sprinklefingers

i don’t really know when it first started or how i learned to do it, but i’ve always stored flour in my freezer.

most likely it started with whole wheat flour. whether i read it on a package of flour or learned it by watching food tv or reading a cookbook, i know that whole wheat flour - especially if you don’t go through it quickly enough - will go rancid. why? because whole wheat flour isn’t refined. it still contains the germ. once a package of whole wheat flour is opened, that germ can go rancid before you know it. freezing the flour arrests that development and allows you to keep whole wheat flour around for longer periods of time.

and then i started buying other types of flours to experiment with - barley, garbanzo flour, oat, millet, kamut. all of these luxury flours are stored in my freezer because there’s no possible way i’m going to go through them quickly enough. storing them in the freezer extends an otherwise rather short shelf life and allows me to add small amounts of these flours to my creations without the worry of using it all up before it goes bad.

here’s how i prepare my specialty flours for freezing:

• if the flour was originally packaged in a paper bag i pour the flour into a zip top bag and label it - including the date.
• i press the air out of the bag, then seal it.
• into the freezer the bag goes. when i need flour, i scoop it out, press the air out of the bag, reseal the bag and stick it back in the freezer. 
• i bake with the flour straightaway. it warms up to room temp pretty quickly.

some specialty flours are packaged in plastic bags. when that’s the case i simply take care when opening the bag so that i don’t rip it. i scoop out the flour i need, then i squeeze the air out of the bag, twist the top of the bag closed and clip it securely with a kitchen (or office binder) clip. i jot the date on the bag and into the freezer it goes.

of course all of this freezing flour is easy for me because i have an extra freezer. it’s generally free from food odors and is my most valuable kitchen appliance. i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again: an extra freezer is a kitchen’s best friend. a very cold best friend.

still there are two flours i go through quickly enough that i don’t worry about freezing:
bread flour and all-purpose flour. i keep both of these flours in my pantry in plastic food service containers - air tight and used only for flour so they don’t have any lingering odor from other foods.

so, that’s that. freeze your flour. it’ll last longer!

ps: obviously i’ve left the whole flour bug issue out of this post. but the freezer also prevents unwanted creatures from ruining your flour supply…quite handy!

(a big thank you to ronnie fein who was the inspiration for this post! i hope it’s stopped raining over there, ronnie!)