Pizza flours : type, strength, hydration, all the advice to choose (2024)

Don't know which flour to choose for a successful pizza dough ? Discover all our tips to understand the subtleties of pizza flours, and prepare your dough like a pro !

Choosing the right quality flour is essential for a successful recipe. It is therefore essential to know as many basic indicators as possible in order to find the flour that best suits your needs. Each flour has its own specific use and characteristics, which is why we have selected some tips to help you find the ideal flour for your pizzas.

What are the different types of flour ?

In France, there are different types of flour, the higher the type number the more minerals your flour contains.

• T45: This is a white flour generally used for pastries, cakes, etc., but also for pizza dough.
• T55 : This is a white flour used for "white" or "ordinary" bread, pastry doughs and pizzas.
• T65 : This is also a white flour used to make farmhouse bread, special breads (traditional) and pizza dough.
• T80 : This is a semi-complete flour frequently used in organic bakeries and is used to make special and semi-complete breads.
• T110 / T130 : These are wholemeal flours used to make wholemeal breads.
• T150 : This is a wholemeal flour used to make "wholemeal" breads.

However, for your pizza doughs, we recommend using T00 italian flour(which could be similar to T45 flour).Its high gluten content will allow you to obtain a soft and elastic pizza dough that is easy to work with.

Italian classifications

Italian flours have a better baking value, they are ideal for supporting the rising times of pizza doughs (which can sometimes be relatively long). Their classification is different from French flours. In fact, the typology of Italian flours is different from the French typology (T45, T65 etc.); in Italy, the typology is 0, 00, 1, 2 or wholemeal. This flour typology is not related to the strength of the flour or its resistance.

The typology of flour in Italy is based on the refinement of the flour. In other words, the whiter the flour, the closer it is to type 00, the more minerals it contains.

This is why type 0 or 00 flours are mainly used by pizza makers.

What is the strength of a flour ?

First of all, you should know that a good pizza dough needs a quality wheat flour that is rich in gluten, which is what we call a strength flour. The purpose of this specificity is to allow a good rise and to offer a nice elasticity and softness to your dough, while offering a greater resistance than a classic flour during the baking process. The stronger the flour, the better the taste and digestibility. However, the rising time will be longer. The level of strength is one of the elements that will impact the structure of the dough. It is therefore important to be aware of this (see the information on the packet) in order to choose the flour that best suits your needs.

What strength to choose for a good pizza dough ?

Three ranges of strength can be identified, namely:

1. A force between W240 and W300: This force is ideal if you want to make a Neapolitan pizza, for example. It allows a relatively good direct impaction if you want to obtain a certain balance between tenacity and extensibility or elasticity of the dough.
2. A force between W300 and W340: This is ideal if you want to obtain a developed and airy dough with indirect impasto.
3. A strength between W340 and W400: This is the right strength if you want to make a preparation with a long resting time and very high hydration.

For your pizzas, this crucial parameter must be taken into account if you want to obtain the expected result.

Making pizza dough with gluten-free flour

Some people are allergic or intolerant to gluten, which is why the choice of flour when making your pizzas is of major importance.In order to overcome this type of allergy while maintaining a crisp and light dough texture, we recommend that you make a gluten-free pizza dough recipe with a mixture of flours.Ideally, you should mix white rice flour, potato starch, corn starch and xanthate gum to mimic the texture and taste of Italian pizza dough.If you follow this mixture, you'll have a pizza with a crispy exterior and a soft, gluten-free interior.

However, to make it easier, there are professional flours that are certified gluten-free that will meet all your expectations!

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