Are your flour costs rising? (no pun intended) Artisan Ingredients Discuss Are your flour costs rising? (no pun intended) in the Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart forums; Great explaination Alfredo. The futures markets are too complex and risky for most small time investors. I've never been exposed ...

[gjbingham]

Great explaination Alfredo. The futures markets are too complex and risky for most small time investors. I've never been exposed to much futures information past the basics. Sounds like either way, we loose. Somebody or some corportation either gets rich off us, or looses borrowed money, negatively affecting us as well.

[Ken524]

Our favorite bagel shop now packs 10 to a bag. No more baker's dozens. I've noticed their bagels are now a bit smaller. They have a sign next to the register explaining that there has been a 200% increase in flour costs.

The lady at the store told me it's because the wheat farmers are switching to a variety of corn that is used to make ethanol (more money for them). Seems like a waste to me because I don't think gas blends are going fix our oil problems (I'm with you, Alfredo!!).

[brokencookie]

I work in an independent refinery and look at the economics of Oil all the time. In Washington State we will be required by the goverment to have a percentage of "bio-fuel" in all our products. We are currently spenting a ton of money to build the facitilies to handle this. The biggest problem is that there is not currently enough bio-fuel on the market for the Washington refineries to hit the required percentage. Just more of ignorant goverment officials trying to appease voters without looking over the whole situation.
I think I know what will the cause corn to fail as the "fuel of the future". Farmers are now planting corn rather than Hops as corn is more profitable because of the subsidies. When Joe Sixpack realises that the price of beer is headed up we will see a loud drunken outcry against corn as fuel

[gjbingham]

The price of beer is already way up!

[dmun]

[Acoma]

I wonder about FB's flour pricing. James, your's is 48, will that change anytime soon?

As for beer, I now drink much less. It now seems that beer is wine, and wine is the antique. Antique being one you enjoy for years, beer being more appreciated. Maybe we can shed our clothing and grow more hair all over again?

[gjbingham]

Nice one dmun! Perhaps - "driving the world to the poor farm". Sadly, it takes its toll on the foods we purchase too. Hopefully fewer trips to McDonalds, not starvation.

[Xabia Jim]

hopefully, supply and demand will help

if wheat goes from $5 to $25 then some farmers should switch back from corn

also crop rotation factors will play into the formula I'd think....

where's that "back to the future" car that ran on garbage? we've certainly got tons of that all over! A lot of that organic mass, and all those grass clippings, should be the biofuel stock in my mind.

[Wiley]

Finally convinced my wife that the idea of purchasing a 50 lb bag of flour at Costco wasn't unreasonable even if the FWO's completion is months away. So we walked into Costco full of expectation only to find that they were out of both kinds of flour and didn't know when they would be getting more or at what price. So we stopped at Walmart and found that they were out of King Arthur and only had one 5 lb bag of "Stone-Buhr" whole wheat flour. However, they had 25 lb bags of "Bronze Chief" produced by Wheat Montana. It is in berry form so we will have to get out the mill but it is "hard red spring wheat" and as its in berry form should keep well. Just a hedge against what is hopefully a momentary shortage in the marketplace.

Checking online I found this reference to Bronze Chief:

Home Milled and Sifted Wheat Montana Sourdough | The Fresh Loaf

Does anybody here have experience with it?
Wiley

[DrakeRemoray]

Last year I was paying $3.something at the local King Soopers for King Arthur bread flour. Last week those same bag was $5.something...

Ouch.