Out of date flour

[pcolbeck]

Just checked some flour I bought 6 months ago and the best by date says September 2016! This is quite annoying as its organic flour from a small millers and wasn't cheap, I wont be using that shop again.

So the question is does flour go off? Will this still be OK for making bread with. I have two unopened bags and its been stored in a cupboard in the kitchen.

[Quisling]

Just checked some flour I bought 6 months ago and the best by date says September 2016! This is quite annoying as its organic flour from a small millers and wasn't cheap, I wont be using that shop again.

So the question is does flour go off? Will this still be OK for making bread with. I have two unopened bags and its been stored in a cupboard in the kitchen.

Tip a bit out into a bowl and check there's no weevils.  Old flour sometimes gets little critters but you should be okay with unopened bags.  If it looks ok then I'd crack on and make some bread.  You've only got a teaspoon of yeast etc. to lose. 

[Jakob W]

Brown/wholemeal flour goes off more quickly; the various fats in the brown bits can go rancid. Sniff/taste some (assuming no beasties in there...), and give it a go?

[Ian H]

Tip a bit out into a bowl and check there's no weevils.  Old flour sometimes gets little critters but you should be okay with unopened bags.  If it looks ok then I'd crack on and make some bread.  You've only got a teaspoon of yeast etc. to lose.

That's about it.  I'm not sure I've ever checked the date on a bag of flour.  We do keep it in sealed containers since finding weevils in a bag.

[citoyen]

We do keep it in sealed containers since finding weevils in a bag.

I keep flour in a sealed container but I still once had an infestation. I presume they were already there in the packet when it was bought. Probably to be expected, and I'm sure weevils are present in small numbers in most batches of flour, but it's only really a problem if you leave them long enough to go forth and multiply. Or if you are a vegan.

I don't know what other problems you might have with out-of-date flour, aside from those mentioned by Jakob W with regard to wholemeal flour. Does gluten degrade with age?

I know baking powder loses its oomph after a while, so if I were using out-of-date self-raising flour, I would probably add extra baking powder.

[ian]

Indeed, it goes (and tastes) stale through the oxidation of any oils and fats. It's more of a problem with wholemeal flours as they have a higher oil content. Have a taste, stale flour is distinctively stale-tasting.

Weevils, hell, that's a source of added protein. Unless you're a vegan.

I worked in a flour mill one student summer. You don't want to know what goes through the rollers (rats as big as cats!). Pretty much every kind of wildlife comes in with the wheat deliveries. Rats, mice, bugs a plenty. The mill used to be fumigated monthly and flour was sterilised as part of the process to get rid of bacteria and weevil eggs and larva. If you've got the artisan stuff, it probably doesn't get that industrial blast of chlorine.

[campagman]

I was given some out of date Oat flour recently. It's been ok for Oat pancakes and rolled up with stewed apples inside.

[Ham]

Went to the flour box to get the flour to make some Spelt & Rye Brown, and it was all weevil'd out. Just evil.

[pcolbeck]

In the end I decided to just chuck it. The potential disappointment of waiting 4 hours for the bread and it to not come out right wasn't worth the cost of two packets of flour or the chance of evil weevils.

[delthebike]

So much for flour what about dried yeast, does that go off?

[orienteer]

Yes it does. Packet recommends use within 2 months of opening, definitely loses effectiveness with time.

[citoyen]

Yep, even the individual sachets of yeast don't last that long.

[ian]

It dies of boredom. It just wants to be a fungi.

[Kim]

Yep, even the individual sachets of yeast don't last that long.

Yep, I've baked several batches of dwarf bread due to this.

[Cudzoziemiec]

That's almost cannibalistic!