Storage Issues for Celiac Bakers? Find Some Big Jars!

Where to put all those bags of freaky flours? There are so many kinds, made of grains I never even heard of before. So how to properly store them? I did some reading in various cookbooks and celiac informational books on this issue. Some need to go in the freezer, so I now have a long row of bags tucked in my freezer door. For sure you should freeze the brown rice flour, as it has rice bran in it, which spoils much faster than processed white rice. I have sweet brown rice flour which is in the freezer too. I also put my almond flour, coconut flour and teff flour in there. In the fridge I put the potato starch, which apparently needs the cooler zone of a refrigerator. Some just need to be in a sealed jar: amaranth, white rice flour, quinoa flakes and tapioca flour. Be sure to label each item carefully, as they look a lot alike. Cornstarch is already in a box—I am buying a lot of that these days.

And then there are the flour mixes. For my favorite new cookbook I created a bread flour mix canister and a brown rice flour mixture used for most everything else: two big jars. And I found a great recipe for baking powder biscuits. It has its own dry ingredient mix in another large jar. Then there is the four flour mix which is basic to my new bread baking book, and requires another sizable canister. And, you will need to carefully label each mixture. I like to put the name of the book it is from on it, to help me remember exactly what recipes it is meant for. So I needed like four canisters for flour mixes I am using now, and frankly there are several other mixes in the bread book that I want to try out… Oyy, where will I store all those jars?

When I bake a batch of cookies, they need to be placed in my big cookie jar as soon as they are completely cooled. I never used that cookie jar for its named purpose before, but it is totally necessary for storing GF cookies if you want them to stay fresh-tasting. To keep them for more than 3-4 days, freeze them in a heavy duty plastic freezer bag. The same goes for muffins, yeast bread, quick breads and whatever else I bake. These GF baked goods do not keep as long as wheat breads and cookies. It is very convenient to pull out a cookie from the freezer and munch on it after school. And I love having some slices of sandwich bread in the freezer ready for making lunch in the morning. Always label the frozen stuff and date it—it just makes things simpler in the long run.

The almond biscotti I made last week is still tasty. The basic nature of biscotti is that it is rather dry, and I suspect this is why it keeps so well. I also have a bread bag. It is woven from fabric and has a plastic bag liner. My sister gave it to me years ago. I love it as bread keeps for days in it; wheat bread kept twice as long in it as breads wrapped in just plastic. Well, no more wheat but I kept some GF Italian bread in it the other week for several days past when it should have gone bad and it was still yummy. You can buy one on the Internet—check eBay. It is worth every penny. I posted a photo of it with my cookie canister the other week.

Again, the moister the bread, the quicker it goes bad (mold!), so keep that in mind. I have a loaf of OJ bread stored in my fridge to lengthen its life. I often slice and freeze half of what I made soon after baking, so nothing gets wasted. With just me eating them a lot would go bad before I could eat it. I read comments by people just wanting one GF cookie. Freeze a whole bunch and then you can munch them one at a time—actually good advice for any baker. Some cookies are really tasty still frozen; the crunchy texture and unexpected chilly bite is a great treat! Now, if I can just find the right spot to store all my flour mixes....