I’ve posted about how to store your grains, and my grains storage solution has worked out great! Now – how to store your flour that is freshly milled? The answer is simple, and one that I didn’t anticipate when I first started this journey.
How do I store my freshly-milled flour?
Well, for most of the flour I mill, I use it right away! Basically, I take out my mill and start milling when I’m ready to start baking. That way, we can benefit from the healthy nutrients that the flour provides. These nutrients begin to degrade once the grains are milled – so the sooner we bake with them, the better!
What I do with any extra flour
I do often make just a little bit of extra flour that I don’t use right away. Sometimes grinding up extra can be useful – for example, if the dough ends up needing more flour, or for when you’re rolling it out. Or, you might need some to feed your starter!
In this case, I store the extra flour in the refrigerator in a small, labeled container. I try to use it within a week. It’s such a small amount that I don’t sweat the lower-nutrient quality of that flour.
I also keep a small jar of rice flour in the fridge, which is useful for flouring the banneton for sourdough. I love the crunch of the rice flour on the bottom of the crust! It’s extra convenient to have that rice flour on hand.
I’ve heard some recommendations to freeze your extra flour. Freezing seems like a good solution, but I just prefer to refrigerate my extra flour. I might freeze it if I had a large quantity of flour, or if I knew I wouldn’t be using it in the next few days.
Happy milling!