00 Flour (Again)

[Willy]

Somewhere in the not-so dim dark past, I remember reading that Italian 00 flour is special because it is "low in sugar". This (finally) struck me as an odd thing a couple of days ago. I say odd since the yeast need sugar to survive and give us that wonderful CO2. Same with the microbes giving us their special contributions; they, too need simple sugars. That’s the whole purpose of fermentation. It allows the enzymes in the wheat to act on the starches (which are really just complex sugars) to produce simple sugars for the yeast and microbes to feast on. So, a "no" or "low" sugar flour makes no sense. Then again, I might just be thinking poorly.

I started searching and could find nothing—zero, zip, nada—about 00 flour being lower in sugar. Indeed, it’s "special" qualities seem to be the fineness to which it is ground and the effort to which they go to exclude the bran. A search of several flour nutrition labels seems to confirm that there is no difference in flour sugar content, nor any other nutritional component. To wit (values are per 30 gram ‘serving”):

Caputo (Red Bag): Protein 3 grams, carbs 23 grams, fiber <1 gram, sugar < 1 gram
KA Bread Flour” Protein 4 grams, carbs 22 grams, fiber 1 gram, sugar 0 grams
KA AP Flour: Protein 4 grams, carbs 23 grams, fiber 1 gram, sugar 0 grams

Are any of you folks aware of the qualities of 00 flours that make them different from regular old US flours?
Tonight is a 00 crust cook at (I hope) 800°F on the BGE. Soon, I’ll make an AP crust and cook it the same way for a fer shure, fer shure comparison. I’m hoping the gaskets don’t burn up. LOL

Also, Ken Forkish has a pizza book out ("The Elements of Pizza"). He recommends 00 flour for a number his crust recipes, all of which are designed for a 550°F home oven. His book is a good read; I enjoyed it more than I did Peter Reinhart’s pizza book.

[NortheastAl]

The fineness of the grind does make the sugar more available to the yeast as there is more surface area exposed to the yeast. An example would be a baseball compared to a BB. The same volume of both has more surface area with the BBs.

[Willy]

I think that what is more finely ground is still starch (and the protein)--which must still be broken down into simple sugars by the enzymes. Grinding cannot accomplish getting to a molecular level.

[NortheastAl]

Makes sense, Willy. Thanks.

[lonnie mac]

I did a deep dish last weekend with the "00" Caputo first time using it ever. One of the best dang pizzas I ever made! I learned right quick that I needed less water than usual. But after correcting, it was great.

[lonnie mac]

I can only relate as an avid brewer. I bake a lot of bread, but that process is actually fun. Brewing is getting to my head these years. I would imagine the fineness does give more access to the protease and diastase and the whole enzymatic action can happen faster to convert starches to maltose. If y'all use maltose in baking. I don't know. LOL. From a laymen, I will say after using the "00" for the first and only time so far, it jumped out of the bowl. I usually give a a few hours of rise time, this surprised me!

[Willy]

Good to hear re the 00!

I used to brew but got tired of "sanitizing". Best brews I ever made were a hefeweizen and a very dry raspberry mead.

[lonnie mac]

Great Willy! Yep, brewed a batch or two myself. Just got way too deep into it as I do all my hobbles. I could not imagine baking to the level of you guys now days. Heck, I use a microscope and a hemocytometer to count viable yeast cells these days. Just takes the fun out of a good hobby. I don't bake a lot of different breads. Only got one recipe for sourdough and been making it for years. Can't tell you how many years old my Carl's starter is.

[Amajeff99]

00 flour brought my pizza from average to amazing. my family noticed a huge difference. i

[gcdmd]

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/king-arthur-italian-style-flour-3-lb

[RonB]

It seems to me that the finer grind of 00 flour would result in more surface area for the yeast to work on so that the chemical reactions would take place faster and would result in a faster rise. I do knead to make some pizza dough to check out my thought process...