Italian 00 flour
A grade of milling fineness, not a protein specification — which is why '00 flour' on its own tells you almost nothing about how a dough will behave.
Also called 00 flour (INTERNATIONAL); doppio zero flour (INTERNATIONAL); pizza flour (INTERNATIONAL); tipo 00 (INTERNATIONAL)
The Italian flour grades — 00, 0, 1, 2 and wholemeal — describe HOW FINELY THE FLOUR IS MILLED AND HOW MUCH BRAN IS LEFT IN IT. 00 is the finest and the most refined. The system says nothing about protein content.
THAT IS THE MISCONCEPTION WORTH CORRECTING. A great deal of English-language writing treats 00 as a synonym for a high-protein pizza flour, and 00 flours are sold across a wide protein range: a soft 00 intended for pasta and pastry, and a strong 00 intended for long-fermented pizza dough, are both correctly labelled 00 and behave completely differently. The number on the bag is a sieve, not a strength.
WHAT THE FINENESS ACTUALLY CHANGES is hydration behaviour and handling. A very finely milled flour takes up water faster and gives a smoother, more extensible dough, which is part of why it suits a dough that is stretched thin rather than shaped. It is not a substitute for the protein a long fermentation needs.
THE PRACTICAL ADVICE IS TO READ THE PROTEIN FIGURE rather than the grade. A 00 sold for pizza will usually state one; where it does not, the grade alone cannot tell you whether it will hold a long ferment.
What changes if it is left out
For most purposes a plain or strong white flour of comparable protein does the same job with a very slightly coarser texture. Matching the protein matters considerably more than matching the grade.
Follows from the account above: the grade describes extraction and fineness, and protein is what governs network strength.
RecordedFollows from evidence recorded elsewhere on BakeHQ
Related
Compared in
Italian 00 flour vs bread flour
One side of the comparison.
What it does
Structure building
A wheat flour, so its structure comes from gluten — how much depends on the protein rather than on the grade.
Commonly confused with
A milling grade read as a protein specification. '00' says how fine the flour is and nothing about how strong it is.