Last week I posted a new cold fermentation recipe with, let’s say, mixed success. No matter how long I let it proof or how much I adjusted the water percentage, I kept landing on more or less the same disappointing result. A weak, underwhelming pizza.
So naturally, I kept telling myself I must be doing something wrong, and I’d retry with less water, or switch to a different recipe entirely. And I kept failing, pretty much every single time.
So what was actually going wrong, and more importantly, how do you avoid falling into the same trap?
Turns out the type of flour you use has a massive impact on the final quality of the dough. If you’re going for a Roman or Neapolitan style pizza, you want Tipo 00 flour specifically. For American-style pizza, standard bread flour does the job just fine. So what exactly is Tipo 00? It refers to how finely the grain is milled, nothing more mysterious than that.
Simple enough, right? Not quite. Here’s the catch: not all Tipo 00 flour is created equal.
Unfortunately, most bags don’t clearly state the protein percentage, and that number matters a lot. The higher the protein content, the better the flour performs for long fermentation, since it gives the gluten structure the strength it needs to hold up over days instead of hours.
To figure it out yourself, check the nutritional facts panel on the bag. For example, if it lists 4 grams of protein per 30 gram serving, you divide 4 by 30 and multiply by 100 to get the percentage. In that case, you’re looking at roughly 13.3 percent protein.
Interestingly, the bag of Polselli Tipo 00 I use lists “at least 11.5 percent” protein on the label, while the Canadian nutritional facts panel on the same bag shows 13.3 percent. I’m honestly not sure which number to trust more, but either way, I can highly recommend Polselli Classica Tipo 00. It’s been a consistent performer for long, slow fermentation.
For guidance here are the recommend percentage :
For 48-72 hours fermentation the recommended protein content is 14.5%
For 24-48 hours fermentation the recommended protein content is 13%
For 2-8 hours fermentation, anything with 11-12.5% will work