05/29/2026
✍️ Story time.
Good news? I’ve got sourdough bread headed to market this weekend.
Bad news? Only 16 loaves… and they’re all original/plain. No flavored loaves this week. 😭
Here’s why.
I had to make the painful decision to trash nearly 100 # of flour. Yep. Into the bin. My soul left my body a little. 😬
I order my flour weekly from Gordon Food Service. Usually 2 bags of King Arthur high gluten and 1 bag of King Arthur special patent. Our Ga***rd location doesn’t stock it, so it has to be specially ordered in and takes a couple days to arrive… meaning there was zero time to replace it before this weekend’s bake.
When I picked up my order, there was some weird brown sticky stuff splattered all over the outside of the bags. I inspected them pretty carefully in the store. No obvious water damage, no ripped paper, nothing that immediately screamed “danger.” I snapped pictures just in case and brought them home.
Then came flour prep day.
As I was weighing flour into my bins, I thought something sounded… off. Which sounds ridiculous unless you bake the same things every single week. But when you work with flour constantly, you notice tiny differences. I can literally tell my flours apart by touch alone.
I filled all 3 bins, 7000g each, added salt and EBB seasoning… and the second I started mixing, I felt it. HUGE clumps. Tons of them.
Most likely liquid damage.
But here’s the thing: I have NO idea what the liquid was, how long it sat, where it came from, or what kind of bacteria could’ve been introduced. And once that thought crossed my mind, there was no choice to make.
So into the trash it went.
Some of you will probably look at the photos and wonder why I even left the store with the bags. Fair question honestly 🤦♀️ But I truly believed it was only surface splatter. Had I seen obvious signs of moisture damage, I NEVER would’ve brought them home.
My personal CSI investigation says somebody dropped or spilled something in the stock room and it splashed onto my flour bags. And honestly? Shame on GFS for not proactively pulling and replacing them before pickup.
I’ll be going back for a refund, but I’m still out the salt, the seasoning, and most importantly… the time. And if you run a small food business, you know time is the most expensive ingredient of all.
So this weekend is simple sourdough only, friends. But safe food always comes before saving product. Even when it hurts. ✌️❤️🥖