"Ron Cochran" <cochran@vbe.com> wrote:
>>Can anyone help me with this? What does it mean to start tasting "old" and
how long does it take for this to happen? That is, how long can I keep it
in just a cool, dark air-tight container without freezing it? It is going
to be pretty hard to freeze 25lb. of flour.>>
Ron:
One of the reasons that white flour came so into vogue is that it has such
a long shelf life. As you may know, it has the bran and germ removed from
the wheat. The bran and germ contain about 1/2 of the oils of the wheat
berry. (1 c white flour contains 1 gm fat; ww contains 2 gm). It is these
oils that go rancid over time or with exposure to heat.
This is the exact reason you need to store y our Whole Wheat flour well.
Freezing retards the spoilage. It will smell "off" if that happens, and
taste bitter. This may be the bitter taste many people complain about when
they venture into whole wheat baking, particularly if they use a sack of
flour they have had on hand a long time.
If you can't get it all into your freezer, how about putting in as much as
seems reasonable? And, how about your basement? is it cooler there? Here
in New England for about 4-5 months of the year, we have what I call the
"walk-OUT freezer." In a pinch, a dry, unheated shed or garage could be a
storage place (though the mice like the area, too, so don't use the paper
bag for storage...you'll need tougher stuff than that to keep them out!).
You might find a friend(s) to split the bag with. That way, it gets used up
faster and storage isn't a problem.
Best-Debbie
Concord, MA
http: //www.concordma.com