Pizza dough is the crucial part of a pizza and if you are looking for the best flour to make pizza dough then in this post I will share everything about different flours you can use for making pizzas.
Also I would be sharing the bset type of flour to use for pizza dough and if it is a good idea to use bread flour for pizza dough.
You can use any flour you like and experiment making pizza dough with different flours but choosing the best flour for pizza dough is going to change your pizza game completely.
Neapolitan pizzas need 00 flour and in my opinion they are probably the best flour to make pizza dough.
But, if you are making a copycat pizza hut recipe then you can use the usual all purpose flour.
However, the challenge comes with choosing the right dough if you cannot determine what is the best flour for pizza crust.
This post will guide you and tell you everything you need to know about the best flour to make pizza dough.
I will share the most widely used flour and probably my favourtie and the best flour for pizza dough that will give you amazing results.
So read on as we get to the types of flour you could use and which one you should use.
Do You Need a Specific Pizza Flour For Good Pizza Dough?
Yes, you do need the best flour to make pizza dough. This is necessary unless you want to experiment with other ingredients as your pizza crust or pizza base.
If you are making Neapolitan pizza then you have to choose the best type of flour for pizza dough so you get great results.
If you need to understand what is the best flour for pizza crust to make an authentic Italian pizza, you must understand the importance of gluten development.
Gluten development is a pretty important aspect of the flour for pizza dough, and it is why you get your crispy yet chewy dough.
There are several aspects helps you pick the best flour to make pizza dough and here are some of them-
Gluten Development
Various flours have different gluten content and pizzas taste better when you use the best flour to make pizza dough with slightly higher gluten content.
Gluten is the important part of the pizza dough that gives it a slight rise and a nice web like structure inside when the pizza cooks completely.
Gluten is dependent on the amount of protein in the flour that you use.
Gluten network forms when you pour water in your flour and start kneading the dough as the water combines with the starch in the dough forming an elastic consistency.
This elasticity formed in the pizza dough is gluten and hence the more better the elasticity of the dough, the crispier and chewier your pizza dough.
The best flour to make pizza dough in my opinion should have a protein content of 12-14%, while the normal all purpose flour that you get has 10-12%.
You can use all-purpose flour if you want to quickly make a pizza and do not have any other ingredients, but if you want to make an authentic pizza, you SHOULD use the flour with 12-14% protein content.
There are also other types of flour to use in case you do not have the best type of flour that we recommend(Tipo 00) to use for pizza dough.
Bread flour for pizza dough, while it is not the best type of flour to use for pizza dough, still have high protein content, 12-14%, and the flour used in pastries has a protein content of about 8-10%.
The all-purpose flour is known to be versatile hence it has a protein content of about 10-12%. I still think that using bread flour for pizza dough is better if you have the option.
How To Choose The Right Flour For Pizza?
When it comes to choosing the best flour to make pizza dough for that matter, you need to first understand the role of gluten in the process to get the best type of flour.
Gluten is the protein found in wheat and other grains used in making flour. You can find flour bag labels and see the gluten content of the best flour for pizza base.
The gluten protein gives that stretchiness to the best type of flour to use for pizza dough, and it needs to develop to have a crispy crust.
It is the ingredient that will determine the crispiness of the crust of your pizza.
The texture of the crust depends on how well the gluten is activated and worked during the process. So it is important to choose the best flour for pizza dough.
When you use the Tipo 00 flour which is one of the best flour for pizza base, you have a higher gluten content in it that makes the gluten development easier.
The more gluten there is in the flour, the stretchier the dough will be. So in my opinion, the best flour for pizza dough should have a high gluten content.
There will also be more air pockets that you can work within the dough to create that chewy interior of the crust.
When you are trying to choose the flour for pizza crust, look at the gluten content.
The percentage of protein in the flour to use for pizza dough should be at least 10% to 12% to get those airy bubbles in the dough.
How To Choose The Right Flour For Pizza For Neapolitan Pizza?
The same process goes into choosing the best flour for Neapolitan pizza.
That means that you have to consider the type of flour to use for pizza dough so you get the nice Neapolitan pizza crust.
Neapolitan pizza is not just a simple pizza made with any flour. Neapolitan pizza needs Tipo 00 flour which is the best flour for neapolitan pizza dough.
You need to follow standards to say that the pizza you made is authentic Neapolitan pizza.
The flour used in making Neapolitan pizzas is fine-milled and is often the best flour for pizza base.
So, the best type of flour for neapolitan pizza dough is the Tipo 00 flour. I use Tipo 00 all the time and get the perfect result.
This flour helps me make Neapolitan pizza at home and even though it is a little tricky to work with this flour, it is the best flour for pizza dough and you should definitely give it a try.
The 00 refers to the flour’s texture, which is fine compared to all-purpose flour, which is a little rougher.
So if you are making Neapolitan pizzas, search for a flour which has at least 12.5% gluten in it.
The Best Flours For Neapolitan Pizza
The best flour for pizza base while making Neapolitan pizza is the Tipo 00 flour.
This is a finely milled type of flour that is very smooth and usually has a lot of gluten to work with and will find that this is very popular and it is rated as the best flour to make pizza crusts.
Tipo 0 and Tipo 00 Flours are both amazing choices to and they both are approved and follow the rules set by the international regulations for Neapolitan pizza.
This finely milled flour is the best for making a smooth and crispy finish on your pizza crust.
You can get that crispy texture on the crust while also having an airy interior for a chewy finish.
Many brands are making 00 flour so you can choose your favorite. Amongst brands the texture and quality might change.
The one I use is the Caputo Tipo 00 flour, and this is probably the best flour for pizza base out there.
The Tipo 00 flour has 13% protein content which is pretty good to make authentic Neapolitan Pizza.
While you can use all-purpose flour or bread flour for pizza dough,though I do not recommend making an authentic Neapolitan pizza with them. Use only 00 flour for your Neapolitan pizza dough.
Fermentation of the Dough
Once you have made your dough and kneaded it, you need to stick in a thermometer and check its temperature.
If the temperature is 23-26 degrees celsius, then you have the perfect Neapolitan Pizza Dough ready.
Leave the dough for at least 2 hours, before you go ahead and make your dough balls.
Make sure you cover the dough with a damp cloth. I do this often so that my dough does not form a layer of dry crust on top.
Once you make the balls, you can let them sit at ambient temperature overnight.
You can even keep them in the refrigerator, but make sure that you put them in your container once you make the balls, let them double in size at room temperature, and then keep them in the fridge.
Storing your dough in a temperature that is 18-17 degree celsius is perfect, and you should get the perfect results once you do this.
Hydration of the Pizza dough
While using the Tipo 00 flour, I usually go for 64 percent hydration which means for 1000 grams of flour, I use 640 ml of water.
This gives me the perfect crust I like, however you can play around with the dough hydration and see how it affects your pizza dough.
Your dough hydration can go up to 68 percent and you might like the results you get with that kind of hydration, but for my Neapolitan pizza I choose 64 percent.
All-purpose flour or when you use bread flour for pizza dough, you need to keep in mind that they have different hydration levels like I mentioned above so always check the label.
You can read this article to know more about Pizza Dough hydration if you are new to it.
Baking Temperature
Usually, Neapolitan pizzas cooks in a high temperature which is about 500 degrees celsius.
This gives the Neapolitan pizzas the perfect chewy crust and you also get the leopard spotting.
If you have an authentic wood-fired pizza oven, then it is good, and you would get your results, but if not, I would suggest you go for the broiler method.
Place your pizza very close to the broiler and cook it that way using a pizza stone to make the bottom super crispy.
Some recipes require you to bake at a lower temperature if you have used all-purpose flour for pizza dough or bread flour for pizza dough but it is always best to use high temperature on your oven.
A Favorite In Neapolitan Pizzerias
If you want to make sure that you get the best flour for your Neapolitan pizza, then you should get the Caputo Pizzeria.
It is the 00 flour that I use and many pizzerias consider it the best type of flour to use for pizza dough.
This is a popular choice for authentic pizzerias because aside from the name, the flour itself fits the standards of making authentic pizzas in the most famous pizzerias.
Caputo is a company that has been making finely milled flour for pizzas. They have developed and perfected the flour that is best for pizzas by supplying many authentic pizzerias.
For many years, the company has made sure that they only produce the best quality flour. The Caputo Pizzeria is for cooking pizzas in wood-fired ovens or with very high temperatures.
That means that the flour has a lot of gluten, and it has a high-strength rating. This is the reason why the flour becomes crispy at high temperatures instead of just burning.
The Best Pizza Flour For Long Fermentation
Long fermentation, also known as cold fermentation, develops the dough at much colder temperatures so that the gluten in the flour is not overworked and exhausted.
When you are going for lonog fermentation, the best type of flour for this pizza dough is again the Tipo 00 flour.
You need strong flour for it to last longer. By fermenting the dough longer, you develop more flavors that you can only get if the flour itself has enough gluten.
The best flour for this is Tipo 00 flour, a finely milled type that has a high protein content.
It provides enough gluten so that the yeast does not exhaust the dough too much.
You can get this flour from Caputo with the Caputo Chef’s Flour that has a higher strength than the other types of flour that you would commonly find in supermarkets.
It has about 13% gluten and strength of W300-320 which means that it stays stretchy after long fermentation periods. You can even go for more than 2 days when fermenting this flour.
So even after longer fermentation periods, the dough would still be elastic and stretchy when you need it.
This flour is perfect if you want more flavor and crispiness on your pizza crust.
The Best Pizza Flour For Airy Pizza Crust
When choosing the best type of flour to use for pizza dough that gives an airy and crispy crust, you will need a Tipo 00 flour. This is the same type of flour that produces both flavor and texture to the pizza crust.
If you are looking for a specific product, then it goes back again to Caputo. The Caputo Nuvola flour is one of the best types of flour that you can get if you want that airy finish in the crust.
It has a lot of gluten with about 12% and if you ferment it long enough, the yeast will start to develop and use the gluten. The yeast produces carbon dioxide that fills the bubbles in the dough.
Since the Nuvola flour is stretchy enough, it will create pockets of air that you can either push to the edge of the dough or leave it in the center so that you have that airy and aromatic bite all over the pizza.
I hope this post answered all your questions on how to choose the best flour for pizza!
If you have any questions, leave them in the comments below, and I would be happy to help!
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