How many times have you thought about trying your hand at the art of pizza and wondered: what is the best flour for pizza? The question, entirely valid, deserves a detailed answer that we try to summarize in this article. But first, let’s start with the type of flour to use for pizza.
Which flour to use for pizza
Let’s begin with what you need to know to prepare a good pizza. At the base of the ingredients is obviously the flour which, together with the preparation, the right pizza equipment, certainly makes a difference. Pizza flour must be strong soft wheat type which, thanks to the very high protein content, allows the formation of gluten. And then there is the yeast. It can be natural yeast or brewer’s yeast. For homemade pizza, finally, I recommend using a baking stone for oven cooking.
What is the difference between flours?
Soft wheat flours are mainly used for leavened products, pizza, sweets, leavened doughs, fresh pasta and egg pasta unlike durum wheat semolina used for making dry pasta or bread like that from Matera or Altamura, couscous, and bulgur. Both soft wheat flour and durum wheat flour have no cholesterol. However, due to minerals and fiber content, less processed flours are recommended. There are various types of flours derived from different grains or ingredients. Here are some.
Soft wheat flour (white color)
- type 00 flour (the most refined, low in minerals and fiber, the most commercialized and easy to work with);
- type 0 flour (contains a lot of gluten, widely used for bread-making),
- type 1 flour (less refined, contains bran. Used for bread, pizza, sweets, and baked goods)
- type 2 flour (coarsely ground, very rich in fiber and minerals. Can be considered a semi-whole flour)
- wholemeal flour (difficult to work with because granular but the best for its health benefits)
Petra 5037 UNICA flour
Durum wheat flour (amber yellow color)
- semolina
- refined semolina
- wholemeal refined semolina
- durum wheat flour
Organic Senatore Cappelli Semolina Flour
Other flours used in cooking
- Manitoba flour (soft wheat from Canada with high protein content, used for brioche)
- Flour from chickpeas (used in some traditional products, also good for pizza and focaccia)
- Khorasan flour (also known as kamut from the producer’s name. It is a flour made from an ancient wheat and is not suitable for celiacs)
- Rice flour (white or whole, mainly used for celiacs and as a thickener for sauces and creams)
- Chestnut flour (used to prepare savory or sweet dishes)
- Legume flours (not only chickpeas but also fava beans, kidney beans, peas, and soy)
- Flour from spelt
- Rye flour
- Flour from corn (used for polenta, tortillas, and sweets)
- Flour from hemp
- Flour from buckwheat (for gray polenta, bread, and cookies)
- Tapioca flour
- Flour from quinoa
- Flour of amaranth.
How strong should pizza flour be?
Besides the type of flour, another aspect to consider when buying the best flour for pizza is strength. But what is meant by the strength of a flour? Strength is an indicator of resistance over time to processing (baking factor) and is indicated with the letter W. The weakest is 130 W while the strongest 500 W.
- high baking factor W: flour with high gluten content, absorbs a lot of water, rises slowly (bread, pizza, panettone, rustic pizzas with cheese).
- low baking factor W: flour that needs little water, rises quickly, light and less consistent dough.
Flours with strength up to 170 W
These are weak flours that absorb about half the liquids. They are mainly used for cookies.
Flours with strength from 180 W to 260 W
These flours fall between those with a liquid absorption of about 65%. They are usually used for making rolls or products that contain liquids with medium absorption.
Soft Wheat Type 0 Weak (cookie) organic flour
Flours with strength from 270 W to 350 W
These are the ideal flours for pizza. Liquid absorption varies from 65% to 70%. Some pizzaioli mix these flours with Manitoba flour which has a strength of 350W and absorbs up to 90% of liquids.
Best selling
Caputo Pizzeria Flour
Our choice
Caputo Nuvola Flour for Neapolitan pizza
Manitoba Flour type 00
Flours with strength up to over 350 W
Flours of this type, with strength above 350 W, are usually used in pastry or bakeries for the production of panettones.
Panettone Flour for sweets
To simplify, we can say that a good flour for pizza should have a W ranging between 240 (quick rising) and 300 (for long rising times, like the traditional Campanian style, for example, which also includes a refrigeration phase).
Which flour to choose for pizza?
At this point, after a brief overview of all the aspects to consider when buying flour for pizza, the question returns: which flour to choose for pizza? The answer is it depends! The factors influencing the choice of flour, as we have seen, clearly include the type of rising (quick or slow?) and how much water you want to use for your dough (the stronger the flour, the more water it absorbs).
Another element to consider for pizza dough, finally, is resistance and elasticity. Also in this case, some codes are used. With the “{P it indicates resistance, while the letter “},{L” indicates the elasticity of the dough. Based on what result you want between P/L, the choice of pizza dough should be made.
The 10 best flours for pizza
1 Flour for slow-rising pizza
Caputo Rossa “00” Pizza Chef flour kg 1 Flour with elastic and resistant gluten for consistent doughs with a fragrant taste. Easy to work with and excellent results for pizzas, traditional savory pastries and sweets, to obtain tasty products with long fermentation doughs. Ideal for restaurants and pizzerias that need a handy format and versatility of use. Technological characteristics Strength (W) 270-300 Protein (%) 12-13 Falling Number (s) 340-360 Wet Gluten (%) 34-36% Absorption (%) 55-57 Stability (min) 10-12
Caputo Rossa 00 Pizza Chef Flour
The Tramonti Oro flour is ideal for long fermentations from 12 to 24 hours at room temperature. Thanks to the careful selection of raw materials, the long milling tradition and the applied advanced technology guarantee excellent dough stability; for this reason, they are easy to stretch without fear of “tears.” The doughs will be particularly light and easily digestible thanks to the presence of vital wheat germ, which favors perfect fermentation and maturation of the dough. Ideal for pizzas, focaccias, and bread.
Tramonti Oro Molino Vigevano type 0 Flour
2 Flour for Neapolitan pizza
Ingredients: Soft wheat flour 00 Usage: Ideal for making Neapolitan pizza with high hydration dough. Usage method: Doughs with long fermentation and high hydration. Fermentation times are indicative and vary depending on production conditions, yeast characteristics used, and ambient temperature. Allergens: Gluten. Packaging: 5 Kg. Expiry: 1 year from milling. Storage: In a cool, ventilated, and dry place avoiding direct exposure to sunlight.
Flour for L pizza
Soft wheat flour type “00” Classic is a blend of flours obtained from the milling of selected national and foreign soft wheat. Recommended for direct dough processing, with medium rising times, it is suitable for making the typical Neapolitan pizza. Performance in laboratory: – More than 225 balls of 180g per flour sack. Baking: – Excellent resistance to high temperatures, ideal for use in a wood-fired oven. Rising time: – 8-10 hours.
Polselli Classic type 00 Flour
Caputo soft wheat 00 blue pizzeria flour Flour with elastic and resistant gluten, ideal for light doughs with perfect rising. Ideal for classic Neapolitan pizza. Among the most used flours worldwide, especially in Neapolitan pizzerias.
Caputo pizzeria flour
3 Sheet pan pizza flour
Ideal flour for tray pizzas with Strength W 290 (tolerance +-5%). Used for Roman tray and pizza alla pala. Good absorption and processing.
Petra 3 flour
PROFESSIONAL FLOUR, ALSO for Non-PROFESSIONALS Petra 3 is the flour that comes from cereals selected year by year in direct contact with the agricultural world and depending on the quality of the harvests (preferring climatic selection rather than buying wheat at low prices); brought to the mill, the soft wheats for Petra are passed through the most advanced optical selector in Italy, which discards impure and defective grains; this eliminates any presence of weeds and mycotoxins, before proceeding to the actual milling with a process carried out in complete isolation from the external environment to guarantee the highest food safety possible today; Petra 3 is milled by Molino Quaglia with the innovative Augmented Stone Milling process, which combines the advantages of a first low-temperature stone milling with the subsequent passage through cylinders, to achieve absolute qualities of stability and planning that make it an easy-to-work flour suitable for both professional and home use. Flour with good elasticity and high liquid absorption capacity. Ideal for medium/long fermentation, for savory and sweet products (plate pizza, tray pizza and pizza alla pala, puff pastry, breadsticks and crackers, and all bread formats).
4 Flour for highly hydrated doughs
Nuvola flour from Molino Caputo is a new type 0 flour that allows highly hydrated, very digestible doughs and gives the pizza a crust rich in air typical of Neapolitan-style round pizza. It comes from the research & development of Molino Caputo to create alveolated and crispy crusts. A careful selection of raw materials ensures volume and softness of the doughs thanks to the high natural fermentative capacity present in the grains. Nuvola is a 100% natural product without the use of additives or preservatives. FLOUR TYPE “0” PROTEIN 12.50% BAKING W 270/290 ELASTICITY P/L 0.50 / 0.60
Nuvola Caputo flour
5 Flour for doughs easy to work with
Flour produced from selected grains to obtain an easy-to-work dough, characterized by elasticity and excellent leavening retention. For processes with direct method or medium-short resting times. This flour allows you to obtain crispy pizzas with regular alveolation.
Type 00 pizza flour Gaiero and Gabutti
6 Flour for pizzas with high crust
Soft wheat flour 0 Use: Special for the production of pizzas with high and alveolated crust. Mode of use: Long fermentation and high hydration doughs: fermentation times are indicative and vary depending on production conditions, the characteristics of the yeasts used, and the ambient temperature. Allergens: Gluten. Packaging: 5 Kg.
Reginella Oro d’Irpinia pizza flour
7 Flour for meter-long pizzas
This flour is obtained from a medium/strong blend of the best Italian and foreign wheats, with a good balance between extensibility and strength. Particular attention to the quality of the gluten/proteins. The excellent hydration/water absorption favors a large alveolation resulting in a light, crispy, and fragrant pizza. It is very suitable for medium soft and extensible doughs, for meter pizza, pizza alla pala, tray pizza, and focaccia.
Caputo Viola flour for meter pizza
8 Flour for Roman pizza
Super is a flour obtained from milling the best strong wheat grains, with a high protein value. Recommended for indirect dough processing, with long fermentation times, it is suitable for preparing the typical Roman pizza, crispy and light. Ideal for preparing the typical Roman pizza, crispy and light. Lab yield: Over 230 balls of 180g per sack of flour. Baking: Excellent resistance to high temperatures. Fermentation time: 24 – 26 hours Packaging available: 5 Kg Moisture: Max 15.50% Ash: Type “00”, max 0.55% Protein: Min 15.50% Wet Gluten: Min 36 Chopin Alveograph W 360 (±5% tolerance) P/L 0.50 (±5% tolerance) Brabender Farinograph Absorption: Min 60% Stability: Min 18’ Kneading time: Medium Extensibility: High Ideal for: Roman Pizza.
Polselli Super soft wheat 00 flour for Roman pizza
9 Flour with balance between tenacity and extensibility (P/L 0.55-0.65)
Type 0 soft wheat flour, W 260-280, designed for medium-duration processes, with remarkable flexibility of use: the good fermentative capacity and the excellent holding and stability ensured to the dough allow all its qualities to be maintained for up to 8-12 hours at room temperature (20-25°C), longer with refrigerated control at controlled temperature of 4°C. This guarantees the pizza maker to assure the same product quality throughout the evening. Liquid absorption about 58.5% of its weight ensures excellent production yield (higher number of balls for the same weight of flour), excellent alveolation, and the crispness and crumbly texture of the pizza once baked. The composition is designed to guarantee at the same time an excellent balance between tenacity and extensibility (P/L 0.55-0.65) which ensures uniform development and makes it very easy to work and stretch. Ideal for plate pizzas, tray, meter pizzas prepared with direct method with medium fermentation, also ensures excellent results with longer fermentation times managed at controlled temperature (4°C).
Petra 5063 flour
10 Very strong flour
Petra 3 is a 100% climate-selected soft wheat blend, stone milled with the innovative augmented stone milling process for perfect optical wheat selection and controlled sifting and calibration in the most advanced industrial milling plant in Italy. A more complete flour source of noble fibers and with a balanced content of different parts of the grain. Storage must be in a cool, dry, and ventilated environment, as storage conditions determine the flour’s behavior and performance during use. Storage must be in a cool, dry, and ventilated environment, as storage conditions determine the flour’s behavior and performance during use. This flour is very strong, the gluten is highly extensible, it has a high liquid absorption capacity, very versatile and suitable for medium/long fermentations of savory and sweet products. Thanks to these characteristics, Petra 3 ensures excellent production yield, high liquid absorption, and prolonged dough life. It is used for all types of plate pizza, tray pizza and pizza alla pala, breadsticks and crackers, puff pastry, and also all bread formats.
Petra 3 Flour
How to store flour
To prevent flour from being attacked by insects and parasites, it is important to store it in a dry place. But that’s not all. It is necessary to keep the flour in an airtight container, preferably glass. This way it will be protected from external attacks and humidity. Avoid linen sacks as they are easily affected by moisture. The final advice is to place the flour in a glass container and keep it away from heat sources.
