Flour. It's a food storage staple. But trying to figure out exactly what kind to store, and how, can be a bit of a challenge. So first we'll talk about the basic kinds of flour. I'm not going to cover rice flour or any of the other gluten-free options. I'm sorry, but I have zero experience with these, and I firmly believe that people should only write about what they have at least some knowledge of.
TYPES OF FLOUR
Bleached, enriched flour. The bleaching agents most commonly used to produce pure white flour are benzoyl peroxide, potassium bromate, and chlorine gas. Sam's Club and the restaurant supply stores around here only carry bleached, enriched flour. This flour is better suited to cookies, pancakes, pie crusts, waffles, quick breads, and muffins.
Unbleached, enriched flour. Unbleached flour does not have the bleaching chemicals (you probably guessed that on your own). It does have more protein than bleached flour. Most grocery stores carry both bleached and unbleached flour. Unbleached flour is better suited to yeast breads, cream puffs, eclairs, and pastries.
Enriched flour. Most flour sold in the US is enriched with vitamins (thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, folic acid) per government regulations, as well as other nutrients (iron) that are lost in the milling process of removing the wheat germ. Enriched flour does not have the same nutritional value as whole wheat
flour. Whole wheat flour has fiber and a lower glycemic index, meaning the
sugars are digested and enter the blood stream more slowly, which is especially
important for diabetics.
Bread flour has gluten added to it to produce a stronger rise and chewier crumb, and it is higher in protein. It does not work well in making cookies or pie crusts.
Gluten flour has gluten protein added to flour to help bread rise
better and improve texture. Generally, about one teaspoon is added per cup of all-purpose
flour. One tablespoon is added per cup of whole wheat flour.
Bleached and unbleached flours remove the wheat germ, so there is nothing to go rancid. However, flour does still go bad. Just in the bag from the store, it lasts about a year. Stored in a plastic container, it will go about two years. Flour in #10 cans, packaged and stored properly, has about a ten-year shelf life, much shorter than whole wheat.
Whole wheat flour is not bleached and not enriched because the wheat germ, the brown stuff, is retained, and that's where most of the vitamins and other nutrients are. Because the fatty acids are now exposed to air, they immediately begin oxidizing, and the flour goes rancid fairly quickly, usually within 6-9 months.
Regardless of what kind of flour you buy, you should freeze it for three days to kill insects and eggs before packaging for long-term storage. After three days, remove it from the freezer and allow 12-24 hours to come to room temperature. You really don't want to get condensation in your bag or bucket. That would be a complete waste. Ideally, you'd vacuum-seal in mylar bags, but that gets a little pricey for some, especially with a lot of flour to store. And it still only gives you a shelf life of five years. What we've done, what's worked for us for years, is to simply put it in buckets with oxygen absorbers. Well, that's what we used to do. We rotate through flour pretty quickly and usually only have 100 pounds on hand. Even then, though, I sometimes come across a bucket that was hiding someplace else and is up to two years old. My taste buds aren't too sensitive, and I've never noticed a problem. My family members do have more discriminating palates, and I've never heard them complain about the flour going bad. Freezer-burned butter, yes. Dry milk in the fridge, double yes. Old flour, no.
On the other hand, I have a friend who has gotten flour from the Home Storage Center (HSC) and I've read of people online getting their flour from the HSC, and that it sometimes takes on a metallic taste. Don't despair! We don't know why this happens, but if it happens to you, try pouring it back and forth in bowls and letting it air out. That should help. If it doesn't, I'll soon have an entire post devoted to what to do with flour that has gone bad.
Links to related posts:
Overview of Long-Term Food Storage
Food STORAGE
© 2019, PrepSchoolDaily.blogspot.com
9 may 2021
What about putting bay leaves, freezing does the same thing?
ReplyDeleteAccording to the Utah State University Cooperative Extension, bay leaves do not work (https://extension.usu.edu/preserve-the-harvest/research/food-storage-in-home). According to millions of housewives, they do work. Personally, I go with the cooperative extension on this one. I suspect that most packages of food from the store don't actually have bugs in them. But people add bay leaves to packages that are already bug-free, and then believe that the bay leaves work. The cooperative extension believes that bay leaves may work to repel bugs from entering a package, but has observed that they do not work if the bugs are already present.
DeleteI recently found 3 10# Mylar bags of bleached tucked away that will turn 11 years old this year. Wasn't brave enough to ruin a recipe trying it and was going to start sending 1 a week in our garbage can.... then forgot about them again. So I look forward to your ideas on what to do with it. I truly don't know where time goes. I remember getting that flour at Sam's and filling than, along with many other things. Minute Rice too... how long does that last?
ReplyDeleteI would definitely open up the flour and give it a try. https://prepschooldaily.blogspot.com/2021/07/what-to-do-with-flour-gone-bad.html The Minute Rice company says their rice has a best by date of two years from date of processing. Open it up and give it a try! You never know. If it doesn't work for you, will it work for chickens?
DeleteI'll get brave and try both. I've read where you've found and tried older things than this! More concerned with the flour, will try that first but not til next week. It was frozen first, and I used oxygen absorbers. I started prepping more seriously in 2014, that's when I discovered Mylar. I do need to go through many totes.
DeleteMuch of the bad taste from old flour can be attributed to the metabolic byproducts of microscopic inhabitants in the flour. When I bring flour home I freeze it for several days then allow it to return to room temperature before storing in an air tight container. I have kept flour useable for several years past the "best by" date this way.
ReplyDeleteInteresting!--the part about the microscopic inhabitants. That possibility never occurred to me but it makes perfect sense.
Deleteuse the insurance - don't take a chance with the humidity count of the dry goods your bagging up >>> use a food grade pack of desiccant - separate it away from the 02 absorber - DIY pack is a coffee filter wrap of Fresh Step Crystals cat litter .....
ReplyDelete