Flours for fresh pasta: the complete guide according to Italian tradition

One hundred grams of flour for each egg … the only two ingredients needed to prepare one of the recipes that have made Italian cuisine famous the world over and, if you want excellent results, you certainly cannot afford to get one wrong: the flour!

This simple observation inspired the following article, which aims to provide an in depth description of the ideal flour for making fresh pasta, even when made at home.

Fresh pasta: what types are there?

There are three main families of fresh pasta in traditional Italian cuisine:

• Fresh egg pasta, historically prepared with soft wheat flour, typical of the regions of northern Italy, in particular Emilia-Romagna. Tagliatelle and filled pastas (such as tortellini, cappelletti and ravioli) belong to this family.
• Fresh pasta made of durum wheat semolina, obtained from a simple, but hardly banal mixture of water and semolina, typical of the central and southern regions. Orecchiette, cavatelli, scialatielli, and many other shapes belong to this family.
• Gnocchi, also widespread in the culinary traditions of other countries, in Italy sees the combination of flour (not only soft wheat) with potatoes, other tubers or vegetables.

The clear geographical distinction between the first two families of fresh pasta is far from casual. In fact, fresh egg pasta developed where it was easier to find soft wheat flour, that is to say in northern Italy, while fresh durum wheat pasta is typical of southern Italy, where historically this cereal has experienced a greater diffusion.

In this article we will talk about fresh egg pasta and potato gnocchi, since we are producers of soft wheat flour, the fundamental ingredient of both recipes.

The best flour for fresh egg pasta: what are the necessary characteristics?

After this brief introduction, we will now focus on the traditions that have characterized fresh egg pasta since ancient times:

• Fresh egg pasta in Italy as we know it today has always been prepared with white, not wholemeal flour.
• As stated at the beginning of this article, the recipe for fresh egg pasta is very simple: it is a mixture of eggs and soft wheat flour. The only other ingredient allowed in the true Italian tradition, is spinach, to obtain a green pasta.
• Preparing fresh egg pasta by mixing soft wheat flour and durum wheat semolina is not part of the tradition. Similarly adding spices, such as the saffron used in certain cases to enhance the yellow colour, is not a traditional usage.

At this point there is nothing more to talk about but the fundamental ingredient of fresh pasta: the flour!

Is 0 or 00 flour better for preparing fresh pasta?

According to Italian law, flour is divided into “types”. They start from the lightest and go up to the darkest and richest in fibre, that is to say from type “00”and “0” up to types “1”and “2” and wholemeal flours. Traditional fresh egg pasta has always been prepared with white flour, carefully sieved by housewives in the past before use in order to eliminate any lumps or blemishes.

This method is still valid today: to obtain a traditional egg pasta, either type “00” or “0” flour can be used. But which of the two types is better? In reality, the difference between the two is defined by their ash content (ie. the residue left behind when a sample of flour is heated to a temperature of more than 600° C): for the former it cannot exceed 0.55% and for the latter 0.65%. The distinction is therefore rather negligible, so slight indeed that even the well-trained eye can hardly make out the difference between these two types of flour.

Whether you use a type “0” or “00” flour, you can be certain of excellent results, given the simplicity and authenticity of the recipe. After rolling it out, the dough will turn slightly grey in colour, this is not a defect, and is not the fault of the flour! During cooking, the high temperature will restore the yellow hue back to the egg and the pasta will take on its inviting characteristic colour.

The best flour for fresh pasta: here are the characteristics

Anyone wanting an even more aesthetically pleasing result should use a flour with an even lower ash content than type “00” flour. This very finely grained flour is carefully selected by the miller, extracted from the milling process and immediately stored in dedicated silos.

This is therefore a particularly valuable product as a large quantity of wheat is required to produce only a very limited amount of flour. Its characteristic light colour (Figure 1), together with its extreme purity, lends the egg pasta a particularly bright yellow colour, that lasts for several days.

Not all Italian mills are able to obtain these particular types of flour for fresh pasta as a carefully studied mill flow diagram and a good number of purifiers are required. We at Mulino Padano offer two types: the Granaio Italiano Casereccia and the Granaio Italiano Calibrata. The first is characterized by a finer grain size, and is more suitable for the preparation of filled pasta; the second, with a slightly larger grain size, is particularly suitable for the preparation of rough pasta, ideal for tagliatelle and other long pasta. We suggest, however, using our Granaio Italiano type “00” for fresh pasta in small quantities, as it is designed to combine the characteristics of Casereccia and Calibrata.  

In fact, another important feature that egg pasta should have is roughness, which allows sauces to cling to it in an ideal way. To give the dough this fundamental requirement, whether you decide to use conventional “0” or “00” soft wheat flour or decide to use a specific fresh pasta flour, keep in mind that flour with too high a protein content will make the dough too smooth. The result would be similar to that obtained by using durum wheat semolina. So, to obtain a good fresh pasta, it is better to use soft wheat flour with a protein content of around 10%.

The protein level of a flour depends on the alveographic characteristics of the ground wheat and, even with two types of flour obtained from the same grain, the amount of protein in the flour increases in parallel to its ash content.

Spots: egg pasta’s worst enemy

During the preparation of egg pasta, you may see faint, but clearly visible spots appear in the dough. We are not talking about specks caused by very small bran leaves, but real black spots. What are they? An essential step for the production of good flour is the careful cleaning of the cereal. Thanks to the use of optical sorters, the grains with chromatic defects can be eliminated at this stage. These defects, which can also involve the inner layers of the grain, are an indication of potential bacterial and fungal contamination that can lead to spotty flours. In essence, the spot defect in fresh pasta most likely depends on an inaccurate cleaning of the cereal.

The ideal flour for potato gnocchi: Granito

Potato gnocchi are among the recipes for fresh pasta that should be prepared with soft wheat flour. It is once again a very simple recipe, which differs from that of normal pastry through the addition of potato and a pinch of salt. According to certain recipes, gnocchi can be prepared without eggs and for this reason it is not correct to consider them a fresh egg pasta.

For the best results, the quantity of flour in this recipe should not exceed 20-25% of the weight of the potato. In addition, it is also good to use a low-protein flour, since flour with a high percentage of protein would make the dough too sticky.

Many prepare potato gnocchi using normal type “0” or “00” flour but if you want to obtain a longer lasting product with a more appealing appearance and a better consistency, it is preferable to use a specific flour: soft wheat Granito.

Granito, like Casereccia and Calibrata, is characterized by a very low ash content (around 0.45%), which allows the yellow of the potatoes to prevail in the dough. Furthermore, the grain size of this particular soft wheat flour is similar to that of semolina (Figure 2). This quality makes it absorbent, ideal for mixing with the potato, while maintaining a low protein content. Thanks to this singularity, a correctly mixed dough can be obtained by limiting the use of flour to 20-25% of the weight of the potato.

Conclusions

To conclude this article on soft wheat flour for fresh pasta according to the Italian tradition, we can say that:

• Historically, fresh egg pasta, typical of northern Italy, is prepared with type “00” or “0” white flour.
• To obtain more aesthetically attractive results it is better to use flour with a lower ash content than a normal “00” type, such as our Granaio Italiano type “00” Fresh Pasta. Designed to combine the characteristics of Casereccia and Calibrata, it gives you the possibility of making any type of fresh homemade pasta.
• It is advisable to use low-protein flours to obtain a rougher egg pasta.
• To guarantee the absolute absence of black spots in the dough, it is essential, during cleaning, that the grain is subjected to an optical sorter.
• Granito is a particular soft wheat flour with a granular consistency, which gives you longer lasting gnocchi with a more appealing appearance and a better consistency.