October 28, 2020 - 7:53am
Uses for weak 00 flour
I accidentally bought 10% protein 00 flour, which is too weak for pizza. I could mix it with extra-strong bread flour for pizza, but I was thinking if there are some ideas for what it would be particularly well suited for? Any baked goods that don't need strong flour, and would benefit from such fine flour grind? Thanks!
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What does the packaging say? Any suggested recipes?
Have you looked up the product's web page at the miller's web site?
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Subject to revision based on further info from the package/website, my guesses would be: pancakes, waffles, bannock, crepes, thin flatbreads such as tortillas/chapatis, quickbreads (chemical leavening, not yeast), American style muffins.
I couldn't find the website of the miller, but here is some info: https://www.youdreamitaly.com/en/Selezione-Casillo-flour-type-00-1-Kg.xhtml?id=2058
Everything is in Italian, so I might be missing something, but the recipe on the packaging is for Calzone Pugliese, which seems to be a type of pie.
So you'd just use it as normal plain flour? I was hoping there might be something it would be particularly suited for, and I wouldn't feel so bad about spending 5x more over just plain Sainsbury's flour of unknown origin.
W 180 is the key figure from the web page.
User mwilson (in UK) is our expert on Italian flours. You could ask him.
Here is an explanation of the W number: http://theartisan.net/Flours_One.htm
There is a table with W ranges and possible uses.
Amazon.co.uk has a page with reviews:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Casillo-Farina-Italiana-Italian-Flour/dp/B088RGWB5P
Here's the miller, I think: https://www.molinocasillo.com/
But couldn't find that product.
Thanks! Very interesting document with a lot of information, and I didn't think of looking at Amazon reviews!
Looks like people are using successfully it for everything frmo pasta to pizza and even bread... And theartisan document also suggests this W number is suitable for some bread types. Even for ciabatta! I thought ciabatta needed strong flour to work with very high hydration?
I found that website, but all the packaging and the logo there looked different, so I thought maybe it's a different miller with a similar name...
It's the correct miller. They have very recently updated their range with new packaging.
The equivalent flour is this one..
Casillo - Type 00
and here is a recipe
Casillo - calzone-di-verdure , which is interesting being unleavened and the liquid part consists solely of white wine!
I have successfully made yeast leavened bread with equivalent flours in the past.
Thanks a lot, very helpful!
That's what I thought I saw about the wine, but thought I was missing something with no knowledge of Italian!
Would it work in sourdough? Pizza? I wonder if the acidity would be detrimental, if the gluten is not particularly strong?
This type of flour is really not suitable for use with sourdough leavening. The required fermentation period would be too detrimental to the gluten network. As a rule, the weaker the flour the less fermentation it can withstand, the inverse being equally true. Short-time yeast leaving can work since it doesn't provide such a high level of proteolytic potential that a sourdough culture has.
If you do use this flour for a leavened bake, then the key areas would be to develop the dough upfront and use enough yeast to keep the leavening time relatively short - under 8 hours or so.
Pizza, tray / pan pizza, focaccia, flat breads etc. are all possible.
Thank you, that's what I thought!
I only really bake with sourdough though, but might get some yeast and use this for some sweet bake (or just use for pastry or other unleavened cooking/baking).
Italian Tipo 00 has the same gluten/protein content as US pastry flour or German 450. I use it for German Everyday Weizenbrötchen, crusty white rolls with a fluffy, crumb:
https://brotandbread.org/2010/06/22/weizenbrotchen-german-everyday-rolls/
But... 00 can have very different gluten content... 00 just means it's very finely milled. The previous one I bought was smth around 12% protein, and this one is 10%. I assume, the latter is similar to what you describe (pastry flour, or plain flour here in the UK). So trying your recipe might be a good idea, thanks!
Indeed 00 flours can be anything from weak to very strong.
While 00 flour can be observed to be fine textured or sometimes low in protein / gluten, the legal specification is actually with regard to ash content. Top marks to idaveindy!
In the same way that many European flours are rated by ash. French flours use 'T' grades e.g. T45,T55, T65 etc.
Simply, '00' designates a very refined flour with an ash content of 0.55% max (in Italy).
It should be noted that during milling, soft wheats naturally break into smaller particles while harder wheats naturally break into larger particles.
See more on my blog page: Flour | Italian Baking (wordpress.com)
I use il Molino "OO" flour (9% protein) when making Neapolitan pizza dough to bake in our brick oven. Probably not suitable for the home kitchen oven as it needs the brick oven deck temp to be 750°F/400°C. with flames rolling to the centre. The dough is made with IDY and a bulk ferment of 12 hours room temp then overnight in the refrigerator. It is quite slack by then and easy to shape. Magnificent flavour. I've tried many pizza doughs and I likee this one the best.
Cheers,
Gavin.
Wow thanks, so you are making pizza dough with long fermentation with an even weaker flour then? That's very promising.
Why do you think this particular dough is not going to work in a home oven?
In the home oven, the temperature is much lower than the brick oven, so I add some olive oil to encourage browning. I find a stronger flour will give a better result due to the longer bake time required. It's more like a Sicilian stye of dough.
Thank you Gavin, sounds reasonable.
Any flour (white flour) can be used for anything - biscuits to bagels. It may not be the best thing for a particular purpose, but that doesn't mean it won't work.
Matter of fact - I would recommend using this for pizza - I'm sure you'd be surprised by the results. Enjoy!
That's great, I'll try it for pizza then, thanks!