Ever since I lived in Italy during the 1990s, I’ve been curious about the differences between North American flour and Italian flour.
In Canada and the U.S., it’s fairly simple: we have all purpose flour; bread flour; pastry flour; and whole wheat flour. All purpose has been established to give the home cook good results for just about any dish. It’s made from a mix of both hard and soft wheat. On the other hand, to achieve optimal cooking results, you may want to begin using specialty flours, such as bread or pastry.
The percentage of gluten or protein in the flour will change according to the specialized usage. Bread flour is made from hard wheat and has a higher gluten content. This is why it’s hard to find gluten-free bread with the same texture as regular bread. Pastry flour is the opposite: it’s made from soft wheat and has a lower gluten content. Whole wheat flour is high in fibre, and is usually mixed with other flours. It usually cannot be substituted cup for cup for all purpose flour.
Italian Flour
Italian flour, like other European flours, is categorized differently, on a numerical scale: 2, 1, 0 or 00. This number does not refer to the percentage of gluten or protein in the flour, but rather, to how finely ground it is (2 being the coarsest and 00 being the finest).
Again, the gluten or protein percentage determines how each grade of flour should be used. For example, some flours are best for pasta, bread or pastry. It seems that different manufacturers have different opinions on which is best though.
To sum up, Italian flours allow the cook to choose both the composition (gluten or protein content) and how finely ground the flour is. Italian flour grades are simply more specialized, thereby providing the cook with more choice! It can be confusing for the average cook, but if you can decipher what works best for your recipe, you can achieve a better result.
After living in Italy for close to three years and running my Italian cooking school for nearly seven years, these are what I find work best in my kitchen:
“00” Farina di Grano Tenero for short rise, thin crust pizza
“00” Farina di Grano Tenero for gnocchi (it makes them really light)
Bread Flour mixed with Semola Rimacinata di Grano Duro for focaccia and bread
All Purpose Flour or Bread Flour mixed with Semola Remacinata di Grano Duro for thick crust pan pizza
“00” Farina di Grano Tenero mixed with Bread Flour for long rise, thin crust pizza (pizzeria style)
“00” Farina di Grano Tenero for fresh, egg pasta
Semola Rimacinata di Grano Duro for eggless, fresh pasta or pasta going through an extruder
I will continue to experiment with different flours until I get the results I want.
I’m always on a quest to cook things that transport me to Italy in one bite, so I’ve made a habit of visiting the grocery store when I’m in Italy or other North American cities to look for what’s new. I encourage you to do the same!
To sum up, Italian flours allow the cook to choose both the composition (gluten or protein content) and how finely ground the flour is. Italian flour grades are simply more specialized, thereby providing the cook with more choice!
All this said, it's generally fine to substitute all-purpose flour for “00” flour. You'll notice a texture difference if you grew up in Europe or are very familiar with with products made from “00” flour, but all your recipes will still come out just fine.
No matter how the flour gets processed, the Italian kind is already softer, slightly sweeter, and lower in protein (i.e. gluten), while American wheat is already harder, slightly more bitter, and high in protein (i.e. gluten).
There are different types of 00 flour, depending on whether you want to use it for making pasta or pizza dough. The main difference between these flours is gluten content, as pasta-making requires a slightly lower gluten flour than pizza. They will usually be clearly labelled as '00 pasta flour' or '00 pizza flour'.
The primary distinction between American wheat and European wheat lies in their gluten content. American wheat, with its prominent red wheat variety, contains higher levels of gluten, which has been linked to gut-related issues like bloating, and inflammation.
However, 00 flour is not without its drawbacks. The cost, accessibility issues, and the need for a wood-fired oven to reach its full potential, make it less practical for some pizza aficionados. Additionally, the final crust preference is subjective and some might favor the denser chew that bread flour provides.
Double zero flour, also known as doppio zero or 00 flour, is a finely ground Italian flour commonly used to make pasta and pizza dough. In Italy and other parts of Europe, grind sizes vary from double zero to two. Double zero is the finest grind, and two is the coarsest.
Type 00. The finest of all, this is even more delicate than American cake flour. It's made from a high-protein variant, which is why it's used for fresh pasta, where you want to be able to stretch the dough to its limits.
00 flour is finely ground flour with a slightly lower gluten content than other flour types. While this is perfect for baking an Italian pizza crust, it's not so great for sourdough.
Doppio Zero (as it's called in Italian) is the whitest and finest flour. It has about 8% protein and a low extraction rate. There are no extra bits of grain and it is milled to a very fine particle size. It's more expensive because millers lose about 30% of the grain.
In cake recipes it can be replaced with plain flour; in bread, pizza and pasta recipes it can be replaced with strong white bread flour. It is often lower in protein than British flours and so produces a much crisper crust in bread, and a finer texture in cakes.
All that's left is starch (simple carbohydrates) and few proteins (gluten). The nutritional contribution to the body is very low, in fact, somehow 00 flour contributes to the increase in blood sugar. Flour 0: Slightly less refined than the previous one but which in any case has been deprived of most of its nutrients.
Strong bread flour is another name for bread flour. The main difference between strong bread flour and other types of flour is its protein content. Strong bread flour is made from “hard” wheat varieties and has more protein, from 12 to 14 percent.
It is flour that has been milled and sifted as finely as possible and has had the wheat's germ and bran totally removed. Franco Berrino likes to point out that people have only been consuming 00 Flour for the past 60 or 70 year, after high-yield milling was invented.
The finer grind of 00 flour allows for longer fermentation while producing a light, airy, crispy crust (as opposed to chewy). It also means that the flour absorbs less water, which is another way of saying that it takes less water for it to achieve saturation.
In cake recipes it can be replaced with plain flour; in bread, pizza and pasta recipes it can be replaced with strong white bread flour. It is often lower in protein than British flours and so produces a much crisper crust in bread, and a finer texture in cakes.
Replicating the texture and fine consistency of commercial Tipo 00 flour can be challenging. However, you can create a comparable (not exactly the same) version by combining equal parts of all-purpose flour and cake flour and sifting multiple times to achieve a smooth, refined texture.
A ground wheat flour that looks like plain flour, but is a special grade, which is the perfect blend for making delicate pasta or noodles. Some chefs use '00' flour to make pizza bases, too.
Luckily, making pasta from scratch is both satisfying and simple. While Italians prefer to use tipo 00 flour when making the dough, any home cook can just as easily rustle up a fresh batch with the help of their pantry and a bit of plain white flour.
Introduction: My name is Msgr. Refugio Daniel, I am a fine, precious, encouraging, calm, glamorous, vivacious, friendly person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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