Energy Consumption of Bread Makers

I got to wondering about the energy consumption of bread makers while thinking through some of the likely ramifications for rising food prices, etc.  There is already a trend back toward more home grown foods and saving money from make it yourself.  Making bread is a clear candidate for a major revival, since the resulting bread is usually superior to store bought bread.  (I will note that some of the local bakeries make superior bread, but it is much more expensive than the home made.)  It was a dreary cold rainy day, so I dusted off the bread maker, plugged it into my recording power meter, and made a loaf.

A 2 pound loaf bread machine consumes about 1/3 of a kwh making a loaf of bread.  So, it's less than 10 cents/loaf.  I'm not sure how flour prices and the like will shift, but I think most people will be finding it less expensive to make their own bread than buy it in a store.  I doubt that the cost savings will ever recover the cost of a bread making machine, but it does taste better.

Comments

[Gila]

Someone gifted us with a breadmaker a couple of years ago and our experience mirrored your description, plus a few surprises.

As expected, we're at a point where we only purchase store-bought bread a very few times a year under exceptional circumstances. Also as expected, the bread we do consume is made of considerably healthier ingredients, not just free of preservatives but because adding in various grains and seeds is pretty simple. Another expected benefit is that it is improving our capacity to cook healthful meals at home even during the busiest times -- like the rice cooker it can be set on a timer, and a vegetable or seafood stew for dinner accompanied by delicious rice, bread or quinoa requires negligible time and effort. Actually easier than deciding on takeout or reaching for junk food.

Some of the things that surprised us though is how much of a treat home-made bread can be to friends -- a good friend is so allergic to peanuts that she can't buy store-bought baguette or rolls because they're stored out in the open where peanut dust might get on them. But I can *make* baguette for her and when comes over for dinner it's an extra special treat.

Another surprise was the demystification of the bread-making process that the bread machine taught us. In fact, we only used it two or three times before I realized exactly how bread worked and it turned out to be easier to make it by hand now that I had confidence in the "science". We still use it sometimes so that a fresh loaf can be waiting for us when we get home at the end of the day, but for most days I knead up my dough by hand, providing me with even more flexibility to explore types of loaves that require more steps, like rice-based dough, beer-based dough, dough with additions that the breadmaker can't handle even on the "special" cycle -- sauteed onions and olives and such don't go in the bread machine as nicely as raisins and nuts do.

Either way, it is definitely an empowering, affordable, and conscientious thing to do.

[fairhavenhorn]

Letting the rice soak for a few hours also saves energy. The Koreans analyzed this and found that it reduced energy consumption by 10%. In a country where almost every meal involves rice and almost everyone now uses a rice cooker, this makes a difference.