What Is Zero Zero Flour? (What Is It Made Of, What’s It For, Substitutes + Taste)

Flour is a versatile ingredient that most people have in their homes, but some types of flour are put in higher regard than others. For instance, 00 flour or zero zero flour is considered one of the best kinds of flour available.

If this is the first you’ve heard of zero zero flour, you may be wondering what zero zero flour is. I looked up the facts, and here is what I learned!

What Is Zero Zero Flour?

Zero zero flour, which is better known as 00 flour or doppio zero, is regarded as one of the best flours to create pizza and pasta dough. Therefore, 00 flour is seen as a crucial ingredient in Italian cooking. 00 flour is extremely fine and has 11-12% protein, creating high elasticity without tough, rubbery textures.

Do you want to learn what 00 flour is made of, what is special about 00 flour, and what you can substitute for 00 flour? Keep reading!

What Are Other Names For Zero Zero Flour?

Generally, zero zero flour is called 00 flour but other may people call it doppio zero.

What Is 00 Flour Made Of?

Typically, 00 flour is made from durum wheat especially if the 00 flour is made in the United States, which has a protein or gluten range of 11-12%.

What Does 00 Flour Taste Like?

Normally, 00 flour does not have much of a taste, especially since the other ingredients used with 00 flour may overpower the already neutral flavor of 00 flour.

What Is 00 Flour Used For?

Ordinarily, the main use for 00 flour is to create dough for pizza and pasta because 00 flour has the perfect texture and gluten content to create pizza and pasta.

00 flour has slightly less gluten than bread flour, which leads to slightly chewy yet not tough textures that most people want to have in their pizza and pasta dishes.

However, 00 flour may be used to create other recipes, such as focaccia bread.

Moreover, 00 flour can be used in many recipes that require plain flour, but 00 flour may create a slightly chewier texture than plain flour.

What Is Special About 00 Flour?

What Is Special About 00 Flour?

One of the things that make 00 flour special is the protein content since 00 flour usually has 11-12% protein, but some varieties may have protein as low as 8%.

This protein range in 00 flour gives 00 flour the ideal texture for many recipes, particularly pizza and pasta.

For instance, pizza and pasta dough made from 00 flour can be kneaded quite a bit since there is just enough gluten to let the dough rise yet not enough to create dense and chewy textures like bread.

Moreover, 00 flour is considered extremely finely ground flour, which is often preferred by most chefs.

More importantly, 00 flour is considered integral in Italian cooking as 00 flour is seen as the best flour to create Neopolitan pizza along with pasta dough.

Since 00 flour is very fine, 00 flour is sturdy thanks to its high elasticity, which makes 00 flour great for kneading, yet creates delicate enough results in dishes that will not leave your food rubbery or tough.

What Is The Difference Between All-Purpose Flour And 00 Flour?

A huge difference between all-purpose flour and 00 flour is their textures because 00 flour is super fine whereas all-purpose flour is not ground as well as 00 flour.

Moreover, all-purpose flour and 00 flour can vary in protein content since 00 flour can have 8-12% protein whereas all-purpose flour usually has 8-11%.

While a 1% difference in gluten may not seem like much, the 1% difference in gluten can make a huge change in recipes, which is why 00 flour creates chewier results than all-purpose flour.

Moreover, all-purpose flour tends to be a lot cheaper and easier to find compared to 00 flour.

What Is The Difference Between Bread Flour And 00 Flour?

Bread flour and 00 flour are made of different ingredients since bread flour is made from hard red wheat whereas 00 flour is made from durum wheat.

Since they are created from different types of wheat, 00 flour has up to 12% of gluten while bread flour can have up to 14% gluten.

Due to bread flour’s higher gluten content, bread flour usually creates much denser, chewier products while 00 flour creates somewhat lighter yet chewy dishes.

Can I Make 00 Flour From Regular Flour?

You cannot make 00 flour from regular flour because 00 flour is made from durum wheat that gets milled to a specific fineness.

However, it is possible to use regular flour or all-purpose flour instead of 00 flour, but you will not get the exact same texture.

Can You Use 00 Flour For All-Purpose Flour?

It is possible to use 00 flour instead of all-purpose flour since they are both types of wheat flour, so there should not be too much difference when you use 00 flour.

However, it is important to note that certain recipes like cakes will be a bit chewier because 00 flour usually has more gluten than all-purpose flour.

What Can I Use Instead Of 00 Flour?

Typically, the next best substitute for 00 flour is all-purpose flour since all-purpose flour usually has a little less gluten than 00 flour.

However, using all-purpose flour instead of 00 flour often produces much softer results.

Additionally, bread flour may be used in place of 00 flour if you are making pizza dough, but your pizza dough will be significantly chewier and denser than usual.

If you want to learn what lupin flour is, what lentil flour is, and what light spelt flour is, read our other articles.

Conclusion

Zero zero flour, which is also called doppio flour or 00 flour, is a popular type of flour in Italy since 00 flour is super fine.

00 flour is known for having the ideal gluten content to create pizza and pasta, but 00 flour may be used to create other recipes, such as focaccia bread.

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