Year-old AP Flour

[Porthos]

Last year my DW and I overbought on AP flour for our holiday baking. She unearthed this container last week that still had some of the flour in it. It does not appear to have bugs. Is it safe to use for this year's baking?

[Bjs229]

Safe yes, Depending on how air tight that container was and plastic sometimes can have an off flavor. Flour is pretty cheap, but ingredients add up and I would personally not want a stale batch of product. I would use some of it diluted with other flour and see how it tastes and turns out.

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Edited November 3, 2012 by Bjs229 (log)

[radtek]

Was it kept in a cool dark place?

If so and no weevils it's probably just ok to use- maybe for a bunch of pasta or heavily flavored muffins.

If it was exposed to light and/or warm temps such as the top of the fridge then it'll be rancid most likely after a year.

One can keep it in the freezer or fridge if sealed up really well so it doesn't pick up any flavors from these areas. Times are hard but ultimately flour is inexpensive so might be a good idea to toss it.

[Kerry Beal]

I'd use it without a second thought. I buy lots of flour when I work up north cause I bake there every day - I store it in a cupboard in it's original bag put inside a big plastic bag. I won't be up there again until next July and it will be waiting for me. In fact I found a couple of bags of flour in the grocery store that had tears in them this trip - half price - added to the supply.

Never had any complaints about what I bake with it.

[Porthos]

Thanks to all of you. We gave it the sniff test. No off odors, smells fine, looks fine. We do not take chances with questionable items but the commercial Rubbermaid container has a good seal and we feel good to go.

We live near San Bernardino, CA and had many 100+ (F) days so it saw some heat but the container was not in the light.

As an aside, however, I'm going to try my best to only have our normal level of supply left at the end of this season.

[patti_h]

Or go crazy on your holiday baking!

[Porthos]

Or go crazy on your holiday baking!

I think we've already gone beyond crazy. We bake enough cookies to fill 35 tins and a huge platter. We struggle to find storage space toward the end - and that's with 2 refrigerators and a freezer.

Edited for readability.

Edited November 4, 2012 by Porthos (log)

[Lisa Shock]

As long as the seal was tight, I see no issues. My main concern would be about hydration, if it's picked up humidity from the air, or dried out too much, depending on your location. But, that's minor. AP flour will last a long time.

[patti_h]

Or go crazy on your holiday baking!

I think we've already gone beyond crazy. We bake enough cookies to fill 35 tins and a huge platter. We struggle to find storage space toward the end - and that's with 2 refrigerators and a freezer.

Edited for readability.

That's a whole lot of cookies!!! I thought I made a lot, but I don't make anywhere near that!

[Porthos]

We converted to true half-sheet pans and buy pre-cut parchment for them. We use the parchment for other things also but we manage to go through about 200 sheets/year. Using this stuff really helps.