This is from an at-home bakery in rural Alaska. The bread is fine. A few months back, a friend bought one and it was still raw inside. I get it, ingredients are expensive here, but this is madness, right?
by Metridia
35 Comments
yyustin6
Madness
Secret_Explorer6495
Idk if it’s madness since Alaska is mostly rural and hard to reach. For reference the plain sourdough bread I get from my go to at home baker is $10
*edit: this is the price I pay for a HOME baker. I’m from the U.S. and bread is cheaper than this at the grocery store, but that bread is processed sliced bread that lasts for months. This is more common in the US (natures own, etc). I don’t like this kind of bread and try to go for more organic stuff. The grocery stores around me sell little variety/poor quality fresh bread, so I either 1) make my own bread, 2) buy from my neighbor, 3) buy it when I happen to be at wegmans or Whole Foods
Economy_Yogurt_8037
Where I get my bread is in a very expensive region for food. A baguette is $4 there, Sourdough 10, and I think THAT’S high. This is insanity. (I’m in Upstate NY in a bougie little town).
2eDgY4redd1t
How expensive is their rent and utilities? Bakeries use a lot of energy, depending on location it can be a huge expense.
Now, how are their prices compared to the place down the street…. That tells you something too
IllNewspaper2533
In the UK so US bread prices are already insane to me but this is another level! For reference a really good baguette here is max $4 (£3) and a sourdough loaf from a great bakery maybe $6.75 (£5) who can afford this stuff!
FlowerAndGothBabes
I live in california and i charge $10 for all my loaves except those that require eggs or extra like desert loaves.
mcoddle
Artisan-made bread is expensive everywhere. If there’s a scarcity of ingredients in AK, which there is, I’d expect these prices. Really good bread is slightly less expensive where I am, in KY, but a lot of things are less expensive here. Don’t tell anyone.
DoubtfulDouglas
Yeah, if I baked and sold bread at those prices I’d be making below minimum wage after labor hours and ingredient costs are factored in. That is a very reasonable price for homemade bread from scratch. I would never buy bread at that price, because it’s an absurd price. But as someone who sells bread at that price, it’s a sad necessity to not actively lose money whenever selling loaves.
Froggienp
Ummm…I was in downtown Seattle this weekend and there was a coffee shop asking $9 for a latte.
Prices are relative to the cost of living in an area. I would not be shocked if a small batch loaf in Seattle was at least $15-20.
How much is a bag of bread flour? How much is the yeast, etc? Electricity? No way to know without a cost of living scale.
Lagoon___Music
It’s madness if the bread isn’t even that good.
Lots of home//cottage bakers where I live and no one can make the model work charging “reasonable” prices so between that and the crazy cost of living in AK… I’m not surprised to see this.
I’ve seen really high prices like this in the South Pacific, where at least the French government is subsidizing baguettes and butter but the more artisan or specialty stuff is still sky high due to cost of living / ingredients / electricity / etc.
BedroomWonderful7932
Having lived for three years in Hawaii, I have huge sympathy for folks living in AK and the prices they pay for transported staples like bread and milk, not to mention utilities: despite producing a fair bit of energy, Alaskan power prices are among the highest in the US. Bad enough in big cities like Fairbanks, Juneau, and Anchorage, but rural grocery prices and utilities must be a particular nightmare, especially for specialist small batch items like sourdoughs and artesanal breads. A friend of mine in AK has prided herself on learning to hunt and fish since moving there from the New York area, as well as foraging for berries and mushrooms – she says it’s not uncommon for friends to trade the fruits of their labour to keep food costs down. Loaves like these would be a huge luxury.
LeilLikeNeil
I mean, if you wanna calculate out the cost of ingredients, you can do the math pretty easily based on how much flour costs in the area. Hopefully the seller has at least the integrity to offer refunds on failed loaves…
Jearil
I live in a very expensive part of California and make my own bread. The flour (including shipping) is about $1 a loaf. Salt and water are probably pennies.
So the cost would have to mainly be in energy for cooling (fermenting in the fridge) and baking, along with the effort of the baker. I don’t sell my bread because it’s a hobby and wouldn’t be worth my time unless seriously expensive. So I can imagine a quality small batch baker being expensive just for their time.
growagard3n
A Tartine country loaf is $15. And it was still this price (maybe a little more iirc) about 15 years ago. And also why I learned to bake at home about 15 years ago.
But also that bread is special and worth it on occasion — and huge.
ihsulemai
I’d imagine these are dead on given where they’re produced. Even if the grain is coming from Manitoba it’s still so far to travel.
Something_Etc
That’s a lot of dough.
AdDramatic5591
Thats a hell of a lot for a baguette.
Whirlvvind
If this wasn’t for Alaska I’d say yes those prices are ridiculous. But its Alaska, like everything needs to be shipped in by truck so naturally flour is going to be expensive up there. On top of that because of the temps there, keeping sourdough cultures thriving actually requires equipment and so naturally that adds to the costs.
Multilazerboi
I do not think it is crazy for real Alaska
710qu
A loaf of sourdough in Juneau is $10, if it’s rural Alaska, the price makes sense.
Extreme-Edge-9843
Prices look fine, this is their business and this is the cost they think their time and materials are work, whether you think that or not is totally up to you, if you don’t think it is then you should move on.
Hippopotamus_Critic
Best way to deal with overpriced products is to just not buy them. If enough people agree with you, the seller will figure it out soon enough.
txmail
I live in rural East Texas and we have outfits like this pop up all the time. They see some shit on TikTok or Instagram about making bank off of basic cooking and throw up some stuff in the local Facebook groups selling bread for crazy amounts of money, or farm fresh organic eggs for like $2/each.
One of them opened up a bakery in a retail location and the prices were just so far out there that they only lasted a few months. I get the want to get rich doing something you enjoy, but nobody is buying your $5 muffins or $10 loaves of bread in a town where there is a 36% poverty rate and the median household income ins less than $50ik. Most people here are one hospital bill away from being homeless lol.
Lamitamo
Rural Alaska? Totally reasonable. Ingredients are from down south, so they’ve been shipped (or flown) to Alaska, and then likely flown to wherever this person lives. It’s probably competitive pricing compared to a store-bought loaf from down south.
But if it was raw, I’d be mad too.
MissMelines
In NY suburbs some folks are doing this out of their homes especially with the sourdough craze, and yeah, they are priced just about that, most loaves are $15. They make and sell muffins, stickybuns, rolls, cookies too… Sure, it’s literally just baked and made with care and excellent ingredients by a neighbor, but you wouldn’t find me there often, maybe I’d get one loaf for a special occasion. They sell out every week though…
Soft-Ad-746
Bought a well-made vollkornbrot today in western Montana for $16. It used to be $12, but I’m addicted and no longer have the energy to bake my own.
adaorange
Yes. I can get an equivalent loaf for under 8 in west Michigan from Field &Fire
tiktoktic
Depends. I’ve seen similar prices here in Australia.
notyourbuddipal
I thought so at first until I read Alaska, idk the cost of things in the area, but overall I know its typically double of ‘regular’ pays.
sloweducation1
Yes
Spooky_Tree
Normal prices for Washington/Seattle area. Maybe a little higher but that’s to be expected in AK. But the quality being bad isn’t okay.
ashkanahmadi
We have gone a full circle when bread, oysters snd caviar once were considered as poor poor man’s food. Now they are more expensive than regular food!!
Droppin_Bombs
I used to pay $18 back in 2021 for a rosemary garlic sourdough boule. Venice, CA. It was well worth it.
jordo900
Don’t pay it. If we keep paying asinine prices, people will keep charging them.
cool_weed_dad
I mean, you’re in rural Alaska, there’s going to be a huge markup on everything because of how remote it is, especially for luxury items like artisan homemade bread.
Artisan homemade anything is going to be expensive, it doesn’t seem unreasonable considering they likely have a lot of their ingredients shipped in at high cost, and if they have an industrial oven you’re talking thousands at least for a used one plus exorbitant shipping to get it up there.
I’m in rural Vermont and these prices don’t seem too crazy to me. More than what I would pay here but considering the distance and shipping costs seems reasonable.
35 Comments
Madness
Idk if it’s madness since Alaska is mostly rural and hard to reach. For reference the plain sourdough bread I get from my go to at home baker is $10
*edit: this is the price I pay for a HOME baker. I’m from the U.S. and bread is cheaper than this at the grocery store, but that bread is processed sliced bread that lasts for months. This is more common in the US (natures own, etc). I don’t like this kind of bread and try to go for more organic stuff. The grocery stores around me sell little variety/poor quality fresh bread, so I either 1) make my own bread, 2) buy from my neighbor, 3) buy it when I happen to be at wegmans or Whole Foods
Where I get my bread is in a very expensive region for food. A baguette is $4 there, Sourdough 10, and I think THAT’S high. This is insanity. (I’m in Upstate NY in a bougie little town).
How expensive is their rent and utilities? Bakeries use a lot of energy, depending on location it can be a huge expense.
Now, how are their prices compared to the place down the street…. That tells you something too
In the UK so US bread prices are already insane to me but this is another level! For reference a really good baguette here is max $4 (£3) and a sourdough loaf from a great bakery maybe $6.75 (£5) who can afford this stuff!
I live in california and i charge $10 for all my loaves except those that require eggs or extra like desert loaves.
Artisan-made bread is expensive everywhere. If there’s a scarcity of ingredients in AK, which there is, I’d expect these prices. Really good bread is slightly less expensive where I am, in KY, but a lot of things are less expensive here. Don’t tell anyone.
Yeah, if I baked and sold bread at those prices I’d be making below minimum wage after labor hours and ingredient costs are factored in. That is a very reasonable price for homemade bread from scratch. I would never buy bread at that price, because it’s an absurd price. But as someone who sells bread at that price, it’s a sad necessity to not actively lose money whenever selling loaves.
Ummm…I was in downtown Seattle this weekend and there was a coffee shop asking $9 for a latte.
Prices are relative to the cost of living in an area. I would not be shocked if a small batch loaf in Seattle was at least $15-20.
How much is a bag of bread flour? How much is the yeast, etc? Electricity? No way to know without a cost of living scale.
It’s madness if the bread isn’t even that good.
Lots of home//cottage bakers where I live and no one can make the model work charging “reasonable” prices so between that and the crazy cost of living in AK… I’m not surprised to see this.
I’ve seen really high prices like this in the South Pacific, where at least the French government is subsidizing baguettes and butter but the more artisan or specialty stuff is still sky high due to cost of living / ingredients / electricity / etc.
Having lived for three years in Hawaii, I have huge sympathy for folks living in AK and the prices they pay for transported staples like bread and milk, not to mention utilities: despite producing a fair bit of energy, Alaskan power prices are among the highest in the US. Bad enough in big cities like Fairbanks, Juneau, and Anchorage, but rural grocery prices and utilities must be a particular nightmare, especially for specialist small batch items like sourdoughs and artesanal breads. A friend of mine in AK has prided herself on learning to hunt and fish since moving there from the New York area, as well as foraging for berries and mushrooms – she says it’s not uncommon for friends to trade the fruits of their labour to keep food costs down. Loaves like these would be a huge luxury.
I mean, if you wanna calculate out the cost of ingredients, you can do the math pretty easily based on how much flour costs in the area. Hopefully the seller has at least the integrity to offer refunds on failed loaves…
I live in a very expensive part of California and make my own bread. The flour (including shipping) is about $1 a loaf. Salt and water are probably pennies.
So the cost would have to mainly be in energy for cooling (fermenting in the fridge) and baking, along with the effort of the baker. I don’t sell my bread because it’s a hobby and wouldn’t be worth my time unless seriously expensive. So I can imagine a quality small batch baker being expensive just for their time.
A Tartine country loaf is $15. And it was still this price (maybe a little more iirc) about 15 years ago. And also why I learned to bake at home about 15 years ago.
But also that bread is special and worth it on occasion — and huge.
I’d imagine these are dead on given where they’re produced. Even if the grain is coming from Manitoba it’s still so far to travel.
That’s a lot of dough.
Thats a hell of a lot for a baguette.
If this wasn’t for Alaska I’d say yes those prices are ridiculous. But its Alaska, like everything needs to be shipped in by truck so naturally flour is going to be expensive up there. On top of that because of the temps there, keeping sourdough cultures thriving actually requires equipment and so naturally that adds to the costs.
I do not think it is crazy for real Alaska
A loaf of sourdough in Juneau is $10, if it’s rural Alaska, the price makes sense.
Prices look fine, this is their business and this is the cost they think their time and materials are work, whether you think that or not is totally up to you, if you don’t think it is then you should move on.
Best way to deal with overpriced products is to just not buy them. If enough people agree with you, the seller will figure it out soon enough.
I live in rural East Texas and we have outfits like this pop up all the time. They see some shit on TikTok or Instagram about making bank off of basic cooking and throw up some stuff in the local Facebook groups selling bread for crazy amounts of money, or farm fresh organic eggs for like $2/each.
One of them opened up a bakery in a retail location and the prices were just so far out there that they only lasted a few months. I get the want to get rich doing something you enjoy, but nobody is buying your $5 muffins or $10 loaves of bread in a town where there is a 36% poverty rate and the median household income ins less than $50ik. Most people here are one hospital bill away from being homeless lol.
Rural Alaska? Totally reasonable. Ingredients are from down south, so they’ve been shipped (or flown) to Alaska, and then likely flown to wherever this person lives. It’s probably competitive pricing compared to a store-bought loaf from down south.
But if it was raw, I’d be mad too.
In NY suburbs some folks are doing this out of their homes especially with the sourdough craze, and yeah, they are priced just about that, most loaves are $15. They make and sell muffins, stickybuns, rolls, cookies too… Sure, it’s literally just baked and made with care and excellent ingredients by a neighbor, but you wouldn’t find me there often, maybe I’d get one loaf for a special occasion. They sell out every week though…
Bought a well-made vollkornbrot today in western Montana for $16. It used to be $12, but I’m addicted and no longer have the energy to bake my own.
Yes. I can get an equivalent loaf for under 8 in west Michigan from Field &Fire
Depends. I’ve seen similar prices here in Australia.
I thought so at first until I read Alaska, idk the cost of things in the area, but overall I know its typically double of ‘regular’ pays.
Yes
Normal prices for Washington/Seattle area. Maybe a little higher but that’s to be expected in AK. But the quality being bad isn’t okay.
We have gone a full circle when bread, oysters snd caviar once were considered as poor poor man’s food. Now they are more expensive than regular food!!
I used to pay $18 back in 2021 for a rosemary garlic sourdough boule. Venice, CA. It was well worth it.
Don’t pay it. If we keep paying asinine prices, people will keep charging them.
I mean, you’re in rural Alaska, there’s going to be a huge markup on everything because of how remote it is, especially for luxury items like artisan homemade bread.
Artisan homemade anything is going to be expensive, it doesn’t seem unreasonable considering they likely have a lot of their ingredients shipped in at high cost, and if they have an industrial oven you’re talking thousands at least for a used one plus exorbitant shipping to get it up there.
I’m in rural Vermont and these prices don’t seem too crazy to me. More than what I would pay here but considering the distance and shipping costs seems reasonable.