Finding the perfect type of flour: a quick guide to essential varieties
As a key ingredient in doughs, breads, pastries, and crusts, flour is an essential pillar of foodservice. You probably have a few large bags in your pantry right now! Given how frequently you reach for flour, do you know what sets different varieties apart? Is the type you’re using really the best one for you? Read on to explore the art and science of choosing the perfect flour.
Protein content: the key to excellent pizza flour
Flour pulls a lot of weight in the world of cooking and baking: it dictates the structure, extensibility, gas retention, texture, nutrition, and flavour of your dough. Flour and yeast have the greatest impact on a dough’s quality, so it’s important to understand what you're working with.
Flours that are formulated for pizza recipes – like Belvario flours – are typically made with hard wheat (either bleached or unbleached, depending on the variety), which contains high levels of protein. The higher a flour’s protein content, the more gluten it produces, and the stronger the dough’s structure will be. That’s why soft wheat flours are rarely used to make pizza crust: they do not contain enough protein to hold toppings in place.
High-protein flours also absorb more water, which is important for dough consistency and performance and makes for perfectly chewy pizza dough. On the other hand, pastry flour is low in protein: it absorbs less moisture and is less stable. Its lower gluten content leads to cakey, fluffy dough – great for pastries, not so great for crusts.
What type of flour should you choose?
Belvario all-purpose flour is a highly versatile bleached flour made from Canadian hard wheat, containing between 11.3% and 12.5% protein. It includes a combination of both hard and soft flour, which ramps up its flexibility and makes it a great choice for a wide variety of baked goods.
Since all-purpose flour creates doughs that are more prone to tearing when stretched due to lower gluten production, you can use it to create wonderfully tender pizza crusts – particularly deep dish and Sicilian style crusts – with full-bodied flavour profiles. You can also use it to make perfectly chewy breadsticks.
Milled from hard red spring wheat, Belvario’s strong patent flour is high-quality, uniform, and can be used for a number of applications. It is very tolerant to variations in fermentation and mixing, and it keeps well in the refrigerator – a huge benefit if you are a restaurant that makes dough in advance, or sells pre-portioned dough to customers for at-home pizza cooking.
With a protein content of between 11.5% and 13%, this flour is best suited for bagels, hearth breads, and specialty breads. On the pizza side, it’s great for thick crusts, pan pizzas, and breadsticks.
This classic unbleached pizza flour is made with milled hard red spring wheat, and contains between 12.3% and 13.3% protein. It is specially treated for shops that require a slightly stronger flour that can withstand faster mixing and the power of a dough machine.
Flour that is formulated specifically for pizza creates tear-resistant dough with more elasticity. If you’re looking to make crusts that are crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside, Belvario’s pizza flour’s elevated gluten content makes for perfectly springy dough (so you’ll need a bit of skill to stretch it properly!) that holds up well in the refrigerator.
Milled from a blend of Canadian Western hard red spring and Canadian Eastern hard red winter wheat, this bleached flour is also formulated to make the perfect pizza. Specifically, this variety is treated to improve gas production and gas retention. It sets itself apart as a great choice for thin crusts and gourmet pizzas, and contains between 12.3% and 13.3% protein.
Besides using the right type of flour, the secret to making the perfect dough is practice. Choose the yeast that best fits your process – whether it’s a compressed, active dry or instant dry yeast. All three will perform similarly and offer a comparable flavour profile to your dough. The trick is to explore with quantity so you can find the perfect ratio for your preferred technique and your kitchen’s conditions.
Once you have your pizza dough recipe down, you only have to choose some delicious toppings as a finishing touch. To get the ball rolling, visit our inspiration page for creative pizza ideas!
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