Best For Pizza: Antimo Caputo Chefs Flour

Let’s talk Italian flour!

Like many countries, Italy classifies flour based on how they are milled (ash content)—type 00 has less than .5% ash content and protein of 7% to 9%.

00 flour is very finely ground, much like baby powder. (In the US, the equivalent would be pastry flour).

Pizza dough is a favorite use for this type of flour, although it is also used in pasta. And some recipes call for a mix of 00 flour and other grades like semola (also called semolina).

For this article, we will recommend both 00 flour and a bundle combined with semola, for you pasta lovers.

When it comes to pizza dough, the gold standard of is Antimo Caputo. Tracing its roots back to 1924, Antimo Caputo is famous for their slow grinding process—the result is an amazing flour that makes a fantastic pizza dough.

What We Liked

• Made in Italy. In Naples. The birthplace of pizza!

• Strong, elastic gluten profile—great for stretchy pizza dough.

• Works well in home ovens up to 500°F.

What Needs Work

• Pricey.

Best Flour Bundle: Molino Antimo Caputo 00 Flour + Semola Flour

Prefer thicker pizza crust? Trying to recreate the eggless pasta of south Italy?

Many pizza aficionados will add some semola flour to 00 flour to provide more bite in the crust.

Semola flour is produced from durum wheat and is twice milled. It has higher protein, starch and gluten than 00 flour. (FYI: Semola’s cousin is semolina flour, which is more coarsely ground, roughly the texture of corn meal).

Since 00 is more powdery, it is used for softer pasta shapes like ravioli or tagliatelle.

Semola or semolina is used for thicker pasta shapes like rigatoni or penne.

Since some pizza and pasta recipes call for a mix of both flours, we’ll recommend this bundle—2.2 lb. bags of each flour, from the famous Antimo Caputo mill in Naples, Italy. This is the gold standard for Italian flour.

What We Liked

• Made in Italy.

• Mix of both flours makes thicker pizza crust.

• Delicious in pasta!

What Needs Work

• Pricey.

Best For Pasta: Cento Anna Napoletana Tipo 00 Extra Fine Flour

This flour makes wonderful soft/delicate pasta, like ravioli. Imported from Naples, Cento Anna flour impressed us with its overall quality and consistency.

What We Liked

• No GMOs.

• Fine, powdery texture.

• Imported by family-owned company in New Jersey in business since 1962.

• 11 lb. bag makes LOTS of pasta! Most Italian flour we sampled is sold in smaller, 2.2 lb. bags.

• Affordable (when you factor the price per kilogram, compared to other brands).

Best Organic: Molino Grassi 100% Italian Organic 00 Flour

Italians make amazing 00 flour for pizza dough . . . but surprisingly, few of the brands we sampled were organic. The best of organic bunch was Molino Grassi’s 100% Organic, based on our baking tests.

Molino Grassi is based in Parma, Italy—yes, the part of Italy famous for Parmesan cheese. The company traces its roots to 1934, as one of the first wheat millers in Northern Italy.

What We Liked

• No GMO’s.

•USDA Organic.

• Made in Italy, milled in Parma.

• Excellent powdery texture is great for pizza dough or delicate pastries.

What Needs Work

• Pricey.