Making pizza at home can be scary if you want to make the dough yourself. Still, once you do, you’ll never want to go back to the old ways. The best way to get excellent dough is by using the ideal flour, which is the Caputo 00 flour. Learn more about this type of flour and its origin here.
The Caputo 00 flour is the finest Italian-made flour. The company making it is called Antimo Caputo – one of the oldest wheat millers based in Naples, Italy, the birthplace of pizza. They’re certified suppliers of pizzerias and chefs around the world. The varieties to cook with are Chef’s Flour, Classica, and Pizzeria.
If you want to learn more about the origin and types of Caputo flour, this article may inspire you to buy some and make pizza from scratch in the comfort of your home.
What Is the Caputo 00 Flour?
Antimo Caputo started its milling business in 1924, almost a century ago. They’re the most famous pizza flour manufacturer globally and are acclaimed for their excellent product quality.
The True Neapolitan Pizza Association has dubbed them an approved supplier of pizza flour in Naples, where this famous dish was born.
The 00 flour is unique because of its high protein and gluten content. When used in pizza dough, it makes it stretchier and crispier when baked.
What Do the Numbers 00 Represent?
In Italy, flour processing is labeled with numbers 2, 1, 0, and 00. These numbers represent the coarseness of the flour and how finely the wheat was milled.
Here’s a short overview of what the numbers represent in flour quality:
- Type 00 – the most refined; it has a low concentration of nutrients but a good amount of protein,
- Type 0 – this one’s similar to 00, but it’s just slightly less refined and has a higher concentration of nutrients from wheat,
- Type 1 – the first flour created by stone grinding and sifting. This type has a high concentration of bran and wheat germs, so it’s nutritionally high in value,
- Type 2 – the coarsest flour type, filled with larger particles, fibers, and nutrition.
Antimo Caputo Is a Company With a Long Tradition and Amazing Products
Caputo makes and sells a variety of flours, but the most famous is their Caputo Pizzeria flour. It is used by pizza chefs and other cooking and baking experts worldwide.
Other Caputo 00 flours are Classica and Chef’s Flour. All three have different protein percentages, and for pizza dough, the optimal is 12% which is the exact percentage of the Pizzeria flour. Classica has 11%, and Chef’s Flour has 13%.
You can also make different kinds of pasta, cakes, and bread with the 00 flours; they’re not just reserved for pizza dough.
Types of Flours Antimo Caputo Produces and Sells
Here’s a list of Antimo Caputo flours, in case you want to try them for other products besides pizza making:
- Classica – an all-purpose 00 flour,
- Chef’s Flour – perfect for pizza dough, bread, and pasta,
- Pizzeria – the ultimate pizza dough flour, used by professionals worldwide,
- Semolina – a wholemeal flour ideal for pasta,
- Brown Pasta and Gnocchi Flour – another type 00, suitable for rolling out pasta, like tagliatelle and ravioli,
- Gluten-Free – for those with gluten intolerance. It’s excellent for pizza, bread, and sweets.
How to Make the Perfect Pizza Dough With the Caputo 00 Flour
The success of your pizza dough depends on how patient you are. Getting the perfect result requires proofing for a long time, approximately 24 hours. This means you’ll have to plan your homemade pizza about a day or two before, so you can get the best result.
For the ultimate dough that ends up making two 10-12 inch pizzas, you’ll need:
- 2 cups Caputo Pizzeria 00 flour,
- 1/4 cup warm water,
- 1/2 cup cool water,
- 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast,
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt,
- 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar,
- Olive oil for coating.
Dissolve the yeast and sugar in warm water, and wait until it bubbles up. This could take a couple of minutes, so leave it aside and get other ingredients ready. Once it’s foamy, add it to a bowl or standalone mixer together with the cold water.
Add 1/3 of Caputo 00 flour to the water and start mixing until you get a smooth batter. This means no flour pockets remaining or any dry spots. If you’re doing it by hand, it might take some time, but if you use the standalone mixer, start slowly and then increase it while it’s mixing.
Add the rest of the flour and the salt to the mix and keep rolling the dough until smooth. This can take up to 10 minutes. Form the dough into a smooth ball and coat it with a thin layer of olive oil. Leave it to rest for an hour until it rises just a bit – it shouldn’t double in size because there’s little yeast, so don’t worry if your dough seems the same as when you left it.
After one to two hours, take the dough out of the bowl, divide it into two smaller balls, and roll and coat them with olive oil just as you did before. This time, cover it well with plastic wrap and leave it in the fridge for around 24 hours.
You can leave it up to 48 hours, but if you’re impatient to try your pizza dough, the least time for proving can be reduced to 8 hours. As long as you don’t use it sooner than that, you’ll be fine.
The Perfect Components Can Create the Ultimate Pizza
The Caputo 00 flour types are perfect for homemade baking adventures, especially when it comes to pizza. You’ll see how easy, effortless, and delicious your meal will be and all the more because you made it yourself.
The next time you want to impress others with your skills, try out the pizza dough recipe, and don’t forget to get your hands on some Caputo 00 flour to make it perfect.