Using Out of Date White Flour
I used to think that white bread flour would be good to use for a long time, including for several months (or more) past its best before date. But now I'm not so sure.
Two recent bakes have made me question my original view.
One used mainly Granoro Manitoba flour, BB April 22 in a levain raised recipe. It produced a very sticky dough that took a while to form a windowpane. The loaves were dense, with a tight dry crumb. When you cut the loaf, you could see that tell-tale white edge to the cut alveoli. You could say the loaf was "lifeless".
I did another bake raised by pâte fermentée using Foricher T65, BB June 22, so just in date. But it had a bit of an old smell to it when I opened the bag.
This gave similar disappointing results to the previous bake.
I wondering if anyone else has had any similar experiences (or successes) using out of date white bread (or AP) flour?
Lance
I'm not surprised in the humid UK.
Flour that is stored/transported in paper packaging is also more susceptible to humidty or lack thereof
Here in the US, our retail 5 pound paper packages of flour are very leaky. You can often see flour dust on the store shelf. And I often see a small puff of flour come out the folded closure when picking up or setting down an unopened bag.
Also, weird things happened in the grain and flour channel in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. 2020 and 2021 would likely be the harvest and/or mill dates of flour marked with 2022 best-by date.
I don't buy much pre-milled flour.
I am finding out that whole wheat berries degrade over time, even when vacuum sealed. A lot also depends on the quality of wheat berries that you start with.
Lesser quality berries are going to degrade quicker in storage, even vacuum sealed, than more pristine berries. I'm not certain, but I think blackpoint can still spread. And broken berries are essentially an "opened package."
My understanding is that in the US, for commercial (grocery store) retail flour, white flour is given a 2 year BB date from the day of milling, and WW flour is given a 1 year BB date from the day of milling.
But for us bread snobs, WW is much better if used within 6 months.
Central Milling, Utah, US, says this: "We recommend that you store this flour in a cool and dry place. 65°F and 60% humidity is ideal. The flour will keep for 6 months to a year under these storage conditions. We also recommend that you store the flour in a sealed food-safe plastic container. "
Thanks Dave - lots of good info, as always. I also found a King Arthur article on the same topic.
Lance
Unless it's frozen long before the expiration date, I don't use expired flour. The couple of times I did, I regretted it. If you are in dire straights and you might starve, then go ahead but the dough and flavours will be off and may be bitter. Up to you. (Your yeasty beasties will be plotting against you so...well...just not worth adding good ingredients to it.)
Mini
I think you're right, Mini. Those two flours I mentioned are sadly destined for the bin.
Lance