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How to Decide If Organic Ingredients Are Right for Your Bakery | Episode 92

  • Jul 17, 2025
  • 7 min read

Updated: 3 days ago

Listen on Apple Podcasts or watch on YouTube


You are standing in the flour aisle doing math in your head. The organic bag is several dollars more than the conventional one, you go through a lot of flour every week, and you are trying to work out whether that difference comes out of your profit or out of your customer's wallet.


This question comes up constantly with the bakers I work with. Should you go all organic? Some organic? None?


There is no single right answer here. This is part values and part business strategy, and the useful question is not should I or shouldn't I. It is what is the right fit for me and my business right now. Here is how I work through it.


Start with your values, not the price tag

Before you change where you source anything, take a step back and look at the whole business.


Ask yourself a few real questions:

  • What do I care most about in the food I offer? Flavor, ingredient quality, where it is sourced, certified organic?

  • Am I trying to promote health, local sourcing, regenerative agriculture, affordability, accessibility, or some mix of those?

  • Do my customers actually ask about organic, or am I assuming they care?

  • Am I drawn to organic for personal reasons, for marketing, or both?

There is no wrong answer here. What matters is that you are grounded in what you believe before pricing or peer pressure decides for you. Just because another baker in your area went one hundred percent organic does not mean that is the right call for your bakery, and the reverse is just as true.


Once you have thought it through, you should be able to say something as clear as this: my goal is to offer deeply nourishing, high quality baked goods that are accessible to families in my community, so I prioritize organic where it has the most impact, like flour, and I am not one hundred percent organic across the board. That kind of statement sets a standard and still leaves you room to evolve.


Where organic actually has the most impact

If you are considering a switch, you do not have to go all in to start. You can pick the ingredients where it matters most and be clear about those.


Flour comes first. It is your number one ingredient by volume, and organic wheat is the better option. I am not going to go deep here on how conventional wheat is treated, but I would encourage you to do some reading and reach your own conclusion rather than taking mine or anyone else's. Self education is the thing that made this decision stick for me.


Dairy and eggs are next. If you are using milk, butter or eggs in pastries, these are high impact items, and they are wonderful ones to source locally as well as organically. They are also expensive, so this is where you have to look hard at your margins. If you have a neighbor with hens or a local farm connection, this gets much easier.


Citrus zest is the one people forget. Peels absorb pesticides, so organic is ideal when you are zesting. Organic lemons have been hard to find in my area lately, and when I cannot get them, I soak them in vinegar or a fruit wash before I zest.


Then chocolate, sugar, spices and oils. These are worth upgrading when you have room in your margins, or when they are part of a product you are known for. I use organic oil in my focaccia and my sandwich loaves. Chocolate and sugar are also the two biggest ones on the fair trade side of this conversation.


Start where you have the highest impact and expand when you are ready.


Doing the math before you commit

Organic ingredients usually do cost more. That does not leave you with only two options.


You can raise your prices to cover the swaps you care about. You can build a small premium line using all organic ingredients for the customers who prioritize that. You can prioritize organic flour across everything and make ingredient by ingredient decisions on the rest.


Before you decide, calculate the cost of your ingredients on your actual recipes with the organic prices in place and see what it does to your margin. Sometimes the answer surprises you in a good way. My sugar comes from Costco and their organic price is great, so that was an easy yes, and the same went for the olive oil at my local grocery store. Butter is where I stay flexible.


If the numbers say you need to raise prices to make the swap, raise them. Is it time to raise your prices in your sourdough microbakery? Here's exactly what you need to know. | Episode 30 walks through how to do that, and Mastering Bakery Finances: Pricing, Bookkeeping, and Tax Prep for Microbakers | Episode 63 covers the bookkeeping side.


There is a seasonal version of this too. If I wanted organic blueberries in February, I would either have to price that product absurdly high or take no margin at all, so my options are to leave it off the menu that month, raise the price significantly, or use conventional. That is a case by case call, not a moral failing.


A warning about the premium line

If you decide to add one all organic specialty product, go in with your eyes open about the process, not just the ingredients.


I make a heritage fifty fifty whole wheat loaf with freshly milled wheat berries. It is a small batch, I mix it by hand rather than in the mixer, and I catch myself procrastinating it every single week until it lands at the end of a long bake day and becomes a stressor.


I am keeping it, because it matters to me and it points toward where I want my bakery to go. If you are adding a small specialty line, be honest about whether your process and your energy can support it. If they cannot, When to Remove a Product from Your Microbakery Menu (and How to Do It Gracefully) | Episode 60 is worth a listen.


How to talk about it without overpromising

Transparency is what builds the trust here, and you can be transparent without claiming more than you do.


I tell my customers clearly that all of my products are baked with organic flour. I never say I make organic sourdough, because that is a different claim entirely and there is real nuance around who has the authority to label a product organic. What you can accurately say is that your products are made with organic ingredients, and you can note which ones on your labels.


Some phrases that work:

  • We prioritize organic and local ingredients wherever possible, especially in core ingredients like flour.

  • While we are not one hundred percent organic, we make thoughtful sourcing decisions based on quality, sustainability and cost.

  • We choose ingredients that align with our values of nourishment, simplicity and transparency, which does not always mean organic, but always means chosen with intention.

  • Our flour is certified organic and sourced from a mill we trust.

For most customers, knowing that you have thought it through matters more than a one hundred percent organic label. You do not owe anyone a full explanation of every sourcing decision you make, but you do owe them accuracy. If your label says organic eggs, the eggs are organic that week, even when the price jumps. If you want help putting your sourcing into words that sound like you, How to Build a Brand That Stands Out: Branding Tips for Microbakers | Episode 64 is a good next step.


Do not skip local just because it is not certified

Not every good option carries a USDA stamp. A local farm may be using excellent practices and simply not have gone through certification, which is expensive and slow. Go look at what is actually available near you before you assume the certified bag is automatically the better choice.


If you are a few years in

If you already have real revenue, turn this into a one hour audit rather than an ongoing debate.


List every ingredient you buy regularly and mark each one as already organic, worth switching, or fine as is. Then take your two or three best sellers and recalculate the cost of the ingredients using organic prices for everything you marked as worth switching.


You will usually find one or two swaps you can absorb today, one that needs a small price increase, and one that does not make sense at your volume yet. Make the easy swaps this month, plan the price increase, and revisit the rest next year. Then write two sentences about your sourcing for your website and your labels, so you are not improvising the answer every time a customer asks.


Final thoughts

Part of the beauty of owning this business is that you get to make the rules, and you get to change them. You might start with conventional flour and switch once you raise your prices. You might hold the line on flour forever and stay flexible everywhere else.


That is not being inconsistent. You are staying consistent about the thing that actually matters, which is intentionality and honesty about what goes into your food.


I did not start out using one hundred percent organic flour. That became a firm value for me over time as my business grew, and yours will evolve too.


You do not need a certification on every item to build a bakery rooted in integrity. Your customers do not need perfection from you, they need you to be real with them, and that is what keeps them coming back!


Cheering you on,


Caroline


Keep going

If this one was useful, here are three more episodes worth your time.


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