Pricing homemade bread

I am getting the no-knead (or as I call it, knock-kneed) bread thang down. And I have calculated the cost of the ingredients at about $1 per loaf. That is not using the cheapest flour, but rather based on my last purchase of Bob's Red Mill Organic Unbleached flour @$4.50 for 5lbs. About 85cents worth of flour goes into a loaf at that price, plus a small amount of salt, yeast and beer. I'm not sure how much the electricity for the oven is. This makes a loaf equivalent to a storebought $4-5 artisan loaf -- only it's organic to boot.

yep...what she said.

I pay $4 a loaf at the farmer's market for some olive bread. When you look at how much a decent loaf of grocery store bread costs, I don't think that's an unreasonable price at all. Since this neighbor has no problem charging you do mow your lawn, I would not even consider making this bread unless you are paid fairly for it.

The price you would have to charge to adequately compensate you for your time would price you way out of the market. SO I would give them away, even with all you've told us about him. I'm with those above who say be a good neighbor and I'll bet you get returns that far exceed $3 / a loaf. And if you don't get some goodwill out of it, just tell him you've cut back because it takes too much time.

In "The Art of the Scrounge", kindness pays off...

Helped an elderly lady do things around the house, that her well off husband could've cared less about. She whispered in his ear one day, and told him to give me any of the 'junk' around the business I wanted. Got several thousand bf of cypress lumber... 250lb anvil, antique forge... load of 6" pipe... bathtubs... buckets of brand new 1" bolts... etc.

Another lady, I built her a shelf in her garage, and helped her clean out a room. She ended up giving me her husbands barn, lock stock and barrel (trailerloads of roofing, beams, poles, chains, cables, loads of t-posts, trailerload of new rebar, etc.

and many more examples...

My few bucks of supplies, and a few hours of my time, have netted tens of thousands in repayment...

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Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming