Prelude

Attempting to describe the differences between flour in the Italy and the United States (US) presents a number of challenges because there is no single source of definitive explanations and definitions. What follows is a review of the literature and included information excerpted from a variety of Italian and English language texts.

Additionally, we include our own bread making experience. We have assumed that many visitors to  The Artisan   do not have access to the texts that we have used as the basis for this work.   Consequently, we have taken the liberty to quote liberally from the source materials. We have also provided references for these works for those who may be interested in further research. The purpose of this research is to provide enough technical information to allow a baker, whether serious home or commercial, to make informed flour choices when attempting to duplicate Italian breads.

Introduction

As presented throughout the remainder of this text, the evaluation of essential factors relative to the quality of flour is more often than not made by laboratory analyses.  As a rule, both commercial and serious home bakers in the US are given minimal technical information regarding the majority of the wheat flours that are available for use.  They are provided the type flour, i.e. patent, high-gluten, all-purpose, bleached or unbleached, pastry, etc., whether or not the flour is made up of hard or soft wheat, or a blend, and a per cent protein content. Other information, such as the results from laboratory analyses, is not readily obtainable. It has only recently become common knowledge to the general public that the characteristics and quality of a particular flour (such as all-purpose) may differ according to geographic region.

By contrast, Italian and other European commercial bakers have a greater variety of flours and more technical information  available to them than do their American counterparts.   For instance, a list of the flours available from    Molino SIMA di Argenta includes 8 type 00, 9 type 0, and 1 type whole wheat flour, in addition to 2 type 00 flour for domestic use. Analytic data such as the "W", "P/L" and per cent dry gluten (discussed below) are provided with a description of each flour and its suggested use.   Home bakers in Italy are given short shrift as  Italian law does not require information about the particular flour being used to be published on flour packaging.   We have provided as much information as we could locate in the section labeled "Criteria for Judging Flour". Many reading this treatise may find it disheartening that the flour quality indicators available to European bakers are not easily available here.   One company does provide information.  It is Cooks Natural Products.  As of late, more mills are providing that information to professional bakers.  Some will provide these data to home bakers upon request.  The Artisan's  position is that every mill,  large and small, should provide the information.   It is up to you, our visitors to demand same.