While cleaning out our pantry, we found an unopened 5-lb bag of King Arthur's white bread flour that has a 2014 expiration date. We opened up the bag and the flour looked, smelled, and tasted fine. We decided to experiment and baked a couple of loaves of bread with it. They were delicious. Doing research on the web, it seems that everyone says that unrefrigerated flour will go rancid within a year or two. But ours appears to be fine. How is it possible that our bag of flour has lasted so much longer than the studies suggest? It was stored in a dry, dark cool pantry. Thank you for your help! Would old flour have any other effect on the bread (better/worse rising?).

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