Here’s What Kitchn Editors Are Doing with All the Flour They Ordered Months Ago

Back in March, finding a bag of flour at the grocery store felt a little bit like striking gold. Because people were (understandably) panic shopping for pantry staples and baking banana bread and loaves of sourdough at record rates, demand for flour simply outpaced supply.

To put it into perspective, the King Arthur Baking Company team told Kitchn that, from April through June 2020, flour sales were up 150 percent compared to those same three months in 2019. Due to this flour frenzy, consumers started finding creative workarounds, like ordering flour in bulk directly from local bakeries and smaller mills around the country. In many instances, the quantity of flour purchased far surpassed the amount shoppers might have purchased on a normal basis.

Related: The Best Places to Actually Find and Buy Flour Right Now

Much like many other Americans, a few Kitchn staffers took matters into their own hands, and ended up with a whole lot more flour than they bargained for. Here’s how they’ve been using it all up.

Behold! Here’s Kaitlin Garske, Kitchn’s senior social media manager, with a 50-pound sack purchased via Horrock’s Farm Market’s roadside pick-up program (in Lansing, Michigan) for less than $20 (!!!). Since she procured it, Kaitlin has been able to keep her sourdough starter very well-fed and has made “discuits” (sourdough discard biscuits), confetti cookies, billionaire bars, lemon loaf, and rhubarb pie.

“I’m still making sourdough despite the fact that it’s now permanently 90 degrees,” says Grace Elkus, Kitchn’s deputy food director, who has been purchasing sacks online from Janie’s Mill in Illinois ever since stay-at-home orders were put into place.

As far as her regular weeknight cooking goes, Grace has been using up flour to make this two-ingredient dough for easy griddled flatbreads. “Oh, and also this pizza dough. I made a big batch and froze individual balls for later.” She hasn’t forgotten about dessert, either. “I’m going to use some flour to make a rhubarb cake soon because I got rhubarb in my produce box and froze it. Also, frozen cookie dough balls have become a quarantine must for us. We are always making batches of cookie dough and freezing them.”

“I ordered both all-purpose and whole-wheat flour from this local grain co-op and I am so glad I did,” says Food Editor Meghan Splawn, who purchased 25 pounds from Shepherd’s Grain. “Basically the flour shortage was the best possible excuse to find flour near me. Not only does it mean I can keep up with my sourdough projects and weekly biscuit baking, but it also supports local farmers near me in the Pacific Northwest.” 

And believe it or not, she went through it all in the span of three months. “Even before quarantining, I baked a weekly batch of biscuits and cookies. But then there was the requisite sourdough baking right at the beginning of quarantine, and weekly cookies and muffins for snacks (because WOW my kids eat a ton when they are home). We’ve also made doughnuts, fried chicken, cupcakes, pasta, Dutch babies, and pizza on the grill — so lots of project cooking too. I did not bake a single loaf of banana bread, though.”

If you also ended up with a lot more flour than you bargained for, we’ve got you covered with our complete guide to storing your flour.

Did you order flour in bulk? How have you been using it up?