Why is there still a flour shortage?

[RusticaRubra]

Anyone know why? We can get most things now, but the shelves in the supermarkets in my town are still empty. What exactly is it about flour that is causing a shortage?

it's annoying

Have you tried your local pub? Quite a few around here are selling bags of it.

Packaging is the issue. If you do lots of baking, many cake sites are selling 16kg bags

I did hear a theory that people stuck lockdowned at home are using it to make play dough as well as lots of extra baking. Would that account for it?

Dh picked up some strong bread flour yesterday as that’s all he could get it, it’s the topping for my rhubarb crumble tonight so fingers crossed.

I read somewhere that there is not a shortage of flour but of the bags! Flour is produced mostly for the manufacturers of food and is distributed to bakeries and factories in large sacks. It is the increased demand for the small flour bags that domestic flour is sold in that is the problem.

i got some from a local bakery, delivered along with bread and milk and scones!

We used strong bread flour in our crumble topping earlier this week and it turned out absolutely fine.

I read that only 4% of flour is allocated to supermarkets, most Is for manufacturing. Our local tesco has started selling 3kg bags as that's all they could get hold of

Local Asda is selling it in the bags that the bakery uses for cakes, 1kg at a time.

I have loads of plain flour. Is there any way of turning plain flour into bread flour? Whats the difference?

I'm getting it via ocado or Tesco delivery nearly every week.

You can bake bread with plain flour but it has a lower gluten content so although it will be edible, the texture might not be as good. Google is your friend for recipes that work.

As for sourcing flour, try farm shops. They may be able to source smaller quantities from independent suppliers.

The packaging for domestic-use flour apparently comes from China so supplies were disrupted.

Our local bakery Divides up its big bags into smaller bags now to sell to us, it's great.

You can buy 16 kilo bags off amazon for 17 quid delivered which seems pretty reasonable. If you had a friend or three to split it with if storage is an issue.

It seems to be getting easier to get, but still not from supermarket. I have found baking powder impossible to get hold of, so when my current jar runs out it looks like pancake city as I don't have any self raising.

Both Tesco and Morrisons here are selling it in bakery bags, presumably because people bare buying less bread from the in store bakeries.

There's loads in the small shops and my local bakers

Put your postcode in here & it will tell you where you can buy flour OP:

http://www.nabim.org.uk/consumers/where-can-i-buy-flour/

Packaging. Contact a mill or bakery and they will sell you wholesale sacks. Our local pub is now selling these broken down into smaller 2kg bags.

Morrison's have flour as they are selling it in brown paper bags. 60p a kilo for all of the types. Also they are selling 16kg sacks for £9.

Aldi selling big bags too

Shipton Mill are fab and are accepting orders again now. You enter your email address to get a delivery slot. Fast delivery and lovely flour. They are out of dried yeast but have fresh yeast available which you can freeze.

Link here - www.shipton-mill.com