I’m just a home baker, but it’s kind of amazing how much flour you go through when you love making sourdough goodies (and blog about it 🤪).

From feeding my starter 1-2 times per day to baking multiple times per week, we go through about 50 pounds of bread flour in 6-8 weeks.

I used to buy a 50-pound bag of King Arthur unbleached bread flour from Amazon before I realized I was getting ripped off.

Here’s how I buy and store flour in bulk for sourdough baking.

Buying Bread Flour In Bulk

Every 1.5-2 months, I buy a 50-pound bag of unbleached King Arthur bread flour for about $25 at a store called Cheney Brothers.

Update: I’ve ventured out and have tried options from other brands, including Sunrise Flour Mills, Ballerina Farms, and Central Milling. I’ll provide thoughts on those later on in this article.

Cheney Brothers is a food service distributor in Florida, and my husband learned you can buy flour in bulk there. I don’t know every type of flour they sell, but I’ve purchased rye flour and unbleached bread flour there for killer prices.

Update: I’ve since learned they also sell an Italian flour brand called Caputo that is higher-quality (it’s around $60-$70 per bag instead of King Arthur’s $20-$30). I tried that out and loved it!

I realize Cheney Brothers is specific to Florida, but I hope this gives you enough information to do some sleuthing in your area.

I’d start by doing an online search for “food service distributor in my area” and see what comes up.

Call around and ask if any of the stores near you are open to the public, or if you can simply purchase flour in bulk.

Article you might like: Easy, Soft Sourdough Sandwich Bread Recipe (1 Day)

Other Bulk Flour Options

If there aren’t any food service distributors or restaurant supply stores in your area, here are some other bulk flour buying options.

Costco

I know a lot of sourdough bakers enjoy Costco’s organic, all-purpose flour. This is a great video about how to work with this specific flour.

As of the time of this writing, it looks like Costco’s flour is $19.99 for 20 pounds.

I’ll do a price comparison table of all the bulk flour buying options in a bit!

Amazon

As I mentioned earlier, I used to buy the same 50-pound bag of King Arthur unbleached bread flour from Amazon without realizing I was overpaying.

At the time, I paid about $80 for the bag, but Amazon prices fluctuate constantly.

It looks like $54.98 is the lowest it’s been on Amazon within the last 120 days.

Update: As of early January 2024, the lowest price it has been within the last 120 days is $55.50 with the average price being around $70.

Depending on your options, that may be a good price for you.

Just keep an eye on it. I have it linked in this Amazon storefront folder.

Sunrise Mills

Sunrise Mills is a bonafide splurge, but their flour is the most aromatic and delicious I’ve ever worked with.

I save it for special occasions since it’s pricier, but if you have room in your budget, this stuff is really good. It is higher in protein content, so you will need to increase the amount of water you use in your typical bread recipes.

Note: I’ve tried several of the flour types from this brand and haven’t gotten what I consider to be a great loaf of artisan sourdough bread. That said, I’ve used it for lots of other recipes, including muffins, pasta, tortillas, etc., and it’s amazing. If you’re gluten-intolerant, this flour is reportedly one of the best options to try.

You can get 20% off using my affiliate link, which makes a 25-pound bag of heritage bread flour $68.

That said, there is a shipping fee. I don’t know if it’s the same everywhere, but in my location, it’s $11.99.

Sam’s Club

I live in a Sam’s Club area (no Costco’s around here, unfortunately), and they sell their own brand of bread flour for $11.48 (for 25 pounds).

It’s a great price, but it’s a shame that this flour is bleached and enriched. The protein content is 13.7% to 14.3%, which is really nice. But the fact that it’s bleached means it could kill your sourdough starter.

I’ve heard that you can bake with bleached flour, but if you feed your sourdough starter with it, it could kill it over time. I haven’t personally tested this.

Update: Since writing this article, I’ve seen a Facebook post where a sourdough baker fed two starter jars over a few weeks – one with unbleached flour and one with bleached flour. She noticed no difference.

Sam’s Club also sells 10-pound King Arthur bread flour bags for $8.74. We’re members but still have a $14.60 shipping charge (it says Plus members get free shipping on orders over $50).

So, if I wanted 50 pounds of King Arthur bread flour from Sam’s, my all-in cost would be
$58.30.

Webstaurant Store

Webstaurant Store sells a 50-pound bag of King Arthur unbleached bread flour for just $23.99. It’s labeled as special patent flour, but it’s the same thing with a 12.7% protein content.

I’ve purchased from Webstaurant Store in the past when I did a massive Thanksgiving buffet at my house for about 50 people. The catch is the shipping is expensive, so you have to order enough for it to be worth it.

If you bought just one bag of this bread flour, the shipping cost alone is $30.54. Plus, the shipping price goes up the more bags you buy, too, so I’m not sure how good this option is. But it’s an option.

Azure Standard

Azure Standard is a brand I’ve heard about a ton, but have never personally purchased from. I see they sell 50 pounds of really high-protein, organic bread flour for $68.

It’s made from heritage varieties of hard red wheat, so I wonder if it could be comparable with something like Sunrise Mills. If so, it’s a heck of a deal.

The catch with Azure is you don’t just order your products and have them shipped to your door.

You find a “Drop” to join, which is a group of other people in your general area that also order from Azure. They have dedicated dates when the Drop arrives, so you may have to wait several weeks before you get your items.

There’s also a shipping fee. My closest drop has an 8.5% shipping fee. They also don’t have their next drop for over a month.

Azure is worth looking into, but it does have its drawbacks.

Ballerina Farms

Ballerina Farms sent me some of their high-protein bread flour to try, and I immediately fell in love with it. I got some of my springiest loaves using this flour, and my starter flourished.

I love that it’s organic and confirmed glyphosate-free (no RoundUp).

I intended to purchase more, but the price to get it to my house was really excessive. For two 25-pound bags, the total cost with shipping is a whopping $147. For 50 pounds of flour, I have a really hard time paying that much, even if it’s quite possibly the best flour I’ve ever used.

Central Milling

There is speculation that Central Milling’s high mountain bread flour is the same as Ballerina Farms’ – the wording on the labels is almost identical, and the protein content is 13.5% compared to Ballerina Farms’ 14%.

Note: Central Milling does not have an affiliate program, so I do not earn any commission for recommending their product. They did offer a 15% coupon code for anyone to use – the code is COLOR15.

I just purchased a 50-pound bag, and while the shipping was expensive, it was just under $100 to get it to my house, which was less than what Ballerina Farms charged.

I’ve only used it a few times, but so far, so good. It seems to be performing just like the Ballerina Farms flour.

Please note that this version of bread flour from Central Milling is NOT the same as the flour they mill for Costco.

Bulk Flour Price Comparison

Here’s a quick price comparison between the different bulk flour options I’ve covered.

Store	Flour Brand + Type	Protein Content	Price per pound
Cheney Brother’s	King Arthur, Unbleached Bread	12.7%	$0.51
Costco	Kirkland Signature, Organic Unbleached All-Purpose	11.5%	$1.00 (not including membership fee)
Sunrise Mills	Sunrise Flour Mill, Heritage Bread Blend	14-16%	$3.20 (includes shipping)
Ballerina Farms	Ballerina Farms, High Protein Farm Flour	14%	$2.94 (includes shipping)
Central Milling	Central Milling Organic High Mountain Flour	13.5%	$1.96 (includes shipping)
Amazon	King Arthur, Unbleached Bread	12.7%	$1.09-$1.86 (price fluctuates)
Sam’s Club	Member’s Mark, Bleached Bread	13.7% to 14.3%	$0.46 (not including membership fee)
Sam’s Club	King Arthur, Unbleached Bread	12.7%	$1.16 (includes shipping)
Webstaurant Store	King Arthur, Unbleached Bread	12.7%	$1.09 (includes shipping)
Azure Standard	Azure Market Unbleached Bread, Organic	<16%	$1.47 (includes 8.5% shipping fee)

How I Store 50 Pounds of Flour

A 50-pound bag of flour is pretty big. As soon as my first one arrived, I realized I’d need some kind of storage solution.

If not stored well, flour is susceptible to weevils, or little brown bugs.

Avoiding Weevils

I’ve never seen a weevil, but just in case, I found a few tips for preventing them from digging around in your flour:

• Put a bay leaf in your storage container. The bugs hate it, apparently!
• Freeze your flour for 24 hours. Some say they freeze it for a week.
• Keep the flour in an airtight container – not the paper bag it comes in!
• If you see any bugs, toss the flour. It’s not salvageable.

My Flour Storage Bin

I purchased this flour storage bin from Amazon and absolutely love it!

It’s on wheels, making it easy to move around, and it fits 50 pounds of flour perfectly.

@thatsourdoughgal

One of my TOP sourdough tips! Don’t waste your money on a bunch of small bags of flour when you can buy a 50 bag for a fraction of the price. Let me know if you buy flour in bulk and from where! #sourdough #sourdoughclub #sourdoughtips

♬ UNSTOPPABLE EVENING – finetune

It also comes with a little scoop that fits about 100 grams of flour, which makes eyeballing some of my baking or starter feeds quick and easy.

Lining the Storage Bin

This whole section is an update!

I used to purchase food-grade bags to line my flour bin. I didn’t want to go through the effort of washing the bin and pouring the flour directly inside (I’m lame, I know).

But thanks to commenters on previous bulk flour videos, I’ve tried just putting the 50-pound flour bag inside of my storage bin… and it fits.

I swear I’ve tried this in the past and it didn’t work, but I might just be losing mind. Stranger things have happened.

So, moral of the story: no need for a storage bin liner!

Conclusion

So, that’s how I buy and store my bulk bread flour for sourdough baking!

I buy 50-pound bags from my local food supply store and store them in a food-grade flour storage bin.

If you have any tips or other bulk flour sources I don’t know about, please let me know in the comments.

Related: Is My Sourdough Starter Ready to Bake With? How I Can Tell