What Does a Loaf of Homemade Sourdough Actually Cost?
Homemade sourdough feels frugal — you are using just flour, water, and salt, after all. But once you account for starter maintenance, oven energy, and the true cost of flour at scale, the per-loaf number is higher than most bakers expect. This calculator adds up every real cost so you know exactly what each loaf runs you.
The Four Real Costs of a Sourdough Loaf
- Dough flour — A typical 900 g loaf uses around 450 g of flour, which is roughly one-fifth of a 5 lb bag. At $4.99 a bag, that is about $0.99 in flour alone.
- Starter maintenance — Every time you feed your starter you are spending flour that never makes it into a loaf. If you feed 50 g flour twice a week that is 100 g/week. Spread across however many loaves you bake, this adds $0.10–$0.40 per loaf depending on baking frequency.
- Electricity — A home oven running at 500 °F for one hour draws roughly 2.4 kWh. At the U.S. average of $0.13/kWh, that is about $0.31 per bake. If you preheat a Dutch oven for 45 minutes before the loaf goes in, total oven time can exceed 90 minutes, pushing the cost closer to $0.45.
- Salt and water — Salt runs about $0.03–$0.08 per loaf. Water is negligible — less than a penny.
How Baking Frequency Changes Everything
The more often you bake, the cheaper each loaf becomes — because starter maintenance costs are fixed per week, not per loaf. Frequent bakers can realistically hit $1.50–$2.00 per loaf; occasional bakers may find themselves closer to $2.50–$3.50 once all the hidden costs are counted.
Is It Still Worth It?
A comparable artisan sourdough at a grocery store or bakery typically runs $6–$10 per loaf. Even at a true cost of $2.50, home baking saves $3.50–$7.50 per loaf. For a household that bakes once a week, that is $180–$390 in annual savings.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the calculator account for starter discard or just the feed?
The calculator counts the flour you feed to your starter each week as a maintenance cost. Starter discard is the flour that leaves the jar before feeding. If you use your discard in other recipes (pancakes, crackers, pizza dough), its cost is effectively recovered and you can reduce your weekly starter maintenance gram estimate accordingly.
Why is electricity such a big part of the cost?
Sourdough baking requires high heat for a long time. A typical bake cycle is 20 minutes covered in a Dutch oven plus 20–25 minutes uncovered, but the oven also needs 45 minutes of preheating to reach 500 °F and stabilize the Dutch oven. That full 90-minute window at high wattage makes electricity the second-largest cost after flour for most home bakers.
What flour price should I use if I buy in bulk?
Divide the total bag price by the number of grams in the bag, then multiply by 2268 to convert to a 5 lb equivalent. For example, a 25 lb bag of bread flour for $18 works out to $3.60 per 5 lb equivalent. Enter $3.60 as your flour cost to get accurate results. Bulk buying is one of the fastest ways to cut your true cost per loaf.
How much flour does a standard sourdough loaf use?
A typical single sourdough boule uses 400–500 g of flour. A larger country loaf or batard might use 500–600 g. The calculator defaults to 450 g, which is appropriate for a standard 900 g finished loaf. Adjust the value to match your actual recipe's flour weight.
Does baking two loaves at once lower the cost per loaf?
Yes, significantly. The electricity cost is essentially fixed per oven session — it costs the same energy to heat the oven whether you bake one loaf or two. If you batch bake, enter a higher weekly loaf count to reflect the lower per-loaf energy expense. Batch baking is one of the most effective ways to reduce true cost per loaf.