Baking bread at home is more expensive than you think. Here's why (2024)

Mary Grace Quigley started baking bread during the lockdowns in 2020 andhasn't stopped.

She enjoys the process and the reward at the end. But it's also saved her money.

"I would always buy sourdough bread from small bakeries. That would be $8 per loaf, and I eat quite a lot of bread, so that was a relatively large expense," she says

"Making my own sourdough has been amazing. I think I've saved so much money."

But when you factor in the labour involved, baking at home might not be as financially attractive as it seems.

How much it costs to bake a loaf of bread

To make a basic loaf ofbreadyou need flour, water, salt and something to make the bread rise. (You can use yeast or a starter if you're baking sourdough.)

Mary Grace estimates the ingredients for aloaf will cost somewhere between $1 and $1.50.

She typically bakes sourdough bread with a mixture of baker's flour and rye flour, which costs her $1.15 per loaf,including a bag.

You can bake bread with regular plain flour from the supermarket, Mary Grace says, providing it's got enough protein. (She recommends looking for flour with at least nine grams of protein per 100 grams.)

But if you opt for a special bread flour, it may cost you more.

But what about the time involved?

Mary Grace alsolooked at how long it would take her to bake a batch of 12 loaves of sourdough.

She estimated it would take about eight hours of work, including one and a half hours of baking time.

Excluding the time in the oven, Mary Grace's labour would be worth about $130 at the minimum wage of $20.33 per hour.

That works out to $11 per loaf, or $12.15 after including the ingredients.

Because it's more efficient to cook in batches, baking a single loaf is far more expensive.

Mary Grace estimates it would still take about 1.5 hours of work, and another hour of baking time. That would put the cost of the loaf at over $30.

There are a few caveats.

First, if you enjoy baking, you might not be too concerned about the time involved.

Second, bread is made in steps — it won't always require your undivided attention.

"I always say it's not your time, it's the bread's time it's taking," Mary Grace says.

Finally, the labour costs do not factor in the time it takes for bread to proof (rise).

All up, it can take anywhere from two hours to three days to produce a loaf of bread, depending on the recipe you're following.

While it's not cheaper, there are other benefits to baking your own

After factoring in the time involved, it's clear that baking bread at home is unlikely to be economical, especially if you're happy with a $2 sandwich loaf from the supermarket.

However, that doesn't mean you shouldn't give it a go. For Mary Grace, the process is rewarding in itself.

"Every time you have the loaf … I'm still like, 'Oh my goodness, I've made that'," she says.

"It's never worn off for me. I also really enjoy the meditative aspect of it — it's a simple and tactile process.

"You don't have to think too much … [but] it occupies your mind. I'm not looking at my phone, or [thinking about] all the other things I have to do.

"At the end, you get a really nice reward — and you can share it with people."