Reporter Alice Sjoberg shares how she hasn’t bought bread in months by making her own homemade sourdough using a simple no-knead method to save money during the cost of living crisis
The ongoing Cost of Living crisis has seen bills and prices of everyday essentials soar, with over 59% of UK households reporting rising costs in February 2026. As a result, many people are desperately seeking ways to cut expenditure wherever possible, whether that’s reducing energy bills or rethinking their weekly food shop.
This might mean switching to budget supermarkets or choosing own-brand products over their pricier branded counterparts. My boyfriend and I have found our own money-saving strategies, one of which involves ditching shop-bought bread from our weekly grocery run and making our own instead. As we both work full-time, spending hours in the kitchen kneading dough simply isn’t a realistic option for either of us. However, we’ve discovered a virtually fool proof method of baking bread that can be done while we’re both at work.
It all boils down to one remarkable kitchen appliance that has rapidly become an absolute favourite in our household — the bread maker, which we received as a housewarming gift from my boyfriend’s family after it had been gathering dust in a cupboard.
We quickly discovered just how easy and uncomplicated bread-making could be, as all that’s required is adding the ingredients into the accompanying bowl and leaving it to complete the selected programme. By the time you return, a perfectly baked fresh loaf is sitting there waiting for you.
The bread machine also arrived with a handy recipe book offering a wide selection of breads, pastries and even pizza dough, each with their own dedicated settings. Having already had a sourdough starter to hand, we discovered a method to make sourdough baking easier than ever before.
How to make sourdough bread in a bread maker
Simply pour two cups of warm water and a quarter cup of melted butter into the bread maker bowl. For a dairy-free alternative, margarine or any other oil works just as well.
Once all the ingredients are in – resist the urge to mix! Place the bowl into the bread maker and select the dough setting. After mixing and once it begins to rise, transfer it to an oven preheated to around 30 degrees, which considerably speeds up the proving process.
Being sourdough, it requires a lengthier rise until it doubles in size. Placing it in a warm oven accelerates this considerably. For a standard yeast loaf, however, this step isn’t required, as the bread maker alone will suffice.
Once the dough has doubled in size, score the surface to encourage proper expansion during baking, then return it to the bread maker to bake.
Every bread maker varies slightly, but for sourdough, a baking time of 50-55 minutes achieves a beautifully even, golden-brown crust throughout. Once finished, remove it from the machine and turn it out from the bread bowl.
The tricky bit comes next — you’ll need to allow it to cool completely before slicing, or you risk ending up with a rubbery loaf. Once it has cooled down sufficiently, you can tuck into your freshly baked bread.
