If you’ve spent even a few hours exploring Enshrouded’s overgrown ruins and mist-covered valleys, you know how fast your stamina runs out when you’re fighting Fell enemies or hauling building materials back to base. Basic berries and meat will keep you alive, but they don’t give the long-lasting stamina buffs you need for longer runs into dangerous Shroud zones. Baked goods like bread are one of the best mid-game food sources, and they all start with one core ingredient. Learning how to make flour in Enshrouded will unlock a whole tier of useful recipes, and it’s far simpler to pull off than many new players expect.
What You Need Before You Can Make Flour in Enshrouded
You can’t grind wheat into flour by hand in Enshrouded, so you’ll need to unlock a few specific items and NPCs before you can start crafting. Most players can get all required components within 10 to 15 hours of starting a new save, so you don’t have to wait until late game to access this useful recipe. You don’t need to progress super far into the game to unlock flour crafting, even players who have only cleared the first two starter regions can get everything they need.
- Rescued Farmer NPC at your base (unlocked via the Small Shroud Vault west of the Ancient Spire - Revelwood)
- Level 2 Grain Mill crafting station (crafted with 10 Wood Planks, 4 Stone, 2 Metal Sheets, 1 Water Bucket)
- At least 1 unit of Wheat (found wild in Sunken Valley grasslands or grown from Wheat Seeds on farm plots)
You can get the Metal Sheets for the Grain Mill by smelting Scrap Metal you collect from ruined buildings or defeated enemies, so you don’t need access to iron ore to build it. Wild wheat is easy to spot thanks to its tall golden stalks that stick out above the regular green grass in Sunken Valley areas that aren’t covered in Shroud. If you don’t want to run back and forth to collect wild wheat, you can buy Wheat Seeds from the Farmer for 5 Coins each once you complete her first side quest to collect 10 units of wild corn.
Step-by-Step Process to Craft Flour Correctly
Once you have all the required materials set up at your base, making flour takes just a few clicks, but there are a few small details that will help you make the most of your wheat. First, make sure your Grain Mill is placed inside a covered, roofed structure. If it’s exposed to rain or Shroud mist, it won’t work properly, and you’ll waste wheat on failed crafts. I learned this the hard way when I left my first Grain Mill outside during a storm and lost 30 units of wheat to ruined batches.
First, interact with the Grain Mill to open its crafting menu. Flour will be listed as the first recipe if you have wheat in your inventory or a connected storage chest. Next, select how many units of flour you want to make. Each unit of wheat makes 2 units of flour, so you don’t need to hoard tons of wheat to keep a steady supply. Wait for the crafting timer to finish; each batch of 10 flour takes about 20 seconds to process, so you can do other base tasks while you wait, like tending to crops or repairing gear. If you’re still learning how to make flour in Enshrouded, it’s okay to make small 10-unit batches first until you get the hang of the system, so you don’t waste a large stock of wheat if you make a mistake.
You can speed up flour crafting by 25% if you place a Campfire within 5 tiles of the Grain Mill. The warm, dry air cuts down on grinding time, which is a small but helpful trick if you’re crafting large batches for a group playthrough. I also recommend connecting your Grain Mill to a storage chest next to your farm plots, so you don’t have to carry wheat back and forth every time you want to make flour. My setup automatically pulls wheat from my farm storage and turns it into flour while I’m out exploring, so I never run out when I need it.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Making Flour
Even though flour crafting is straightforward, I’ve seen tons of new players waste resources or get frustrated because they missed small, unstated game rules. First, don’t try to use other grains like barley or corn to make flour. The game only accepts wheat for this recipe, and other grains are used for different food items like porridge or animal feed. I made that mistake once when I first unlocked the Grain Mill, I spent 20 minutes collecting wild barley thinking I could turn it into flour, and ended up with nothing usable for bread.
Second, don’t place your Grain Mill in the Shroud, even if you have a protective flame altar nearby. The Shroud’s mist will clog the mill’s gears, and you’ll only get 1 unit of flour per wheat instead of 2, cutting your yield in half for no reason. It’s better to place your Grain Mill in your main base, which is already protected from Shroud interference.
Never use your last 2 units of wheat for flour if you don’t have any seeds saved. You need at least 2 wheat to turn into seeds via the Farmer’s crafting menu, so if you use all your wheat for flour, you’ll have to run all the way back to the Sunken Valley to collect more wild wheat to restart your farm. If you’re playing in multiplayer, make sure you don’t take all the flour from the shared storage without letting your team know. I’ve had multiple vault runs get delayed because a teammate used all the flour for building upgrades right before we headed into a high-level Shroud zone.
Practical Uses for Flour in Your Enshrouded Playthrough
A lot of new players think flour is only for making food, but it has way more uses than that, so it’s worth keeping a stack of 50 or more in your base storage at all times. First, the most common use is for baking food: Bread gives you a +20 stamina buff that lasts for 15 minutes, which is perfect for long exploration runs or boss fights. You can also use flour to make pies, which give a combined stamina and health regen buff that’s even better for endgame content. I always keep a stack of 20 bread in my inventory before I head into any Shroud zone, and it’s saved me from dying to stamina drain more times than I can count.
Second, flour is a key ingredient for making Reinforced Plaster, which you need to upgrade your base walls to level 3. Level 3 walls are immune to damage from low-level Fell enemies and Shroud corrosion, so they’re essential if you want to build outposts near high-risk Shroud zones. You’ll need 2 units of flour per 5 units of Reinforced Plaster, so you’ll go through a lot of flour if you’re doing a big base upgrade project.
Third, you can trade flour to the Hunter and Blacksmith NPCs for rare crafting materials, like arrow shafts or tool upgrades, if you don’t have enough coins to buy those items directly. I do this all the time when I have extra flour from my farm, it’s way easier than farming coins from enemy drops. If you’re playing on a multiplayer server, flour is one of the most in-demand trading items, since a lot of players don’t want to take the time to set up a farm and Grain Mill themselves. You can trade extra flour for rare materials like Shroud Core or Iron Ore if you have a surplus.
At the end of the day, taking 30 minutes to unlock the Farmer, build a Grain Mill, and set up a small wheat farm will save you hours of frustration later in your playthrough. Once you know how to make flour in Enshrouded, you’ll have easy access to better food, stronger building materials, and a reliable trade good that will come in handy for both solo and group play. You don’t need any fancy endgame gear to get started, so if you haven’t unlocked flour crafting yet, add it to your to-do list for your next play session.