Source for consolidated list of flour strengths?
I watched an online video by guy who purportedly was a world-champion pizza maker and he said the most important factor in (Neapolitan) pizza flour was its strength or "W" rating (which Italians call panificazione). He said the "W" rating should be 280-330. I notice on the bag of Antimo Caputo 00 chef's flour that's in my cupboard, theirs is listed as 360-380, So it occurs to me I might be spending premium flour money on a flour exclusively for pizza crusts when I might be able to find something better suited that costs more in the KAF/White Lily range.
The problem is finding a source for the different flours' "W" ratings. I searched and couldn't find a consolidated source so I thought I'd ask here. Does anyone know of anyone who has compiled this into a list? Or at least know the "W" ratings of the commonly available national brands?
American millers do not publish W-P/L data, and it's quite possible they don't even measure them. I guess you can rifle through the old issues of Cereal Chemistry, or dive into thesis collections of strong Grain Science departments, like the one at Kansas State, but there is no one stop shop for this sort of info.
Do millers in the US even go on to test dough after measuring the flour protein and ash contents? It is quite possible that they do but use, say, farinographs instead of alveographs, and only share the "esoteric" numbers by request. These numbers, however, would be quite useful considering the protein content is not always a good indicator of dough strength.
They do. How else would they be able to provide consistent products decade after decade?
plumbob,
in North America they don't indicate W on flour packages, as they do in Europe. However, you can approximate your domestic brand's flour strength by their protein content, since it correlates with W. White flours with W around 300 should have about 12.8-13% protein.
https://bressanini-lescienze.blogautore.espresso.repubblica.it/2009/01/28/la-forza-della-farina/Please see the table in here
Pane soffiato, pandoro, panettone, lievitati a lunga fermentazione, pasticceria lievitata con biga oltre le 15 ore, pane per Hamburgher
Antimo Caputo 00 flour protein content ranges from 11 to 13.5%, so its W varies accordingly, please see discussion here
https://brickovenbaker.com/pages/information-about-caputo-flours
at www.centralmilling.com/store
scroll all the way to the end. American grown and milled.
Dave, can you post that link on Central Milling? I didn’t see it.
It's after the Living Sprouted Grain section, and before the Gift Certificates.
If your browser has a "find in page" feature, search for "tony".
I would be surprised if Caputo Chefs flour has a W of 360-380. Caputo Manitoba Oro which is about as strong as you can get is "only" W 370-390.
Lance