Italian 00 Flour

What is 00 flour aka double zero flour?
Basically, it’s italian pastry flour. That’s why it is sometimes called doppio zero flour („doppio“ is, big surprise, Italian for „double“).
Flour from Italy is graded by Italian law 4.7. 1967. n. 580., passed in 1967.

It is based on measuring the ash content of the flour (same do the French and Germans).

Flours made from hard wheat: „semola“ or „grano duro“, they are yellowish and have a more granular texture.
Flours made from soft wheat: „grano tenero“ (which means „tender grain“ in English), they are white and more powdery.

In Italy (let’s say basically in whole Europe) soft wheat is the norm.

 

Let’s start with some classification so:

 

Flour Classification

US	UK	German	French	Italian	Argentinian
Pastry Flour	Soft Flour	Type 405 Flour	Type 40 Flour	Type (Tipo) 00 Flour	Type 0000 Flour

Italian Flours

Flour type (Tipo)	Ash content	Extraction Rate	Protein	Comment
Tipo 00	< .5%	50%	~ 7 - 9%	The softest, finest and very white Italian flours. Can be made from hard wheat (durum wheat) or soft wheat.
Tipo 0	.51 to .65%	72%	~ 9 - 10%	Kind of "all-purpose" flour which is less refined than Tipo 00 and little darker.
Tipo 1	.66 to .80%	80%	10%	Darker and coarser than Tipo 0.
Tipo 2	.81 to .95%	85%	10%	Darker and coarser than Tipo 1.
(Farina) Integrale	1.4 to 1.6%		10%	Darkest and coarsest Italian flour which uses the whole grain.

Before talking about what you will need or not, let’s have a closer look on this.

In the United States you categorize your flours by how much protein they contain and this means, it’s directly linked to the gluten formation of whatever you are making with your flour.

It’s different in Italy and other European countries. Here, you categorize by how finely the flour has been ground – so a 00 flour aka double zero flour does not mean, it’s very low-protein stuff (which would be the US pastry flour).

In fact, a 00 flour can have quite a lot of protein, as it’s just a question from what kind of wheat it’s ground from.

 

 

Is it true that many people can’t tolerate US flour but will have no problems when eating products made of 00 flour?

Difficult question. First, let’s say that there’s other sites for medical advice on Coeliac’s Disease. You will find quite a good article on Wikipedia.

You can hear and read it very often – stomach problems after eating wheat products, many people seem to know this. Some call it „allergic to wheat“, but reason is quite likely not a wheat allgery. It’s very often a gluten allergy, Coeliac’s Disease (that’s how it is called), which is an auto immune disease.

Strange thing is, that quite a lot of people had interesting experiences during vacation. They tried wheat products made from 00 flour and – they could tolerate everything! What made them ill in the US did not make them ill in Italy. People from the UK often make the same experience. Bread, pasta, pastries, pizza, … – they were able to eat anything & everything in Italy.

There is a sometimes a big difference in the wheat you use in the US and the Italian wheat. It can be the yeast or because it’s highly processed wheat. In the US it is very often highly modified. This is done to resists deseases or to get a very high gluten content (which might cause problems to you). And last but not least time is very important! Many factories don’t spend much time in producing bread and other products made from wheat. 45 minutes is to little to make the bread, that’s not only our opinion. Give more time for production and you will tolerate better.

So it can be that many people stopped eating products made with American wheat/flour and felt much better after switching to flour and pasta from Italy.

Same for durum wheat pasta:

Did you ever try Italian „De Cecco“ pasta? You should! It’s considered to be the best industrial made pasta in the world. For some good reason! Highest quality in the semolina pasta sector, bronze plate drawing and – slow drying and low temperature drying! Most pasta makers dry the pasta in some few hours, De Cecco allows much more time. Give it a try – you will taste all the differences!

 

Here’s how they look like and where you can get them:

As this pasta is really excellent, we decided to do a „De Cecco“ subpage for more information. You can find it here.
And we’ll show you other suitable brands and products which you can get via Amazon very comfortable. No need to fly to Europe to buy your flour. 😉

 

What do i use 00 / double zero flour for and is it really a must-have for pasta or pizza dough?

Clear answer to the last part: Yes and no. 🙂

You can use 00 flour to make bread, pizza and pasta. All will work and after some testing you will have amazing results.
Some chefs add durum flour or semolina to optimize color and strength, just try some recipes and you will figure out quickly how to do best.
For more details on homemade dough with recipes and videos, please check our subpage!

Sure, you can make bread, pizza or pasta with many flours – like all-purpose flours from the supermarket.
But most real pizza- and pasta-lovers will keep buying 00 flour (Italian flour).

Double zero flour will make you a perfect pizza dough for at least two reasons:

1. Italian 00 flour is (as mentioned above) finely ground
2. Italian 00 flour has a much lower gluten content than most US flours.

The lower the protein content of the flour, the lower the gluten, and the lower the gluten, the less elasticity in your dough.

Are very good one (one of the most famous flours) is the Caputo 00 flour („The Chef’s Flour“).
We will show you a huge selection of great flours from Italy/Europe on our subpage, but let’s present this one before:

Many of you already tried making pizza at home. Try it with 00 flour next time! You will LOVE it!

And why not produce your own fresh pasta? „It’s so easy!“ as Italian Chef Gennaro Contaldo would say.

Do it with 00 flour or use a mixture (many chefs do so): Tipo 00 flour and semolina! Semolina will give some color and bite to your pasta.

Please check all our subpages here for more information, recipes and suppliers of flour and pasta – you will find excellent products and enjoy making your own pasta and pizza!

Buon appetito!

 

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