AUGUSTA, MICH. — Knappen Milling Co., which is focused on the production of soft wheat milled products, including cookie/cracker, cake flour and pastry flour and whole wheat flour, to large businesses in the cereal and food industry, has begun offering bakery flour at local stores.

The decision reflects stepped-up interest for flour amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the company said.

“It became clear to us that our small flour mill could help our community during this uncertain time,” said Emily Likens, president of Knappen Milling. “So, we rolled up our flour-dusted sleeves and launched our new product line, Knappen Baking Flour. It has been a group effort of hard work to get packaging, labeling and approvals complete to get our flour on store shelves as quickly as possible and I am very proud of everyone’s work.

“After rave reviews and our own experimentation we worked hard to get packaging, labeling and approvals complete to get our flour on store shelves as quickly as possible.”

The company is offering 3-lb bags of all-purpose flour for $3.85 and cases containing six, 3-lb bags for $17.

According to the 2020 Grain & Milling Annual published by Sosland Publishing Company, Knappen Milling has 4,800 cwts of daily milling capacity and 2 million bus of grain storage. Knappen mills both soft red winter and soft white winter wheat.