Cake flour and pastry flour, which are finely milled from soft wheat, can generally be stored for 6 months to 1 year in the pantry. Being refined white flours, they benefit from the same stability that all-purpose flour has, and their shelf life is comparable under similar storage conditions.
Self-Rising Flour
Self-rising flour presents a particular challenge because it contains baking powder mixed into the flour. While the flour component itself can last as long as other white flours, the baking powder within the mixture loses its potency over time — typically within 4 to 6 months. Using self-rising flour that has been stored for longer than this will result in baked goods that do not rise properly, producing dense, flat results. Even if the flour itself smells fine and looks perfectly normal, old self-rising flour is problematic for this functional reason alone.
Almond Flour and Other Nut Flours
Nut flours — particularly almond flour — have the shortest shelf life of any common flour variety because they are made by grinding whole nuts, which are extremely high in fat. These fats oxidize relatively quickly at room temperature, making nut flours rancid within 2 to 4 months in the pantry and 6 to 12 months in the refrigerator or freezer. Nut flour stored at room temperature for a year or more should be treated with considerable suspicion and inspected very carefully before use.
