I bought a $60 bread machine at a thrift store on a whim. I was not a bread person. I did not have a sourdough starter named Gerald. I just wanted to stop paying $5.50 for a decent loaf of sandwich bread that went stale in three days.

The machine paid for itself in seven weeks.

The Math

A loaf of basic whole wheat sandwich bread at my grocery store: $4.99. A five-pound bag of bread flour: $3.29. A jar of yeast: $5.99 (lasts months). Salt, sugar, oil: pennies per loaf. Total cost per homemade loaf: about $0.80. Savings per loaf: about $4. Two loaves a week saves $8. In two months: $64 saved — the machine already paid for.

The Dump-and-Forget Method

I do not knead anything. The machine does it. Ingredients go in — wet first, dry on top, yeast in a little well on top of the flour so it does not touch the liquid until mixing starts. Press the “basic” button. Three hours later: a loaf of bread. Ten minutes of actual effort, most of which is measuring flour.

Beyond Sandwich Bread

The machine makes pizza dough — seven ingredients, 45 minutes on the dough cycle, stretch it out and top it. Dinner for four costs about $6 total. It makes cinnamon roll dough, dinner rolls, and bagel dough. I have not bought packaged bread products in six months.

The thrift store machine lasted two years before the belt wore out. I replaced it with a new one for $75. Still cheaper than six months of store-bought bread.