Why is Artisan Bread so expensive?

A quick explanation of the true cost of artisan products including artisan bread.

[@charisma-hornum-fries]

I get it. I bake my own Sourdough bread daily. It's absolutely the most time consuming process and it can't be rushed. You bakers have my utmost respect.

[@OmniNatureSmore]

People who complain about that has never bought flour before and never tried to make high percentage hydration bread. One day… one day I will get that type of bread right.

[@elfinshell4758]

You’re paying for a human made product, it’s gonna be way more expensive to pay humans over machines to make the same thing. But it’s absolutely worth it in the quality of the product you get, and of course supporting our fellow humans is also a wonderful thing to do.

[@simonoliver4751]

Im a professional baker who makes artisan bread. I completely disagree with the spirit of your video. Bread should never be out of the price range of an everyday purchase, since it's such a staple to so many people. Yes, it takes a lot of time start to finish, but active labor is significantly less than total. A well set up bakery can easily produce a hundred or more high quality, high hydration loaves in a single day, with the total acive labor on the loaves themselves being a couple hours.

[@GabrielaMendoza-bu2tk]

Whats funny was i used to be one of those people that complained about the cost of artisian bread then i started to make my own to "save money". And then i understood the cost of a loaf but i still didnt go back to buying bread because i think my bread tastes the best 😂. Idk if maybe it has to do with yeast in my home or just narcissism but once you bake your own bread none of the bakeries compare ❤. Love your content❤

[@iamafractal]

For several years, my go-to sourdough bread was the tartine loaf. With stretch and folds every 30 minutes for 4 hours, an overnight levain, another night cold fermenting in the fridge followed by a 30 minute oven pre-heat about 30 minutes baking covered then 30 more uncovered followed by a few hours cooling on a rack wrapped in tea towels. But now I’ve come to really like your ciabatta recipe a lot more. It’s just so nice and soft, flavorful and freezes really well. I can take a frozen piece and heat in a 200f oven for a few mins and the crust is so delicately crispy as opposed to being tough and leathery. Even with my ice cube method of getting up to 100%+ hydration it’s far more labor intensive than the tartine version-especially for my mixer, which has to go for at least 30-40 minutes supervised to get that extraordinary gluten development. It’s definitely more costly but worth it to me.

[@markroth5129]

Utility cost, you have include, enjoy watching masters

[@nick4506]

its cuz there is zero competition here in the us. you want artisan bread still warm from the oven you gotta go to the guy, or maybe just a few in a big city. dont worry change is coming, costco figured out how to do it. only a matter of time till kroger brand or the others picks up their machinery and we will all have cost effective bread that goes stale in 3 days.

[@carlosenriquez2092]

Automation or the lack of applicable automation in artisan bread making is why.

[@Roadsaftyslowdown]

Thanks Mark, as a home baker and hardwood furniture maker people don't understand labour, quality and equipment. Your $60,000 oven, my $100k machine shop and let's not mention the electricity bill these days.

[@helenbairaya7461]

Hi Dean. What do you mean when say ‘home baker’? Do you bake at home and sell from home? I’m asking bc it’s something that I consider, but don’t know how.

[@zack3c]

Making good tasting sourdough isn’t very hard. Making overall great sourdough is extremely difficult.

[@JimRichardHartmann]

So let them try to save money through their own experiment... I bet they rather go buy it when they are done, if they doesn't develop a interest for baking. And to start your baking with a superwet dough is going to ruin your interest, because you need to develop your skills by starting to master dryer doughs and get your bakers hands before you are even able to handle a wetter dough than 70%.. I bet my life a new baker can make a bread at 80% but it is going to be a hellish MESS for at least 30 minutes cleaning surfaces utensils, oven, floor, clothes and hands and arms. And a +100% baker make no more mess than we clean up in 120 seconds with a brush. THAT is one of the huge things a baker skill is, not just the handling and shaping of the dough.

[@biffboffo]

Artisan bread is cheap when you make it at home.

[@risebakinglab]

That’s because you’re not paying anybody. If you accounted for your time, it would be very expensive. I’m talking about professionally made Bread. But yes, making your own bread at home is a great idea and saves a lot of money.

[@biffboffo]

@@risebakinglab Of course, I was being a bit snide with my comment, encouraging people to try home baking. I’m a former professional, so I have no fear of bread and I can work the process into my day. My daily sandwich rolls are lower hydration and easy to work with -very little hands-on time - but I do ferment them overnight. I would still classify them as artisan, as they are superior even to my local farmers market vendors.