Flour - where has all the flour gone?

[NemophilistRebel]

Are people hoarding it? It’s been 4 weeks since I’ve managed to get any

Ideally bread flour but I’d settle for plain

I tried doves farm direct but they say they’ve been so busy they have stopped selling to public too

'We make bread three or four times a week. I have been deeply irritated by this sudden rush on bread flour by people who’ve never made bread before.'

Quite a selfish attitude as well, There is a lock down and little else for people to do so if baking bread with their children or whatever is what they want to do that is great; the only fun police is you! It doesn't matter how many times people have baked they have just as much right to do so as you; there isn't a criteria! I bake all of the time as it is a passion of mine in normal times but I have nothing against those doing it when they don't normally as they now have maybe more time and reason.

I bake lots normally, it's a great stress release.

Like a pp I'm saving my flour for nice things, the kids have just made homemade Hobnobs, but I found myself feeling twitchy when I saw the flour being used!

It's irrational, as the little traitors have been gobbling down the cheap white shop made bread with gusto!

I'm all for lots of people learning how easy home baking is, and enjoying their time in lock down. I just wish the shortages didn't make me so anxious

I was given false hope by Sainsbury's as they let me add Strong flour to my click and collect order, but obviously it wasn't actually available, with no suitable sub.

there were 2 bags of plain white flour in Aldi this morning. I took one. Loads of icing sugar, bicarb and anything else you might want for fancy baking. I just want to make a pie...

A local family run bakery in our town is selling bread flour in huge sacks so we've bought one and have split it with neighbours who also bake their own bread.

Just as well because there's none in the supermarkets as everyone presumably turned into a baker overnight.

I can't help but wonder how many people will still have untouched bags of flour in their cupboards this time next year

No flour in my Waitrose just now.

Has anyone else got an ear worm after reading the thread title?

Luckily, we have a local bakery that is now supplying the local area with flour eggs and butter. They only have strong flour though. They said we can still make cakes by adding baking powder and being careful not to over mix. Haven't tried it yet though!

Literally doing a folky warble all by myself since yesterday.

i cant find yeast anyway. Thought DScould make pizza bases. Not even got the mix. Have seen u can use baking powder instead but never seem to get that

I can’t get GF flour from Tesco (we’ve got click and collect slots booked, and we’re not going to any other shops). I’ve got a little bit left, but no idea when I’ll be able to buy more. I regularly make the kids waffles or pancakes for breakfast so it’s a bit annoying really.

@Belledan1 I'm sure I've seen somewhere about using natural yoghurt in pizza dough. Might be worth a google (probably no good for today though).

Yes, people are hoarding it. I saw a man buying 12 packets of plain flour in Lidl’s. No one stopped him at the checkout
Meanwhile, I’ve nearly run out of bread flour, can’t find it anywhere so looked on eBay. A one kilo bag from Lidl’s was selling for £42 I reported it.

You're not alone @Binterested, with the sad passing of Julie Felix, the spanish version has been all over R4. And I was singing it anyway thanks to this thread.

'Yes, people are hoarding it. I saw a man buying 12 packets of plain flour in Lidl’s. No one stopped him at the checkout'

^ I hope he wasnt a trader reselling it for extautional prices! The shops should be limiting how many people can buy seeing as how flour is in short supply; how infuriating!

Thank you lucysman. i will look at that.

Apparently there is no shortage of flour - the Mills are rammed full of it due to the drop in demand from industry (eg Greggs, McDs, etc). The problem is that the Mills are set up to to pack in bulk (15kg/25kg bags). The domestic bags (1kg/1.5kg) makes up a tiny proportion of there output. I heard that it is taking them time to change over the production lines and source packaging for the smaller bags.

Here's a link to a recipe for bread using very little yeast.

cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/11376-no-knead-bread

Can't find 00 flour anywhere, usually make pizza dough a cpl of times a month...(hate shops bought pizza)

The mills don't need to switch production for me, I'll have a sack and stick it under the stairs like I used to do. We've had to buy shop bread this week for the first time in over ten years, it's not that I'm out of flour but I'm down to the last three bags and I'm getting worried. I can make more yeast but I can't make more flour.

I bought bread flour about 3 weeks ago thinking I’d make bread so people who can’t make bread can buy the packaged stuff. In those 3 weeks I’ve not been able to find a pack of yeast so my flour (and other ingredients) are just sitting here

It's cos every fucker and their dog (literally) is making salt dough handprints. I can't get any flour here either.

I got bread flour in Tesco (Berkshire) this morning about 9am. No yeast though.

Interesting about the packaging difficulties causing the delay.

As I mentioned earlier a local bakery by us is selling the 15kg sacks for about £14 so if you're desperate try bakeries and maybe split the sack with friends and neighbours.

@hedgegog26 you could try making a sour dough starter. That doesn't require yeast as you are essentially making your own.

www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/sourdough_starter_22976

@ErrolTheDragon
Yes I have thought "Long time ago" every time I saw the title.
Where has all the flour gone
Long time passing
Where has all the flour gone
long time ago
Where has all the flour gone
Panic buyers bought it every one
When will they ever learn
When will they ever learn.
W