00 flour for pasta

Continuing from my old Chowhound topic, Berkeley Bowl today had both 00 pasta flour and 00 pizza flour, 5 Stagioni brand, $2.89 per 1-kg. bag.

Last time I needed some the Bowl had only pizza flour, so I ended up at the Monterey Market bulk section, which if things haven’t changed carries both kinds, Caputo brand.

Do you find it makes a really big difference?

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Yes.

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I’ve got some 00 flour sitting around that needs to be made into something delicious! I’m glad to know that it was a good purchase. What have you made with it? Any recipes you recommend? Thanks!

If it’s pasta 00, make fresh pasta. If it’s pizza 00, make pizza. Italians use it for bread but I think we have other flours that are better for that.

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@robert I got pizza 00 so I guess I’m making pizza! Too bad, I don’t have a good oven. What is the difference between pasta 00 and pizza 00? I didn’t realize there was a difference.

You don’t need a fancy oven, I know a guy who makes great pizza in a crappy rental-apartment oven.

I think a pizza stone helps.

00 just indicates the finest grade on the scale 00 - 0 - 1 -2. Different flour brands use different mixes of wheats. Caputo makes at least three for pizza, “pizzeria” aka blue, “rinforzato” aka red, and “chef’s flour” for long fermentation, plus “pasta & gnocchi.”

I use this technique and it’s quite good.

That dough recipe sounds like what Anthony Mangieri does at Una Pizza Napoletana. He used a long ferment that would not be permitted under VPN rules. Alt-Lopez’s recipe also cals for 68% hydration vs. VPN’s 50-55%. Those changes result in more flavorful crust.

VPN method:

First phase: remove the dough from the mixer, and place it on a surface in the pizzeria where it can be left to rest for 2 hours, covered by a damp cloth. In this manner the dough’s surface cannot harden, nor can it form a crust caused by the evaporation of the moisture released from the dough. The dough is left, intact, to rise for 2 hours.

With the aid of a spatula, the mixture is cut into strips from which pieces are broken off and then shaped into balls. The formation of the balls must be done exclusively by hand. This technique, known as ‘staglio a mano’ whereby the dough is made into small balls, ‘panetti’, is reminiscent of the technique used in the preparation of mozzarella – ‘mozzatura’ also done by hand. For " Verace Pizza Napoletana” - (Vera Pizza Napoletana) the dough balls (‘panetti’) must weigh between 180 and 250 g.

Second phase: Once the individual dough balls (‘panetti’) are formed, they are left in ‘rising boxes’ known as “mattarelle” (alimentary cases – see appendices for further details) for the second rising stage, which lasts between 4 to 6 hours. By controlling storage temperature (keeping at room temperature), these dough balls can then be used at any time for the following 6 hours.

Oops, I don’t make my dough. I use the technique shown for cooking.