March 30, 2014 - 4:26pm
Central Milling Artisan Bakers Craft Flour
My husband and I were in Point Reyes yesterday. Petaluma is not too far from Point Reyes so I was hoping to swing by Keith Giusto's to get some flour, but unfortunately they are closed on Saturdays. Imagine my delight when I spotted a pallet of Central Milling Organic Artisan Bakers Craft at the San Francisco Costco today.
It was a 25 pound bag for $14.99. I've looked for CM flour at other Costco locations in the SF Bay Area including the SF location, but I have never found it. I guess my timing was never quite right, until today. Now I just need to figure out where to store all that lovely flour. :)
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KAF sells a plastic flour storage bin that holds 25# bags. I haven't seen that particular item elsewhere, but I haven't looked either.
Happy baking!
David
David - I looked at the KAF site and I realized that I already have a Cambro container that I could use to hold all that flour. I used that container for brining turkey during Thanksgiving many years ago, but I don't need it for that purpose anymore since I have switched over to dry brining. Thanks for helping me remember that I had it.
if milled by the supplier. I usually end up with several, say 10, bags of #5 each. In the bulk freezer they go. As far as I can tell, they last forever in there if the power doesm't fail. I just wrap them in Cosco Stretch Tight plastic wrap :-) we did have a 25# bag of flour in there once though.
The Redwood City Costco carries it...
Good to know RC carries it too. Thanks Bobsponge.
The Mountain View CostCo and just recently the Santa Clara CostCo also carries it. Glad that it's becoming more widely available.
At Mountain View CostCo, it's in the organic section. If you look for it in the flour section, it's just ConAgra.
I had no idea it was in the organic section instead of the flour aisle in Mtn View. At the SF location it was right next to the ConAgra.
I was unable to find the flour at both the Fremont and Richmond locations. Richmond for sure used to carry it and the Fremont has the 2 x 10# of Organic Central Milling All Purpose but no Artisan Baker's Craft. Does someone have the Costco Item number handy? You can call them and they can tell you which warehouses still stock the item assuming it hasn't been phased out completely.
If so, it look like I might be making a trip to Petaluma some time in the near future.
So I answered my own question. I was able to find the Costco Item number in another thread, it is 475605. I called Costco and they said they are phasing the product out since it did not sell as well as they hoped. As of now the only Bay Area locations that have remaining stock are Tracy, San Jose (Almaden), and SF. I should be able to hit up one of those locations but the next time I will need to make the trek up to Petaluma. Oh well, it was good while it lasted!
I wish I had known about this earlier. It seems that the only Costco that has any left is Tracy. At least the "Beehive" (even though it isn't labeled as such) is still around over here.
IIRC trader joe's and whole foods 365 label flours are both supplied by Central Milling, so there is always that option as well.
I get my central milling flour from a local bakery, which tacks my flour onto their order every few months. I usually break half of the 50# sack into 1 gallon zip-lock freezer bags, leaving the other half in the paper sack (duct taped off) untill I run through the gallon bags, then split up the other half.
Would you mind sharing which bakery you buy from?
And yes, the CM Beehive is being carried by Costco and most locations it seems.
I knew about whole foods 365 but not Trader Joe's. I don't believe either are the artisan flour though. I think the protein content is high in those though and might try them sometime.
I'm sure they wouldn't want me just spouting off their name, as they are not really in the flour distribution buisness, but we'll just say they are a small bakery in Oakland, however I have had a similar agreement with a bakery in the SF mission district as well, so if you just call around, it shouldn't be that hard to find a bakery that would agree to such an arrangement