Flours

Looking to make your own pasta or pizza? Set yourself up for success with flours that are purpose-made for the job, ground from the highest-quality Italian grains for superior flavor and texture every time.

Italian chefs wouldn’t dare use the same flour for hearty focaccia as for smooth pasta dough, and neither should you. Wheat flour in Italy is primarily ground from two different types of grain: grano tenero (“soft wheat”) and grano duro (“hard wheat”). Grano tenero is the wheat flour we’re most familiar with in the U.S., making light, fluffy baked goods, tender bread, and perfectly chewy pizza doughs. It’s grown in the northern regions of Italy, primarily in Emilia-Romagna, Piedmont, and Lombardy.

Within the grano tenero category, a numbering system indicates how much of the wheat bran is retained or how finely milled the flour is. The finest variety, type 00, contains no wheat bran at all, and is delicate and smooth, used primarily for fresh pastas. Type 1 is similar to what we would call an all- purpose flour, and the coarsest, type 2, has a high bran fiber content and is best for breads.

Grano duro is perhaps better known as durum wheat or semolina, the primary ingredient in dried pasta. Compared to most grano tenero flours, it’s heartier and more nutritious, retaining more protein and fiber. Grano duro is grown in the steamy south of Italy, primarily Puglia and Sicily.

And don’t forget the gluten-free options! Italy has a long tradition of taking gluten intolerance seriously, which means the quality of their gluten-free goods is nearly identical to the wheat versions. We’ve found brilliant flours for baking, pasta, and fried foods, all made from all-natural blends of gluten-free grains with no funky additives.
No matter what you’re cooking, there’s an Italian flour ready to make your creation even better.