KAF reports 2000% increase in online flour sales

[BakerAunt]

I noted that King Arthur is out of yeast again. People must still be baking.

They are still out of the Bakewell cream baking powder--and that I will need sooner rather than later. I'll keep an eye out for it.

King Arthur is also selling its 3 lb. bags of AP flour in a three-pack for $9.50 for three bags. A single 3 lb. bag is now $3.50. They are still out of most other flours.

[RiversideLen]

I received an email from Amazon today offering SAF Gold in one pound packs for $9 and change (Prime, free shipping). I was able to get a 4 ounce jar of Red Star active dry yeast from Whole Foods the other day. The yeast situation is far from normal but it appears to be easing up some. Anyway, I have a pound of SAF Gold in the freezer that I bought from KAF last year and two 4 ounce jars of Red Star ady so I am not (no longer, lol) in a panic about yeast.

[Mike Nolan]

I think the flour supply is getting closer to normal, I was at Costco today and they had a big pallet of 12 pound bags of KAF AP for $5.99/bag.

[BakerAunt]

We braved the next town today for groceries. Kroger had King Arthur flour for $4.99 for 5lbs., which is about their regular price. They also had Bob's Red Mill AP and Whole Wheat for that price. There was no Gold Medal unbleached but plenty of the bleached. I found a small bag of Arrowhead Mills organic spelt flour and bought it. I don't usually buy that brand, which is not common here.

I noticed that Aldi's did have some kind of yeast packets.

[BakerAunt]

The Cathy comic strip is back for the pandemic, at least. Here is one on baking bread:

https://www.gocomics.com/cathy-commiserations/2020/04/15

[aaronatthedoublef]

Went to Whole Foods yesterday for the first time in three months. They had KAF WWW in plastic bags with twist ties on the top. Must be having some packaging challenges. But they had the flour.

[cwcdesign]

Will found a 5 pound bag of KAF white whole wheat at Harris Teeter on Thursday - I was shocked and pleased.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by cwcdesign.

[RiversideLen]

Now that I have a freezer dedicated to flour, I decided to place an order with King Arthur, besides I'll be needing semolina soon anyway. It looks like their shipping department is back on their game, I placed the order on July 1, it shipped on the 2nd and was on my doorstep today.

[Mike Nolan]

I've been using BRM Semolina lately, it is available locally and I think it is a little cheaper than KAF. When cooler weather comes, I may buy a large bag of it from some place like The Baker's Authority.

I tried to buy a 20 pound bag of it on Amazon earlier this year but I don't think the supplier really had it in stock, when I asked why it hadn't shipped yet a week later, they claimed not to have received the order from Amazon and now they aren't showing that product at all. I've had more problems with Amazon this year than in the last 4-5 years combined.

The last time I made Semolina bread I used equal parts of durum flour, semolina and KAF AP flour, but I'm just about out of durum flour and I don't remember where I got it from, probably KAF.

I also used barley malt syrup instead of sugar in that recipe, and it affects both the color and the taste, which affects what it works well with.

I think I'll do the next one with regular sugar again, and then maybe try one with non-diastatic barley malt powder, which doesn't color the bread as much as barley malt syrup does.

[BakerAunt]

My supply of durum flour is beginning to run low, but I'm ok for a little while if I only use it for pizza.

[BakerAunt]

Here's another article about the baking increase during the Pandemic, including information on the increase at Gold Medal Flour:

https://www.smartbrief.com/original/2020/06/industry-rises-cater-home-baking-trend

Here is another on the cooking increase:

https://www.smartbrief.com/original/2020/07/mandated-stay-home-cooking-fatigue-sets?utm_source=brief

I wonder how much cooking and baking habits will actually change when "things go back to normal." Of course, Covid-19 is not over, even as places are opening up.

[BakerAunt]

Today, KAF finally had the Bakewell Cream Baking Powder back in stock, so I placed an order and included it. (I had a list but was waiting for this item.) They seem to be getting re-stocked on most products.

[aaronatthedoublef]

If cooking and baking stays the same I wonder if this will shift places like BRM and KAF back towards home bakers who want to bake from scratch instead of boxed mixes.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Finally found Saco buttermilk powder! Ordered seven canisters of it and two five pound bags of red whole wheat from Walmart. No one around here has white whole wheat and I am down to five pounds in my strategic flour reserves. Between starters and making whole wheat bread and pizza dough every week it goes fast.

I do not know the color of the whole wheat in my strategic flour reserve because it was given to me in a five pound ziplock bag and the chef who gave it to me did not know there is red and white wheat.

[chocomouse]

I wonder if the new home bakers will continue to bake from scratch, or turn to using mixes. They may have less time for baking, if they've gone back to work, kids back doing kid activities, everyone socializing more, etc. We all know that from-scratch doesn't take that much more time than using a mix, but I think most people believe a mix saves time.

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