Bread causing $10-per-loaf sticker shock as inflation surges

[mystery-ak]

I think that's the real reason for sifting flour. 

Really. My grandmother sifted flour every time she used it... My mother did too...
Does anyone sift flour anymore?

I used to sift flour every time I used it...if I remember correctly my grandmother told me sifting was used to remove bugs from your flour....that's how it started.

I don't bake from scratch much anymore since it's just Mike and I....now with the holidays coming up I will bake more but I am cutting way back..last year in cookies alone I baked 14 dif kinds...this year I will bake everyone's fav and be done..

[roamer_1]

I still get them occasionally in store-bought pasta products if I leave them sitting in the pantry too long.  If they get in, though, they all get scalded to death in the boiling water and their carcasses float to the surface, where I skim them off.

My working pasta is in them tall half gallon jars that Vlasik Dill pickles come in... Spaghetti *just* fits in em, and they hold about twice of what most spaghetti jars will do... Of course, you have to like dill pickles a bunch (which I do)... Because you have to eat a whole butt ton of pickles to get a set... I think I have six right now... spaghetti, elbow, flat, rice, black and red beans.

All the rest is still in their original bags and perfectly sealed.

[roamer_1]

I used to sift flour every time I used it...if I remember correctly my grandmother told me sifting was used to remove bugs from your flour....that's how it started.

Whatever other properties might exist, it would certainly work to get the bugs out.

I don't bake from scratch much anymore since it's just Mike and I....now with the holidays coming up I will bake more but I am cutting way back..last year in cookies alone I baked 14 dif kinds...this year I will bake everyone's fav and be done..

Mamma's there right now. She has to have others stir her world class potato salad, though she still supervises and sticks her fingers in it a bit (we are all convinced her wonderful food tastes so very good because of an oil she exudes from her fingertips )

She still makes cookies from time to time, but they are treasures nowadays - becoming rare. And that is a sad thing.

[240B]

I used to sift flour every time I used it...if I remember correctly my grandmother told me sifting was used to remove bugs from your flour....that's how it started.

Using stone ground corn and flour, there is no way to know what may wind up in the flour, more than just bugs. Twigs, stones, sand, who knows. You guys are taking me back to a hundred years ago watching my grandmother cook. She never took any package for granted and would check everything.

Anthropologists have discovered many skulls with the teeth ground down to nubs. They say this is from eating stone ground grains which always leaves a little sand in the mix.

I remember her dumping bags of dried beans on the table top. She had all the kids going through the beans checking looking for pebbles. And these were bags of beans she got from the grocery store, not a roadside booth. Didn't matter to her. We had to check the beans for stones and debris. It was automatic with her.

Can only imagine that in her youth, pebbles would intentionally (to increase the weight of the bag) or unintentionally (by accident) wind up mixed in with the bag of beans. We did this dozens of times and only once did my mother find an actual pebble in the beans.

[mystery-ak]

Using stone ground corn and flour, there is no way to know what may wind up in the flour, more than just bugs. Twigs, stones, sand, who knows. You guys are taking me back to a hundred years ago watching my grandmother cook. She never took any package for granted and would check everything.

Anthropologists have discovered many skulls with the teeth ground down to nubs. They say this is from eating stone ground grains which always leaves a little sand in the mix.

I remember her dumping bags of dried beans on the table top. She had all the kids going through the beans checking looking for pebbles. And these were bags of beans she got from the grocery store, not a roadside booth. Didn't matter to her. We had to check the beans for stones and debris. It was automatic with her.

Can only imagine that in her youth, pebbles would intentionally (to increase the weight of the bag) or unintentionally (by accident) wind up mixed in with the bag of beans. We did this dozens of times and only once did my mother find an actual pebble in the beans.

Old habits are hard to change....I just made ham and beans and *cleaned* by beans and soaked over night...lol

[catfish1957]

I think that's the real reason for sifting flour. 

Really. My grandmother sifted flour every time she used it... My mother did too...
Does anyone sift flour anymore?

MeeMaw had to cook close to 50 pancakes on sunday morning visits.  Thats a lot of sifting.

[roamer_1]

Old habits are hard to change....I just made ham and beans and *cleaned* by beans and soaked over night...lol

Yep. We always float our beans, lentils, and rice... The lion's share is safe, as the pebbles wind up on the bottom. Gotta take it easy down toward the bottom pulling the beans out... and it is not uncommon to find a stone or two.

[roamer_1]

MeeMaw had to cook close to 50 pancakes on sunday morning visits.  Thats a lot of sifting.

That's a fact.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

That scumbag Atkins is behind this I know it.

[GtHawk]

In my teens, I'd drive across the city on Sunday morning to buy freshly baked Italian bread straight from the oven.

The bakery was inside a detached garage of an up-n-down double home on Niagara Street.

MORAL:  Bake your own and sell it for less than $10 a loaf!   

There used to be a place called Torino's Bakery and Deli in Long Beach, CA. when I was a kid. Every Sunday morning we would pile in the car with my dad and get two loaves of Italian bread(one was to eat on the way home) a dozed rolls and a pound of capicola, great memories. The closest I have found since is a place called DiSimone near me that bakes their own bread every day and they of course have capicola, but...it's just not the same. Do you ever wish you could go back to those days of your youth?

[mountaineer]

Do you ever wish you could go back to those days of your youth?

It's difficult NOT to.

[Kamaji]

That scumbag Atkins is behind this I know it.

[GtHawk]

Watch out for weevils. Since America is being pushed intentionally and very deliberately into the 1800s/early-1900s, make sure all your flour, corn, and pasta, is sealed from moisture, bugs, and mice. We don't normally think about those things these days. But if the Democrats have their way, we may have to start.

Weevils are fine to eat, by the way. They don't hurt you or make you sick and are full of protein. When I was a very small child, this was an issue which would happen occasionally. My grandparents and my uncles had no problem at all with it. I'm sure you all recognize the uncle laughing about bugs. The common phrase was, of course, "Don't worry. He won't eat much."

But seriously, keep your stuff dry and sealed.

Also the little buggers called Drugstore Beetles. I had a horrendous infestation last year, and they even managed to get into what I thought were well sealed containers. It took tossing everything that wasn't canned, and a complete cleaning of my pantry. Even that didn't do it as eggs hatched, it wasn't until I dusted the cabinets and corners of the rooms with food grade Diatomaceous Earth and got a good sized bug zapper that I eliminated them. As you say seal everything, nothing stays in the paper/cardboard packaging once I get it home because they are the carriers of the beetles and their eggs.

[Elderberry]

Always surprised by how many people don't know that you can freeze bread. It keeps for a very long time.
When you want to thaw it, put it in the micro, cover it with a damp towel (or paper towels), zap it until ready.
If you do it right, the bread comes out like bakery fresh. Soft and warm and smells great.

I always have a loaf in the freezer unless its time for me to buy more bread. I don't zap it. I just pull out a frozen loaf and let it thaw on the countertop.

[Elderberry]

Watch out for weevils. Since America is being pushed intentionally and very deliberately into the 1800s/early-1900s, make sure all your flour, corn, and pasta, is sealed from moisture, bugs, and mice. We don't normally think about those things these days. But if the Democrats have their way, we may have to start.

Weevils are fine to eat, by the way. They don't hurt you or make you sick and are full of protein. When I was a very small child, this was an issue which would happen occasionally. My grandparents and my uncles had no problem at all with it. I'm sure you all recognize the uncle laughing about bugs. The common phrase was, of course, "Don't worry. He won't eat much."

But seriously, keep your stuff dry and sealed.

I had an infestation of pantry moths. I learned the lesson about having everything sealed up.

[mountaineer]

I had an Amazon gift card, so today I ordered some airtight storage containers for the flour, rice, pasta, etc. I've been stocking up on. No weevils, please!

[libertybele]

I had an Amazon gift card, so today I ordered some airtight storage containers for the flour, rice, pasta, etc. I've been stocking up on. No weevils, please!

So, I've been reading that white rice will store for several years, but brown rice not so much.  Has anyone in here stored brown rice for any length of time??

I too need to get my butt in gear and start stocking up on pasta, rice and flour.

[mystery-ak]

I had an Amazon gift card, so today I ordered some airtight storage containers for the flour, rice, pasta, etc. I've been stocking up on. No weevils, please!

I did that several months ago...put all my dry foods in containers.

I bought a lot of Lock and Lock containers on QVC which were clearanced...then I went and got some at Amazon which seemed just as good and with free shipping...

[mystery-ak]

I have bought a lot of Lock and Lock over the years..excellent quality but can be a little pricey...I only buy them when they put them on clearance.
https://www.qvc.com/catalog/search.html?keyword=Lock+and+Lock

I have found that Amazon has a good selection too and I have prime so free shipping there

it pays to get good quality so the seal will last..if you cheap out you are not doing yourself any favors.

You can use these to freeze..when you make chili , spaghetti sauce, ham and beans etc..double or triple it and then freeze....

[roamer_1]

Most of my pantry storage is 5 gal buckets with twisty tops.

I started with square fives, but they are too hard to get at, and with the availability of screw tops, round fives just became the thing. Whish I could get at round 2.5 gals too, but can't source them well either.

As for working storage, that is all in normal 1 gal glass jugs (normal farm stock item), 1/2 gal glass jugs, and those tall 1/2 gal pickle jars I mentioned up thread. ain't so pretty, but very effective, and suits me fine.