Out of date bread flour and yeast

Weejake

Hi,

I've found at the back of my cupboard out of date bread flour and yeast!!!! shameful and wasteful.

Do you think I will still be able to use it, or will it be a waste of time?


jackie

craigywv

Weejake wrote: »

Hi,

I've found at the back of my cupboard out of date bread flour and yeast!!!! shameful and wasteful.

Do you think I will still be able to use it, or will it be a waste of time?


jackie

open the flour and lightly tap it look and see if there is any bugs (weevils) if there is i personally would bin it but i do know people who just cook away regardless of weevils or not so its up to you

kittycat204

why not just use it and see what happens, the flour, i'm sure, as long as it's not moving will be fine.

nuatha

The flour should be fine, the yeast may not be so useful but is easier enough to check.
What kind of yeast is it and how is it packed, is it still sealed or has it been opened? (And what was the best before date, if you don't mind me asking)
Possibly the easiest way is to have some fresh yeast on hand in case its needed.
Put 250ml of warm water (approx 35 degrees C) in a jug, stir in 1 teaspoon of granulated sugar, add 2 teaspoons of yeast (or 1 sachet) After 10 minutes you should have a creamy foam from the yeast at the surface of the water. If so use this as a replacement for 250ml of liquid and the yeast for your recipe. If not, discard the yeast as it is no longer active.
HTH

Weejake

WEEVILLS :eek::eek::eek:

Right I will go and have a look. didn't know you could get this in flour.

Weejake

nuatha wrote: »

The flour should be fine, the yeast may not be so useful but is easier enough to check.
What kind of yeast is it and how is it packed, is it still sealed or has it been opened? (And what was the best before date, if you don't mind me asking)
Possibly the easiest way is to have some fresh yeast on hand in case its needed.
Put 250ml of warm water (approx 35 degrees C) in a jug, stir in 1 teaspoon of granulated sugar, add 2 teaspoons of yeast (or 1 sachet) After 10 minutes you should have a creamy foam from the yeast at the surface of the water. If so use this as a replacement for 250ml of liquid and the yeast for your recipe. If not, discard the yeast as it is no longer active.
HTH

hi

It's the quick action fast dried yeast. It has a best before date of June 2011 and the sachets are still sealed.

nuatha

Weejake wrote: »

hi

It's the quick action fast dried yeast. It has a best before date of June 2011 and the sachets are still sealed.

I've used sachets older than that and they were fine - the test I suggested will work with all types of yeast and is worth doing with at least the first sachet as that way you can be confident that you aren't wasting ingredients.
I'm currently using up bread flour that's older than that (March 2011) as I did a lot less baking than normal over the last couple of years due to family health problems. Wholemeal flours can go rancid (the smell will be apparent) but generally flours will last quite a while as long as they are kept dry and pest free.
My yeast is a similar vintage but as it is stored in the freezer then its fine.
HTH

thriftwizard

I've just done a big batch of bread with elderly flour - sell-by was sometime early in 2011 - and it was absolutely fine; most of it's gone already. Your yeast should be OK too as its in sealed packets, but I'll second the suggestion that you test a sachet first.

SailorSam

What's the worst that can happen, you can always feed it to the birds.

Horseunderwater

Weevils are fairly unlikely unless you live in an old country area which is damp and perhaps has a pantry only. Then the eggs would probably have been in the flour at the factory anyway. Age not necessarily going tobe an indicator of their presence. If modern day flour from say main supermarket source then I'd have thought none would be present. Getting it from say a mill local may be a different issue though. Dried yeast can and does keep for years if still sealed. May not be quite be so active as when first new, but adding a little more can be helpful. I say go for it. Yours ain't too old.

Lizbetty

When I had dd2 in 2007, I had this weird urge to bake bread all the time. I bought a TON of wholemeal bread flour and fast acting Tesco yeast. And then the urges left me.

I was of course left with 7/8 of a ton of yeast and bread flour, all are printed 'BB2008'...

I have been having spurts of usefulness again and have been using them recently. They're fine! :j

I do have a friend who sieves weevils out of flour. I tend to have a super quick look and then chuck it in and assume nothing's there :rotfl:

Anyway, just to let you know, we're not dead and I used mine. Oh, and it seemed to rise ok. Good luck with it whatever you decide!

Luce xx

ps maybe the weevils could be classed as 'protein'. Absolutely essential to avoid the energy spike thing when you're eating carbs on their own! I'm sure I read something like that somewhere..