Acquisition - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $)	1 Months Ended	9 Months Ended					3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended					12 Months Ended			1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended
	Jul. 21, 2012	Oct. 06, 2012	Jun. 21, 2012	May 20, 2011	Jun. 21, 2012 DSD	Oct. 06, 2012 State Taxes and Others	Oct. 06, 2012 Lepage Bakeries Inc	Oct. 06, 2012 Lepage Bakeries Inc	Jul. 21, 2012 Lepage Bakeries Inc	Oct. 06, 2012 Lepage Bakeries Inc Pennsylvania Facility	Oct. 06, 2012 Lepage Bakeries Inc Maine Facility	Oct. 06, 2012 Lepage Bakeries Inc Vermont Facility	Dec. 31, 2011 Tasty Baking Company	Jul. 21, 2012 Tasty Baking Company	May 20, 2011 Tasty Baking Company	Jul. 21, 2012 Tasty Baking Company DSD	Jul. 14, 2012 Tasty Baking Company DSD	May 20, 2011 Tasty Baking Company Pennsylvania Facility
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Cost of acquisition									$ 318,400,000
Deferred cash payment									17,700,000
Shares issued during acquisition	2,178,648
Number of bakeries acquired in acquisition										3	2	1						2
Aggregate purchase price									382,134,000						172,100,000
Acquisition-related costs							5,100,000	6,700,000					6,200,000
Cash payment to equity holders for preliminary tax adjustment							18,400,000	18,400,000	18,426,000
Additional tax adjustment to be paid						2,100,000			158,000
Deferred acquisition payment									17,663,000
Business acquisition deferred payment terms	The $17.7 million obligation for the deferred payments represents the fair value of the fixed payments of $1,250,000 beginning on the first business day of each of the sixteen calendar quarters following the fourth anniversary of the closing of the Acquisition (A total of $20.0 million in gross payments). The first payment will be made by Flowers on October 1, 2016 and the final payment will be made on July 1, 2020. The difference between the fair value and the gross payments of $2.3 million is recorded as a reduction to the liability and will be amortized to expense over eight years.
Business acquisition deferred payments fixed periodic payments	1,250,000
Business acquisition deferred payments, frequency of periodic payment	Sixteen calendar quarters following the fourth anniversary of the closing of the Acquisition
Business acquisition gross deferred payment	20,000,000	150,000,000
Business acquisition deferred payment unamortized discount	2,300,000
Deferred payment unamortized discount amortization period	8 years
Implied Fair Value of Restricted shares	45,887,000								45,887,000
Value of Flowers shares issued	50,000,000
Stock price, last trading day before closing	$ 20.48
Indefinite lived trademark			185,000,000
Goodwill					56,200,000				56,222,000					19,795,000
Goodwill deductible for income tax purposes			14,400,000
Fair value of the trade receivables acquired	7,400,000													17,300,000
Gross amount receivable	7,500,000													20,200,000
Bad debt	100,000													2,900,000
Tender offer for acquisition of outstanding shares, per share															$ 4.00
Consideration for outstanding shares not accepted for payment in tender offer, per share				$ 4.00
Goodwill acquired during period		56,440,000														19,800,000
Final adjustments recorded to goodwill																	200,000
Revenue							39,200,000
Income from operation							$ 6,700,000