Best flour for pizza: 00 or strong white, and which W
The best flour for pizza is the one whose strength matches how long your dough matures. Same-day dough: W 180–220 (about 11 % protein). 24–48 hours in the fridge: W 250–290. 72 hours or more: W 300–380. "00" tells you how finely milled and white the flour is, not how strong. UK strong white bread flour (12–13 % protein) works well for 24–48 h doughs.
00 or strong white: what the bag actually tells you
Italian, French and German flours carry a type number based on ash (the mineral content left after milling). In Italy that's 00, 0, 1, 2 and integrale; 00 means at most 0.55 % ash and at least 9 % protein, nothing more. UK flour has no type numbers: you buy plain, strong white, very strong or wholemeal, sorted roughly by protein.
Strength is a different measure. Italian mills quote W, from the Chopin alveograph: the energy needed to blow a sheet of dough into a bubble until it bursts. High W means gluten that holds up through a long, cold fermentation. Protein percentage is a rough proxy. A 00 can be a weak cake flour at W 150 or a long-ferment flour at W 350.
| UK label | Typical protein | Rough Italian equivalent | Pizza use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plain flour | 9–10 % | 00 at W 150–180 | Too weak for most pizzeria dough |
| Strong white bread flour | 12–13 % | 00/0 at W 260–300 | 24–48 h dough, deck ovens |
| Very strong / Canadian | 14–15 % | Manitoba, W 350+ | Blends and biga only |
| "00" pizza flour (Caputo, Polselli…) | 11.5–13 % | As labelled, W 220–330 | Neapolitan, high-heat ovens |
Typical values. Ask your supplier for the spec sheet of the batch you buy.
Which W for which fermentation time?
| Maturation | W | Protein | Hydration | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Same day, 6–8 h | 180–220 | 10.5–11.5 % | 55–58 % | Pivetti Margherita, Spadoni PZ1/PZ2 |
| 24–48 h cold | 250–290 | 12–12.5 % | 57–60 % | Caputo Pizzeria (W 260–280), Spadoni PZ3, UK strong white |
| 48–72 h | 270–330 | 12.5–13 % | 58–62 % | Caputo Nuvola (W 270–290) |
| 72 h+ | 330–380 | 13–14 % | 60–64 % | Spadoni PZ4, Pivetti Girasole |
Mill-published W values. Check the data sheet for your batch.
Italian mills that grade flours by days give a handy rule: a "2-day" flour around 57 % water, a "3-day" flour around 58 %, a "4-day-plus" flour around 59 %. Manitoba on its own makes a tough, chewy dough; keep it for blends and biga. Stronger flour drinks more water, so settle the flour first and the hydration second.
How much water your flour can take
Does 00 flour brown in an electric deck oven?
Most UK takeaways bake in electric deck or conveyor ovens at 280–330 °C, where a pizza spends 4–6 minutes. Unmalted 00, designed for 60–90 seconds at 450 °C, browns poorly there and dries out. Many pizza flours already include malted wheat flour (check the ingredients), and these colour better. If yours doesn't, add diastatic (not roasted) malt at 0.5–1 g per kg of flour. More than that makes a sticky dough and a dark, sweet crust.
A practical UK blend for a deck oven and 48-hour dough: 70 % Italian 00 at W 260–300, 30 % British strong white. You get the extensibility of the 00 and the colour of the British flour.
Folic acid: what changes in December 2026
UK-milled non-wholemeal wheat flour already has added calcium, iron, thiamin and niacin. From 13 December 2026, it must also contain folic acid at 0.25 mg per 100 g. This doesn't change how dough behaves. It does change ingredient lists: British flour will read "wheat flour (wheat flour, calcium carbonate, iron, niacin, thiamin, folic acid)". Imported Italian 00 is not fortified. Update your product specs and any PPDS (Natasha's Law) labels if you switch between the two.
Improved pizza premixes: convenience vs control
Some "pizza mixes" add malt, deactivated sourdough, extra protein and emulsifiers (E471, E472). They forgive a lot and hold well in the fridge. The trade-off is a longer ingredient list for allergen and labelling records, dependence on one supplier and poor results with poolish or biga. Plain flour gives you control.
How to switch flour without wrecking a weekend
- Make a 5 kg test batch on a quiet day. Change only the flour; keep yeast and salt.
- Adjust water by 2 points at most, adding the last of it late in the mix.
- Check final dough temperature (23–25 °C) and your fridge with a probe.
- Bake at your real service temperature, with the oven loaded.
- Hold a month of stock if the importer has long lead times.
Recalculate yeast and water for a new flour
Price per pizza, sacks and storage
Italian 00 pizza flour typically costs somewhere around £30–45 per 25 kg sack from UK wholesalers, roughly £1.20–1.80 a kilo. A 250 g dough ball holds about 155 g of flour: 20–28p per pizza. A premium flour adds pennies, less than an extra 10 g of mozzarella. Store sacks off the floor on pallets, dry, below 20 °C, first in first out.
"48-hour dough, Italian W 300 flour" is a selling point nobody sees on a delivery app listing. On your own site, you can say it and keep the margin.
Where UK pizzerias buy flour
- Cash and carries: Booker, Bestway and Costco stock Caputo and other Italian 00s alongside British strong white.
- Italian food importers: full ranges (Caputo, Polselli, 5 Stagioni) and spec sheets on request.
- British mills: Shipton Mill, Wessex Mill and Marriage's make 00-style and pizza flours from UK and imported wheat.
FAQ
Is 00 flour always best for pizza?
No. 00 means fine milling and low ash. It can be weak or strong. Match W and protein to your fermentation time; W 260–300 suits most 24–72 h pizzeria doughs.
Can I use strong white bread flour for pizza?
Yes. At 12–13 % protein it suits 24–48 h dough and browns well in deck ovens. It's less extensible than 00, so balls take longer to open. Blending with 00 fixes that.
What does W mean on flour?
W is the alveograph strength: how much energy it takes to stretch dough to bursting. Below 200 is weak, 250–300 medium-strong, above 330 very strong.
What W for a 48-hour cold dough?
Around W 260–300 with 12–13 % protein. Below W 250 the gluten slackens before 48 hours; above W 330 the dough stays tight unless you mature it longer.
How long dough balls keep in the fridge
Direct, poolish or biga: matching the preferment to the flour