This Paul Hollywood Bread Was Named The Most Expensive In Britain

After watching Paul Hollywood critique and teach millions of home bakers how to make better bread on television — specifically the mega-popular Great British Baking Show — you might think you know a lot about the famous baker. While he's challenged many bakers to make great loaves over the years, he's also challenged himself to make some pretty impressive ones. That includes a creation that was actually named the most expensive bread in Britain. 

Those who have been to or are familiar with London likely know you can go to Harrods to get the best of the best of almost anything. In this case, that included Hollywood's very expensive bread. According to the BBC, his bread was sold at Harrods in 2008, and cost £15 per loaf. In today's currency, that's the equivalent of just over $21. While that might seem like a pretty steep price for a loaf of bread, Hollywood did explain and defend just why it cost so much to make.

Paul Hollywood was making loaves of almond and Roquefort sourdough bread and he certainly didn't scrimp on the quality of ingredients. "All the constituents of the bread are the finest money can buy. I have searched all over the country and Europe to make sure the ingredients are the very best available," he told the Telegraph. At closer inspection, Hollywood had imported the high-end cheese from a small, rural Roquefort cheese maker in France and used the highest grade of flour possible that also came from a high-quality mill in Wiltshire, England.

If using very high quality ingredients wasn't enough to sell customers on his very pricey bread, Hollywood went on to make a comparison that he as a car lover himself could appreciate. "If you think of the ordinary loaf of bread it's quite plain and often lacking in excitement. If you were to compare it to a car it might be a Ford Fiesta for example," he said. "But this is the Rolls-Royce of loaves." So if you think the flavors, ingredients, time, and talent needed to make this particular sourdough is worth it, then the price tag was probably beside the point.