Best Flour
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When asked what is the best flour to make dough for wood-fired pizza, I usually start by saying “anything you make yourself in a wood-fired oven will taste fantastic. You can make great pizza from many different flours.”
We’ve made outstanding pizza from store bought unbleached white flour, King Arthur’s Whole Wheat flour, Einkorn flour, Kamut and mixtures of wheat, rye and other grains. For consistent go-to quality, we like King Arthur’s flours—whole wheat, bread or all-purpose. In other words, the delicious quality of your pizza depends primarily on the advantages of baking it in a wood-fired oven. The high temperature, efficient heating and touch of smokiness create an unbeatable taste.
In reference to questions about importing Italian 00 flour and whether you can make better pizza with this import, I refer to a test done by a blogger who did some serious comparison baking in a wood-fired oven.
I’ve gone through at least 100 lbs. of flour for that purpose…based on side by side comparisons in wood-fired oven pizza cookery, King Arthur bread flour produces a crust that is 99% identical in texture to the 00 flour but with a BETTER FLAVOR, for a bunch less money…I’ve learned that good pizza dough and crust comes much more down to hydration and handling than it does flour (thekitchen.com, Is “00” Flour Worth the Price, splatgirl).
We agree with her assessment that you can make fantastic pizza using store brand flour, as you learn the techniques. We recommend going with fresh flour rather than imported.
If you have a mill and grind your own flour, the nutritional value and the taste of your pizza (and other baked goods) move up a notch. In using freshly milled flour, you maximize nutrition and taste.
Most resources say that the vitamins and minerals in milled flour begin to deteriorate as soon as the husk is broken. It’s important to use freshly milled flour right away to capture the best flavor and nutrition as Peter Reinhart describes:
If you are fortunate enough to have your own mill, you cannot get flour any fresher, and this translates into better flavor…Great Harvest Bread Company built its reputation on milling their flour fresh each day, right in the bakery (Peter Reinhart, Whole Grain Breads, p. 172).
In general, winter wheat makes good all-purpose flour for bread and pizza.
Reinhart states that you can make soft wonderfully stretchy pizza dough with any brand of whole grain flour. He adds a helpful tip:
The best pizza dough is always made by long, slow fermentation, usually in the refrigerator. Making it with 100% whole wheat or whole grain flour can be a challenge because the dough does not have the resiliency and extensibility of white flour dough. However, the delayed fermentation method overcomes this (Peter Reinhart, Whole Grain Breads, p.267).
When baking for family and friends I like to grind the flour and use it right away. In a pinch, when I’m not able to do that, I’m happy about the pizza we turn out using locally bought flour.
