Flour and yeast- have you managed to source any?

[AudaCityLimits]

I always bake our bread, but am unable to find flour or yeast in local shops. Absolutely zilch.
Are you able to get hold of any where you are?
Do you know of somewhere I can order any online?

That's interesting nodney. Chapati flour is available in our Tesco, but I read it's hard to work with for ordinary bread.

Do you mix it with strong white flour?

No I don't mix it with Strong White but I do use a bread machine. Not tried by hand yet.

Our local independent bakeries are now selling it by the kg. It's cheaper as well. Good range of flours.

Plenty of flour in the country. It's the small bags that are the problem. Small supermarket packaging is 4% of overall production.

Ask your local bakeries, wholesalers for amounts you need.

Our Lidl has plain, self raising and bread flours but the bread sold out really quickly and hasn't restocked yet.

Our local artisan mill has shut due to Covid as have the bakeries - which are all part of a chain...so no wholesale contacts locally - online the buying of large sacks of flour is difficult too despite suggestions to the contrary.

To those who have been able to order from Shipton Mill, when have you managed to find availability on their website? Whatever time I look it says no delivery slots! My mum uses their spelt flour and is running out. I've been trying to get a delivery slot for 2 weeks.

I just kept checking, I think I was at it on and off for a couple of days and got one late on a Monday evening.

I did the same.

If you do decide to make a sourdough starter, using the discard method, you can use the discard for other recipes rather than throwing it away.

Keep an eye on the Doves Farm box for availability

No flour in my Tesco order today, so I've bitten the bullet and ordered a 16kg bag each of plain and bread flour from Windsor Cake Crafts. It's on pre-order, but that's fine as I'm not desperate!

We got some from a wholesaler who normally sells to restaurants but obviously is struggling at the moment due to the lockdown so are open to selling direct.
It was a 25kg bag but we have shared it with a couple of neighbours.
Could be worth checking if there's anyone in your area doing something similar.

@NoWordForFluffy Thanks have placed an order too!

Glad to have helped! I hope it comes now (I paid via PayPal for its protection).

I paid using my credit card - I'm sure I'm covered if it doesn't arrive!

I ordered 16kg bags of bread flour & plain flour from BFP Express following a link on another thread. It's more expensive than another link on this thread for the same product (although that link doesn't have bread flour in stock). I ordered over the Easter weekend and it came Wednesday midday, so < 2 working days.

The bread flour was very reason ably priced compared to my usual 1.5kg bags, but the plain was a fair bit more expensive (but I'm comparing to Aldi & Tesco basics range), however buying both meant I got free delivery.
They also have yeast, but I didn't want 10kg or 15kg!

10kg of yeast would be enough for life. For the whole street! 😂😂

A little loaf made from self raising flour and the old dough/yeast I've been feeding. It was different from making sourdough or normal bread, but it looks pretty good!

I've also attached a pic of the old dough jar, a satsuma sized piece of dough from the loaf with some water and flour added. It is starting to bubble already. I'll feed it again tomorrow and the next day then use it to start another loaf.

10kg of yeast would be enough for life.
If it's fresh yeast, 50g makes 3 500g loaves, so that's 300 loaves.
So maybe a year for a family of 4?

I use dried yeast so wouldn't know fresh yeast quantities.

We don't make that many loaves for a family of 4 either! (Though I make it 600 on those quantities.)

It was also lighthearted. Should I have mentioned that?!

You can make yeast with fruit and water www.boredpanda.com/yeast-shortage-life-hack/