Calculating the Cost of homemade Sourdough: A Breakdown

bubbly sourdough slices - looking at the cost of baking a loaf of Sourdough bread at home — The cost of baking a loaf of Sourdough bread at home

What is the cost of baking Sourdough bread at home?

To estimate the cost of baking sourdough at home: a breakdown of the cost of a loaf in 2024, including the cost of electricity, we can break it down into key components:

1. Ingredients

Flour: For an 800g loaf, approximately 500g of flour is required. Using current prices (£1.30 per 1.5kg), the cost of flour is about 43p.
Salt: A teaspoon of salt costs around 1p.
Water: Negligible cost, estimated at 1p.
Starter: Made from flour and water; the cost is already included in the flour price.

2. Electricity

Baking a sourdough loaf typically involves heating an oven to around 220°C and baking for approximately 45–50 minutes. The average electric oven uses 2–2.5 kWh for this duration.

Electricity Cost per kWh: Based on current UK electricity rates (about 33p per kWh in 2024), this would cost approximately 66p–82.5p.

3. Total Estimated Cost

Ingredients: 45p
Electricity: 75p (average of the range)
Total Cost: Approximately £1.20 per 800g loaf.

Cost of homemade Sourdough is more economical when you bake 4 loaves together at the same time.

If you bake 4 loaves of sourdough at the same time, the cost of electricity is shared across the loaves, while the ingredient cost remains proportional. Here’s the breakdown:

1. Ingredients for 4 Loaves

Flour: Each loaf uses 500g, so 2kg is required. At £1.30 per 1.5kg, the cost for 2kg is approximately £1.73.
Salt: About 4 teaspoons for all loaves, costing 4p.
Water: Negligible, approximately 4p total.

Total Ingredient Cost for 4 Loaves: £1.81.

2. Electricity for 4 Loaves

Baking multiple loaves doesn’t significantly increase oven usage, so the electricity cost remains the same as for one baking session. Using the earlier calculation:

Electricity Cost: Approximately 75p.

3. Total Cost

Ingredients: £1.81
Electricity: 75p

Total for 4 Loaves: £2.56
Cost per Loaf: £2.56 ÷ 4 = 64p per loaf

Summary

Baking 4 loaves at once reduces the cost per loaf significantly due to the shared electricity cost, bringing it down to 64p per loaf.

The cost of Flour

This estimate may vary slightly depending on local electricity tariffs, oven efficiency, and ingredient prices. Baking multiple loaves at once could reduce the per-loaf electricity cost significantly.

The Sourdough School is a social enterprise. Our mission to change the way we bake and eat bread has been central to our approach from the day we opened.

The cost of flour is shaped by a complex web of factors, with Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic playing significant roles in recent years. Brexit has introduced customs checks, tariffs, and logistical delays, disrupting the flow of imports and exports, particularly for flour reliant on Canadian and American wheat. Meanwhile, the pandemic exacerbated existing issues, from HGV driver shortages to global shipping container scarcities. These disruptions, combined with weather-related crop failures, have strained supply chains and driven up costs. Flour remains central to the UK’s food production, and while solutions like revising trade rules exist, addressing these challenges is essential to stabilise prices and ensure the industry’s resilience.

Other factors to consider when it comes to the cost of homemade sourdough:

Sourdough is not made without significant investment in your time and effort, and equipment, but we think it is the healthiest bread to bake and this is our basic sourdough recipe which has always been open to all. You can find more of our sourdough recipes here.

The cost of flour has risen steadily over the years.

This feature was first published in January 2011

First published in January 2011 – there was a huge jump in the cost of flour and each year since I have updated the price of flour every year since – last updated January 2019 we look a the cost of flour and to bake one loaf.

January’s a hard month for many and I wanted to revisit the real cost of sourdough.

Sourdough has a reputation of being the preserve of the wealthy. This goes against everything I believe in, so this post is about dispelling this myth. The barrier to making sourdough is not financial, it’s knowledge. The ingredients are the most humble and affordable that money can buy.

Whist sourdough in artisan bakeries can be expensive to buy, it is not expensive to bake. The ingredients of sourdough are flour, water, salt and sourdough starter, which is made up of flour and water.

I’ve always believed that everybody should have bread that nourishes.

That it’s more than just bread. Bread is something that draws us all together, bread has no boundaries, no borders.
That sharing knowledge and creating a beautiful disruption around our current approach to bread has the power to create great change.
That bread is about connection – to yourself, to touch, breath, smell, feel, taste and familiarity. To the soil, the sun, the wind, the fields, farmer, to the mill & to our bread. To our family, community, the people we live our lives intertwined with. It’s purity, a rhythm, a desire to create, transform, bake, nourish, share and repeat
Bread that nourishes, like fresh air and clean water is a basic human right

So I’ve looked about at the price of various flour, and bags of strong white start from as little as 75p in Aldi (2012).

Cost of Flour January 2019 update

I checked the prices in the two local supermarkets today and called both supermarkets to verify prices.
Strong white flour and wholemeal is currently just 59p in both Lidl and Aldi. This is 16p cheaper than in 2012.
This year Aldi listed a special Mathew’s organic wholemeal flour at £1.59, the wholemeal Rye flour was selling at £1.25 and the Spelt flour was priced at £1.25.
So the cost of an 800g home-baked sourdough loaf could be as little as 20p.
Click here for my basic sourdough recipe.

Cost of Flour Updated in April 2023,

Four years later and the cost of bread has more than doubled. As of April 2023, a 1.5 kg bag of strong white bread flour is available for £1.30, Asda. To make an 800g home-baked sourdough loaf using 500g of flour, the cost will be approximately 43p, considering the flour and yeast prices.

Cost of Bread Flour – December 2025

Cost of Flour – Updated December 2024

As of December 2024, the cost of a 1.5kg bag of strong white bread flour is £1.30 at Asda. Using 500g of flour for an 800g home-baked sourdough loaf, the approximate cost remains as low as 43p, considering current flour and ingredient prices.

All reasonable care is taken when writing about health aspects of bread, but the information it contains is not intended to take the place of treatment by a qualified medical practitioner. You must seek professional advice if you are in any doubt about any medical condition. Any application of the ideas and information contained on this website is at the reader's sole discretion and risk.