April 15, 2009 - 5:30pm
How much to charge for a loaf of sourdough bread?
I have shared my sourdough breads with a tight circle of people i.e. school, work, etc. Now some of these people are asking me to bake breads and they will buy from me. I am not going to operate a bakery; just to bake a few extra loaves each weekend to provide for those who have asked. I will make sourdough French long loaf and sourdough wheat sandwich bread because I make these two every week for my family anyway. I just don't know how much I should charge them. What would be reasonble for a loaf of sourdough French bread or sourdough wheat sandwich loaf?
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A couple of questions towards answering your question.
What is the final baked weight of the loaf?
Is the flour organic?
Jeff
In Sonoma County, artisan bread goes for $5 - $6 dollars a loaf. Don't think I've ever seen anything about "organic" on the label though, just "artisan".
--Pamela
Jeff, I am not exactly sure of the weight because I have never weighed them. The loaves I gave out were smaller, maybe 3/4 of the size of what you would get from a grocery store. I could make bread size to fit their needs i.e. a couple without children only wants a loaf smaller so it will not last over one week. A family with two children would like to have a loaf large enough to feed the parents and the kids. The ingredients I use will not be organic because organic flour is very expensive in this area. I could buy organic wheat berries and grind the flour but it would increase the cost as well. I don't really have a solid idea how to do this but having a rough idea on how much to charge them will allow me to make a decision if it's even worth the time making the extras for sale.
The other factor that I forgot to ask is your location. L.A., Chicago, and New York will command higher prices than Greenville, Podunk, and Springfield. Having said that I would say $4.00 minimum and up to $6.00 depending n your area for a 24 ounce loaf. I am in the middle of nowhere (Podunk) in the Midwest and $4.50-$5.00 seems to be the going rate.
I am curious to hear what such a loaf sells for in other areas.
Jeff
Rather than charge you could also trade for something you'd like in return. I ran out of preserves and live in a rural area where many people makes jam and cans fruit, so I trade bread for jam. So far I've received organic peach, chokecherry, apricot, and saskatoon berry.
Good bread here is expensive, which is why I started to bake it again. A good loaf now starts from 5.50 - 7.00 CAD, with the supermarket stuff not much cheaper...
I would charge market rates for good bread - what you pay for it (if you can find it). Less if you like the person or if money is tight for them.
Here in North Podunk my prices range from $4.25 for a sour white to $4.75 for sour rye (24 oz. loaves). For a six pack of 3 oz rolls I charge $3.50.
-Mark
http://TheBackHomeBakery.com
Here in the UK the prices are similar. A standard loaf is about GBP 2.80 = USD 4.20 at today's exchange rate. In London one shop bakes the very large French (about 18 inch dia or 3-4 kg) loaves and they sell for about GBP 10 = USD 15, or they will sell you a half or quarter loaf pro rata.
Seems as if the going rate is aboout the same everywhere, but I like the idea of trading for other home made produce.
Will you, perhaps, need a permit or license to sell bread? And will that pave the way for inspection by health authorities? I have no idea, but it's something to keep in mind. Bartering may get around that.
only a few extra loaves a week? How about they buy you a 5lb bag of KA or whatever other flour in your local market you might use. They would get wonderful bread and you would have your flour supply provided and then some.
Betty
Betty, that's an interesting suggestion. I will give it some throughs. These people are pretty well off and I am sure they don't mind if I charge them or ask them to buy me flour etc. We only have one place where you can get organic flour. I will see what they want to do then we will go from there. Thanks for the suggestiion.
Thank you very much for all your inputs.
Merrybaker, I won't be selling breads to the general public; only to those who have tried my breads and wanted to have more yet don't want to feel guilty for taking it for free. These are people I know from my son's school and people at work. They will be giving me cash and there won't be receipts involved. So I won't need a permit and Health Canada probably won't come down on me for a few loaves of breads sold to people I know.
Celestica, what part of Canada are you from? I am in Calgary and breads here are not exactly cheap. I went to a special store in the NW this morning to just check out their price. Pretty much the same as you've mentioned, somewhere between $5.90 and $7.00 a loaf. I tasted their breads and I was not too impressed. No wonder my friends want to buy breads from me.
I don't think I will be making $$ from selling a few loaves of bread each week. But I like the idea of being to able to try different things because now that there are more than three people (my husband, my son, and myself) eating the breads I make. I won't be selling anything maybe until this Fall but I am already feeling pretty excited and the thought of making different breads makes my hands itch!
Nothing like batering; loaf of bread for a bottle of wine. Better yet, sharing a loaf of my bread with someone who is willing to share their bottle of wine. Perhaps a third person joins us with a bit of cheese, some good butter, a nice bottle of olive oil, etc.
Enjoy a meal, make new friends, share good conversation. It's a beautiful thing.
wow Celestica, that's some place. Calgary is getting way too big these days. But again, I can never live in a place too far away from a major town. I am a city slicker, you can say. But I like the idea of being able to support ourselves during emergency. So we have a food storage in our basement. Have enough wheat and other stuff that will keep us a live for at least 6 months, if we got cut off. self sufficiency is a good thing.