Flour!

[Bbq1]

Just curious really...I have seen a lot of comments on here re: people desperate to get hold of flour but it's apparently all sold out. Do the people who want flour normally use it on a regular basis pre Coronavirus? What's it to make? Can't be bread as that is available in all the shops. Is everyone just making lots of cakes?! First it was hand gel, then toilet rolls now its flour. I didn't realise so many people "needed" flour. I have an open bag in my cupboard that has sat there for ages!

I bake cakes, scones, etc, and dp bakes bread. We use flour for sauces, pancakes, yorkshires, sometimes for frying chicken / fish etc.

We still have a decent stock from our Brexit planning. Not for the first time since this all kicked off, I'm glad we prepped.

I bake most days- bread, cakes, brownies, cookies etc. This morning I made these which are a combination of doughnuts and muffins and OMG they are so good (and incredibly easy to make).

I’d actually just quit my pt job as a home based cake maker so had a supply of flour and fortunately have been able to buy the odd top up over the past couple of weeks.

Not been able to buy flour for well over a month now, everything else (apart from hand sanitizer) has reappeared, like eggs, toilet roll and pasta. Empty shelves whichever supermarket I go to. Nothing on line either apart from some jokers trying to sell a bag charging £20 for postage. It's really annoying me now, it's obviously being stockpiled by people buying the maximum amount allowed instead of just one bag at a time.

I managed to get a hold of a lot of bread flour- we do homemade pizza twice a week or so, home made naan once a week, plus make our own bread twice a week. I'm starting to run low on yeast now though!

Recipe please Wicked they look delish!

Actually @Bbq1 I do use it to make bread. I've made bread every week for over 8 years now. Because the bread in the shops is pappy, because I know what's in my loaves, because I like making it as it's easy (whack it all in a mixer, bung it in a loaf tin, leave it to rise whilst I have a cuppa, bung it in the oven) and because DS wolfs it down whereas shop bread just stays in the cupboard. I buy baguettes and rolls because mine come out like bullets, but our bread is home made.

Where do you live, try local wholesalers we bought a 25kg bag in SW London they deliver all over.

Retail bread sales have doubled - not surprising really given how many people and families are at home. I imagine the companies making sandwiches for supermarkets are not making very many at the moment.

As pps have stated, mills package far more flour for industrial use and aren't geared up to package flour for retail in smaller quantities to meet the current demand.

Wow, I really didn't realise so many people use so much flour in their regular cooking. I quite like cooking but that's not something i use much of. It makes sense people baking with children and making play dough. Lots of pancake lovers too!

We are baking more- it’s something to do!
We normally bake a cake monthly and it’s weekly at the moment.
We also make our own pizza dough, pancakes and Yorkshire puddings.
I got flour last week from an online cake supply company.

BTW if you've had an open bag of flour in your cupboard, check it for weevils. I put all mine in plastic boxes now - still in the opened bag but with the top turned over and then in the sealed box. I found weevils in a bag a few years ago. Just as I tipped it into the bowl I saw the flour move and realised it was a mini avalanche like you usually get, it was loads of little insects. Put me off flour for a while I will say!

@ MynameisJune - Self raising we don’t usually use but I need some for my DD’s first birthday cake. Managed to get some the other week which was good as it’s all gone again now.

You can easily substitute plain flour plus baking powder for self-raising.

I've been able to get plain and self-raising but can't get bread flour or wholemeal. I got some wheatgerm and am going to chance adding some to plain flour as a substitute.

Freeze flour overnight when you buy it - that kills unhatched weevils.

I wonder how many people have looked at this thread and thought "Bread? Cakes? I didn't know you could make those yourself!" Or am I being too cynical?

We do make bread a lot (and pizzas/garlic bread) and missing strong flour. We also bake, make Yorkshire pudding etc.

We are making something every other day, it keeps my mind busy. Generally cakes, sometimes pastry, yorkshire puddings, biscuits and cheese sticks. Managed to get certain flours certain weeks but bread flour only managed to obtain a small bag from tesco simply to make bread when i don't want to be at the shops. I'm avoiding shops as much as possible

There's more time now to make things from scratch, I'm making things regularly that used to be occasional, eg

waffles
pancakes
flatbreads
pizza
Birthday cake
brownies
scones
crumbles
oat biscuits

I had a go at hot cross buns but they came out like rocks so won't be doing that again!

Scones with sultanas once a week, pancakes every 2 or 3 weeks, the same for waffles (though luckily I’d just done a big batch of waffles and frozen them), cheese scones to top a beef stew - normally every 2 or 3 weeks but at the moment more like every week.

I’ve just started my last bag of self raising at the moment - hopefully more will be in the shops by the time I need more.

We are definitely baking more but I haven't actually bought flour yet because we already had several different types. My Dad has been baking his own bread for 20 years and has been able to get white bread flour after a bit of searching but not wholemeal, which he prefers. I guess like us more people are baking and some are probably stockpiling because flour keeps better than bread.

Normally I bake twice a week.

Now it’s daily.

3 bloody big men in the house, constantly starving. Plus one bloody big woman, also constantly starving ...

I bake cakes, bread (shop bought bread goes stale after a few days) pizza (dominos not hygienic/safe right now), pancakes (we now have time for proper breakfast...) sauces, cookies etc

Everything we eat now seems to be home made= lots of baking

I miss the kids having lunch at school, I miss my work lunches at Pret A Manger, I miss people not being in for every single bloody meal

Low carbers we are not

Pancakes. We have self raising but can’t make pancakes out of it.

I thought it was a reaction to the pasta shortage - buy flour in case there’s no pasta. I suspect a lot won’t be used in the end and will be wasted.

@IHave
I was just asking in a friendly way what people use flour for. Nowhere did I say your lifestyle impacts on mine because obviously it really doesn't, nor did I say you needed my permission to bake etc! Don't be ridiculous. I don't think anyone else on here has taken offence. If you don't want to, just don't post on the thread...I was just genuinely asking a question

I use about 2kg/ week just for bread, that makes 4 loaves. Fortunately had a delivery just before lockdown. Have been able to get a bag of plain and s/r this week for cakes, making more of those too.

I had stocked up ahead of Christmas with the intention of doing lots of lovely baking then. I ended up using pre-made and rolled puff pastry for sausage rolls and making some pastry for mince pies and that was it. But we also make a lot of pancakes generally - I use cornflour for most of my flour-based sauces.

But I do like to bake when I have time, so I have been going through my stocks slowly since isolation started. I had bought a bag of rye flour as I had yeast to try breadmaking. That is planned for next week now. But dd has been baking flapjacks rather than her usual cookies so it hasn’t been getting used up so fast as it could have been.

Pancakes, Yorkshire pudding, banana bread and crumbles are all staples here.

And I really want to make DS a birthday cake next week, but it’s not looking likely.