Shelf Life Of White AP Flour

[~gd]

I guess its best to just stick with the wheat berries and make my own flour as needed, as far as long term storage.
I'll buy a few bags of flour on sale, as i don't use a whole lot of flour at this point. I was thinking, at that price it would be nice to stockpile some, but i prefer to store long term and wheat berries last a long time stored properly.

Do you find that your milled wheat berries do any one job better than all purpose flour? not an arguement I really don't know, never ground my own wheat. I assume that you end up with whole wheat flour when you grind wheat berries and it would not be best for many baking needs.

 

[FarmerChick]

alot of people despise all purpose white flour

opting for heathier wheat flour etc

just saying lol

 

[freemotion]

You generally can't just swap out wheat flour for white flour in "modern" recipes. You also can't expect texture and taste to be the same....you'll never see a whole wheat Twinkie! But freshly ground wheat flour is nothing like what you buy in the store. After eating it for a while now, we find white flour products taste flat and feel sticky/doughy. I can't stand wheat products made with grocery store flour, though...ick!

You also have to have some knowledge of the different wheat berry types. Some are better for yeast breads, some are better for pastry-type items. Generally, the hard wheats are better for bread and the soft wheats are better for pastry.

 

[DuppyDo]

~gd....actually, i started storing grains last year and haven't milled any as yet.So can't answer your question. I did recently
buy a hand powered grain mill.Its just a matter of time before i start milling and baking, i need to get a good recipe book for baking with fresh milled whole grains.
At this point i'm just stashing grains, beans, rice ,etc. for a possible stormy future.Trying to store stuff that will last a long time.

 

[ORChick]

My DH is not keen on whole wheat prducts. He is getting better - and the fresh ground flour products are going over better than I thought they would. But still, white flour is still needed for the transition period. That said, stocking up on grains is all very well, but if the final product won't be eaten that doesn't do much, either nutritionally or financially. I keep a supply of white flour for exactly that reason, as I imagine a lot of people do. Is it ideal? No. Is it practical? Yes. And in time it may no longer be needed. But for now I have white flour - and whole wheat advocates may argue as much as they like that white flour, organic or not, isn't *real* food (and I may agree with them) but if the family won't eat the final product it is a moot point. I will keep part of my stores as white flour until I no longer need to.

 

[DuppyDo]

ORChick...thats a good point. I've eaten whole wheat/grain baked goods from a local health food store. They certainly are different than the run of the mill,flour product you get in a everyday food store. Their good, but take some getting use to. So i guess your thoughts are a good idea, for that transition period.