kWh.

      1. Blend: 7 minutes @ 100W (0.1 KW x 0.12 hours = 0.012 kWh). I’m being generous here since this is just an intermittent blend and the motor pulses slowly and doesn’t use 100 watts for the whole cycle).
      2. Rest: 1 minute @ 0W
      3. Mix: 25 minutes @ 100 W (0.1 KW X 0.42 hours = 0.042 kWh)
      4. Proof 1: 58 minutes @ 50W (0.05 X 0.97 hours = 0.05 kWh)
      5. Proof 2: 50 minutes @ 50W (0.05 x 0.83 hours = 0.04 kWh)
      6. Bake: 50 minutes @ 650 W (0.65 x 0.83 hours = 0.54 kWh)
      7. Keep Warm: I never use this, but up to an hour at probably 100 watts. (0.1 KW x 1 hour = 0.1 kWh)

      Total: 0.684 kWh x $0.25/kWh = $0.17 per loaf ($0.20 per loaf if I use the keep warm feature for the full hour).

      For comparison, the regular oven is 4400 watts and takes 10 minutes just to pre-heat. That’s $0.18 cents in electricity cost before I even bake the bread.

      • debris_slide@lemmy.world
        2·
        12 days ago

        Thanks for doing the math. That’s really interesting. If we don’t count labor costs, electricity makes up about 40% of the cost of a loaf of bread. However, if you didn’t have a bread maker and just used your oven, it would take much longer to recoup your investment. I love how efficient that machine is.