So I have around 8 cups of KA WW flour that I suspect has gone rancid. I know you’re supposed to refrigerate whole wheat after opening it but our fridge is perpetually short on space and I always forget to make room for it so it usually stays out at room temp. I took a good whiff of the flour this morning and it definitely smells rather pungent and musty so I don’t know how much I’d want to eat a loaf made from it. However, I don’t want to waste it if possible (especially in this day and age) so I was wondering if there are any negative consequences to using it as food for my starter. Will rancid oil mess up the microbes in any way? Will they have less nutrients to feed on?
Yes, the starter organisms will consume the rancid flour but then the starter will taste like the rancid flour. Although I don’t like to waste food, in this situation I think you are better off pitching the flour than using it in something.
Paul
if you have one...
That’s an interesting suggestion. I know you can increase your beneficial worm population, by working corn meal into the top three inches of soil, in your yard. I wonder if wheat flour would work the same?
Blend it with water in a bucket and poor the thick water
all over the compost to sink in all over the place. Then let the bacteria take over. :)
if you throw it onto your lawn you will see it for weeks.
"if you throw it onto your lawn you will see it for weeks."
I used my fertilizer spreader, it was gone after the first rain. I've mixed it in with dirt, too.
I recall reading somewhere that vital wheat gluten is a pre-emergent herbicide. Flour may not be as effective.