"Kent" ha scritto nel messaggio
>
> "sf" > wrote in message

>>> They are different grinds, both fine, but 00 being finer and
>>> perfectly>>> usable as pastry flour. In supermarkets they are mostly
>>> soft wheat >>> (grano
>>> tenero) but you can also find 0, 00 and 1 flours in hard wheat as well.
>>> Ergo, you will know nothing of protein content or glutens from 0 and 00.
>>>
>> 00 is pastry flour? So, maybe I shouldn't find 00 to make pizza crust>>
>> after all. I'll just assume that 00 over here is all purpose, a 50-50>>
>> mix of hard and soft wheat.
>>
> 00 is a low gluten flour. As I understand it most Italian flours are lower
> > in gluten that domestic flours. I've been told you can approximate it by
> > mixing cake flour and all purpose flour. I believe pizza margharita is
> traditionally made with 00 flour. Where do you find it in the Bay Area?
> Guisi where are you when we need you?

I'm not in the SF area, that's for sure.
If I go to my local supermarket I can buy 0 and 00 flour in grano tenero or
soft wheat really cheap. I can buy the same things in "Manitoba" or hard
wheat for about 5 times the price. I can find semolina, which describes a
flour that is granular and usually of hard wheat.

When I make pizza I use half and half Manitoba or semolina and 0 or 00,
whichever I have the most of, because it works as well as 100% Manitoba or
semolina and costs much less.

When I make pasta I use whatever flour is usual for that pasta.
Casalinga/housewives' pasta made with egg is made with 00. Spaghetti and
some hot water pastas are made with Manitoba or semolina. Nowadays not so
many people make these sorts at home, but with a food processor one can do
it.

What it depends on is what kind of flour was available in the area where
that pasta developed. In the deep south where people were poorer they
didn't make egg pastas as much, but they did have hard wheat. They make hot
water pastas like orecchiette. In central areas the wheat was softer and
they were less poor and could use eggs. Homemade egg pastas are most
common, even for adopted dishes that would be better without the egg. In
the far north pasta was pretty much introduced with the united Italy and the
ones that originate there are either of non-wheat like pizzocheri made of
buckwheat, or adaptations such as tajarin, which are made with mostly yolks
and smell strongly of egg as the fork nears your mouth.
Vilco, being a man with his heart in the north, has expressed a particular
passion for both those pastas.