Here is an interview conducted with Tim Huff, Master Baker with General Mills flour
Albert: Okay what percentage than of Baker’s percent do you recommend for Pizza dough?
Tim Huff: Okay you know it if I think of a New York style thin crust I’m thinking All Trumps flour. Flours obviously at a. hundred percent, hydration is usually around 60%. Nowadays I love to suggest instant yeast. Instant yeast to me is foolproof. For dough that I’m making today using tomorrow I’m probably going use instant yeast in a range of a half percent to ¾ of a percent I’m usually using salt close to 2%. I’m usually using sugar maybe one in 1 to 1 ½ % and if I’m using in any oil at all (A lot of New York guys don’t use it but I like to put it in there) about 2 to 3% compared to flour weight just to help in the stretching that dough, makes it a little bit more elastic.
Albert: What do you flour do you recommend for the home pizza chef, you know, we are not able to get All Trumps, you think Better for Bread Flour is a good flour?
Tim Huff: It is that’s what I use at home. Cause one of things with high gluten flour at home your generally don’t have the mixing ability to fully develop that gluten structure so like if I use my KitchenAid at home I really can’t fully develop an All Trumps. I use Better for Bread at home, it’s a 12 1/2% protein winter wheat flour.
One of the things that I changed: my wife got tired of me burning up the KitchenAid so I actually use a Cuisinart to make my dough I can make set out in about 60 seconds using the dough blade attachment and I really enjoy what I what the outcome is with that so I make up the night before and give it a good at least 12 to 18 hour fermentation in the refrigerator and it makes a wonderful dough.
Albert: Tim Huff from General Mills thank you so so much I greatly appreciate you taking time to talk to me. If people have questions, can they contact you?
Tim Huff: You bet probably the easiest way would be my email address at General Mills and that’s tim.huff @genmills.com
Albert: Thanks a lot Tim you’ve added a lot to everyone that uses flour to make pizza, from the professionals to the home chef is awesome
Tim Huff: Awesome, thanks.
Find out more about Pizza Expo here.
Here’s a video I did a while back about my favorite pizza flour…
You can have Gold Medal flour delivered right to your door. click below:
Gold Medal Better For Bread Flour, 5 lb
Gold Medal Better For Bread Flour, 5 Pound — 8 per case.
What about “00” flour from Italy. Wouldnt that be the best, in theory? Dont they use that to make all their pizzas?
Great question Dan.
As I am learning (because I still have much to learn), all flours are not created equally, just as all pizzas are not created equally. The “00” flour is great for Authentic Neapolitan Pizza, but not all pizza. Let me explain.
The “00” designation refers to how the flour is ground, which is very fine. For example Caputo flour makes a great flour for making Authentic Neapolitan pizza. Which is generally cooked in a wood fired oven.
The All Trumps Flour Tim talks about is used to make a traditional New York Pizza. A different crust and generally cooked at a lower temperature. In the interview Tim talks about the Neapolitan Flour developed by General Mills…
” Right now with the advent of a lot of the Neapolitan style pizza as we came out with a flour a couple years ago called Gold Medal Neapolitan it’s a 12% winter wheat protein….”
Interestingly enough, Caputo just developed a New York Pizza Flour with the help of john Arena, Guilio Adriani, Tony Gemignani and others. The Caputo Cup held in New York City earlier the is year featured both Caputo flour “00” and New York flour.
You can find out more about it listening to the John Arena- Jonathan Goldsmith interview, at Legends of Pizza Blog. You can also download the interview if you wish.
Here is the link:
http://legendsofpizza.com/blog/pizza-talk-john-arena-jonathan-goldsmith