Flour for making pizza

[snoopy104]

Hi, I've recently started making my own pizza dough and up until now, I've been using pre-made pizza base mix, which has all of the flour, salt, yeast etc already mixed, just requiring the addition of olive oil and warm water.

I'm intrigued now and wish to make my own dough from scratch. I found a recipe on the internet for pizza dough by Jamie Oliver:

pizza dough | Pizza | Recipes | Jamie Oliver (UK)

I have some questions over the flour though because I am a little confused.
I really want to try making it with the Tipo '00 flour and Semolina flour that he mentions, rather than strong white flour but I'm having trouble understanding what I need to get. I've tried several different supermarkets local to me including Tesco, Morrisons, Asda and even Sainsbury's (for whom Jamie Oliver appears in their TV adverts).

Firstly, I cannot find Semolina flour anywhere, let alone find anyone who has heard of it. I don't have any specialist Italian food shops locally so I am restricted to what the supermarkets offer. From what I understand, Semolina is the hard part of durum wheat. Is this correct?

Secondly, the Tipo '00 flour: What does the Tipo bit mean? I understand that the '00 bit is how fine the flour is, but I cannot find any '00 flour called Tipo?
I have managed to find some 'Sainsbury's Taste the Difference' '00 grade pasta flour with Durum.

On the pack, it reads:

"Specially created for making satin-smooth pasta, our doppio zero flour is a supremely fine blend of high-protein white flour milled from the centre of the grain. We mix it with authentic durum wheat for a buttery, typically Italian colour"

Is this ok for making pizza or is this strictly pasta flour?
I assume the durum content is similar to adding semolina flour?

Does the protein content affect the elasticity of the dough much? if I was to use this, would it be best to mix it with some strong white flour, or would that ruin the '00 qualities of the flour?

I really want to have a go at making an authentic dough, but the ingredients I have access to are a little limited.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[justplainbill]

The double zero durum blend should work fine.

 

[pacanis]

Perhaps you can find the flours you are looking for here.
They have a great help line, too.
King Arthur Flour home page

 

[Andy M.]

Translated from Italian, tipo = type. So you're looking for type 00 flour. The 00 is the only important part.

00 is a type of flour used in pasta making but that does not mean it's only good for pasta.

You should be able to find all you need here: King Arthur Flour home page

 

[taxlady]

Hi Snoopy and welcome to DC.

You don't say where you are, but based on your list of local grocery stores, I am going to guess GB. We do have members here from GB, but most of us are from North America.

I have heard of, but am not familiar with tipo 00 flour, so I googled it. This page was interesting: Italian Tipo “00″ Flour Perfect for Pizza? | KitchenBoy

It seems that tipo 00 could be hard (strong) or soft flour, but it is definitely finely milled.

Maybe some of our Brit members can be of help in locating the right kind of tipo 00.

 

[justplainbill]

Translated from Italian, tipo = type. So you're looking for type 00 flour. The 00 is the only important part.

00 is a type of flour used in pasta making but that does not mean it's only good for pasta.

You should be able to find all you need here: King Arthur Flour home page

Some might say, translated to Italian, King Arthur Flour = troppo caro.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Yes, OP is in GB...as ironic as it may seem...King Arthur Flour doesn't ship there.

 

[pacanis]

Yes, OP is in GB...as ironic as it may seem...King Arthur Flour doesn't ship there.

That is ironic.


(and yet another reason why listing a general location is important )

 

[Janet H]

I have to say - the recipe you found looks delicious but overly complicated.

I make pizza dough almost every week (pizza and a movie night at my house) and here's what I do:

In stand mixer:

Flour
Salt
SAF yeast (this is the kind you don't have to rehydrate)

Hot tap water
2 T Olive oil

Mix hot water and oil into a tall glass and then slowly add to flour mixture while the mixer is running on low-ish. I slowly turn up the mixer speed until the dough has come together and then then let it go a minute or two longer.

I let the dough rise in the bowl, punching it down as needed until I'm ready to use it. A longer rise is better but I have done this in as little as an hour.

I noted that there was sugar in Olivers recipe but I'm not sure why you would want sugar in your pizza dough.

 

[Selkie]

A mix ratio that I have used successfully for years is:

5 Parts Bread flour (High Gluten Flour)
3 Parts All Purpose (Moderate Gluten Flour)
2 Parts Cake Flour (Low Gluten Flour)

For mine, I measure in ounces, giving me 10 ounces of flour which is enough for two medium size pizza doughs. For pizzas, the brand is unimportant. The proofing process (yeast aging and rising) has more to do with the flavor than the brand of flour. Salt , olive oil and perhaps a touch of sweetener and any spices add flavor.

 

[Bolas De Fraile]

Hello fellow Brit, I use 00 Italian flour or type 65 french flour, I don't like using British white bread flour as it has calcium added by law.
For your liquid try 50% water 50% milk.
My fav topping, part roast cube pots, make a onion marmalade, spread the marmalade on your dough top with the pots then scatter cubes of taleggio cheese on the pots, a few anchovy fillets chopped and scattered, bake

 

[Guts]

if you use Italian flour OO you not going to getting get really good results in less you have a high temperature oven or woodfired oven where you can reach temperatures of 800°f . If you like a chewy crust use a high gluten flour the King Arthur Sir Lancelot flour I think is 14.2% and there bread flour is about 1%± less than King Arthur's are Lancelot. It is my opinion that any bread flour or high gluten flour would make a good skin. Now if you're going for deep dish style that's another story. Here's a pie I made tonight. sausage, onion, red bell pepper, and the slightly burnt stuff on top was sun-dried tomato made with a sourdough recipe cooked on a stone in a home oven 625°F

 

[Bolas De Fraile]

Guts I use 00 or 65 and 55 for all my yeast baking, the reason is that in the UK all white flour has calcium added by law and this affects the texture of the product ie it is impossible to get the light random holes in focaccia using it unless you add ascorbic acid.
I get good results using a stone in my Bompani at 600f but a wood fired oven would improve them.

 

[mike-d]

00 flour

Snoopy104, how did you get on using the Sainsbury '00' flour with durum wheat for your pizza dough? I got hold of some the other week and intend to use it soon for pizza dough as I will be getting a G3Ferrari pizza oven soon.

Does anyone else have ideas for pizza dough recipes?

An Italian friend said I should use a mix of '00' flour and 'manitoba' flour (I think he means strong Canadian flour).

 

[CharlieD]

...
home oven 625°F ...

What kind of oven do you have, wow, mine only goes to 550 and even that is doubtful.

 

[CharlieD]

....

Flour
Salt
SAF yeast (this is the kind you don't have to rehydrate)

Hot tap water
2 T Olive oil

...

details, details please. Also do you have the pick for the yeast? Please.

 

[Guts]

What kind of oven do you have, wow, mine only goes to 550 and even that is doubtful.

Charlie I just have a cheap And gas range and I turned it is high is of the go in late heat for at least 30 min. with the stone in it. Some people have to leave their ovens on for an hour to get him really hot. I've also heard of disabling the cooking lock mechanism that you have for self-cleaning mode. I myself would not recommend this but I know of some people who have done this. I would not like to explain to my insurance company if the house burned down why I disabled this, so that's why I do not recommend it but I hear that it works if you maybe have an outside oven.

 

[mike-d]

Pizza oven

CharlieD, not many ovens get that hot. My Italian friend has a wood-fired clay pizza oven in his house, but since that is not an option for me I asked him whether I should buy a pizza stone to improve my pizzas. He said that the next best thing to buy after a full blown clay pizza oven is to get a "pizza cooker". He recommended the G3Ferrari, although there are other brands too:-

G3 Ferrari - products, Parmino, Grat, Stapp, pizza oven

(UK)
New-Pizza Oven: Amazon.co.uk: Kitchen & Home

It is definitely more of a pizza cooker than an oven, you can only bake one pizza at a time. However, it allegedly reaches 470 degrees celsius (880 fahrenheit), and it has a clay base to keep pizza bases crispy. Pizza cooking time is apparently 3-5 minutes.

I am receiving mine this week so will let you all know what I think of it.

 

[CharlieD]

Guts, I have a half decent oven and it is only maybe 2 years old. I still don't understand how you can get to 650. What brand/model of oven do you have.

 

[Girl49]

I got an Emile Henry baking stone for Christmas, and it works well in a home oven.

I, too, saw the Jamie Oliver pizza dough recipe...here at DC when a member recommended it. But, even though I found semolina flour at a local specialty food shop, haven't tried recipe yet 'cause it seems complicated (I'm a novice), and it makes a LOT of dough. Rather, used a Cooks Illustrated recipe, subbing King Arthur White Whole Wheat flour for some of the bread flour. It was good. Am going to make some more in a few days and use a little semolina and see how it comes out.