The Best Flour For Pizza Dough
At Backyard Brick Ovens, we are pizza-loving experts! So, it’s not surprising that today’s post is all about the best flour for pizza dough. There are so many different flours out there to choose from for your pizza. There’s whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, bread flour, cake flour, and Tipo 00 flour. When it comes down to it, it’s ultimately about what kind of crust you’re looking to make, and gluten affects that.
So, What’s The Deal With Gluten?
Wheat flour has naturally occurring gluten content that affects the consistency of pizza dough. Take cake flour, for instance. Cake or pastry flour is extremely fine and has a very low gluten content (around 8%). Low gluten content makes pastry flour a soft flour. Bread flour is a strong flour and has the highest gluten percentage out of all flours, sitting at around 12-14%. Finally, all-purpose flour is a mixture of soft flours and strong flours.
Gluten makes dough elastic when water is added. This elasticity is what gives the bread a chewy texture. That’s why bread that’s chewier often has a higher gluten content. It makes sense, then, that gluten is low in cakes. You’ve got to have that crumble!
3 Flours To Choose From
All-Purpose Flour
This flour is like the name says—all-purpose. It’s used for a wide range of recipes, but it can be tricky for pizza. All-purpose flour dough has a tendency to tear easier than other flours. If you’re wanting to make a Sicilian or deep-dish crust pizza, it’s a great flour! While you can use this flour for New York-style and Neapolitan pizza, it’s not ideal, but it will work in a pinch.
Bread Flour
This is most often the one that people reach for when they decide to jump into pizza dough making. This flour is more forgiving than all-purpose. The texture you will achieve with this flour is crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. With bread flour, you will definitely be closer to the classic pizza texture everyone knows and loves.
While bread flour dough won’t tear easily like all-purpose, it does like to spring back due to the high gluten content. Consequently, this makes it difficult to shape and stretch before putting all your toppings on top.
Our Favorite: Caputo Tipo ’00’ Flour
At Backyard Brick Ovens, we love Neapolitan pizza. The texture is unmatched. With the thin center and light, puffy crust, what’s not to love? 00 flour is a go-to for tons of pizza experts like us for a reason. The gluten content in 00 flour is optimal: 12 1/2%. This is the finest grind of flour you can buy, and it creates a dough that’s chewy and not like chewing on a piece of rubber. When you use 00 flour pizza dough in your pizza oven, it rises in the middle and puffs up just right on the edges. Great for high heat cooking!
[Buy Caputo Tipo ’00’ Flour Here]
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Finally, you understand gluten and what kind of flour to use for your next pizza—it’s time to get cooking! Are you sick of your oven that can barely get over 500ºF? If you’ve been thinking about getting a pizza oven, we’ve got you covered. Backyard Brick Ovens has world-class ovens for everyone who loves making and eating pizza, like us!
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