JOSEF MARC 00 Pizza Flour - 4 LBS (1.8kg), Unbleached & Medium Protein Flour, Morcote Pizza, Italian Types 00

So I first bought this "00" flour somewhere around the first unlock because having made and eaten enough pizzas with APF, I wanted to venture into "advance pizza making".I was pleasantly surprised to see the difference between the APF and 00 in terms of strength and pliability. The texture is superfine and light yet protein/gluten is the first thing you notice when kneading this dough. You can stretch the dough a lot more than the regular all purpose and the proofing is a marvel that I'll come to in a bit.The dough requires hydration depending on how humid or dry your immediate atmosphere is. I tend to stick to the original recipe as much as possible, with a little bit of dusting flour to help with the moisture. Your hydration levels also will vary according to the crust you're aiming for, so the classic Neapolitan will need more while the NY Style a little less so.Next difference that I noticed, I may be wrong, was the final weight of the dough. The same amount of APF dough weighs probably lesser than this one's dough, due probably to the more water content in this one. As long as it rises well, no complainsThe PROOF-Now even though I'm not an expert in any capacity, but I have made enough pizzas in the past few months to know that the Proof is strong in this one.I have tried both regular as well as cold proof with all purpose and it could not stand the test of time. Any seasoned baker would tell you that a 72 hour rise is the standard that gives a lovely crust, and its not a fad. Its the absolute truth....BUT...The APF dough will start to collapse and appear disintegrated in the first 36 hours of regular proofing, and in the refrigerator it tends to harden into a mass of regular, dense dough with no more rise left in it. Don't get me wrong, 36 hour dough will need to have it minimal gluten revived after a little bit of soft kneading, but it will work. More than 24 hours on the counter top in ambient temperatures will give your APF dough the pungent, boozy odour that you need. Then why go for 00?The proof is in the pie. Because of the high gluten, the 00 will still hold its shape and enable easy stretching for the crust. Bear in mind, the longer you proof, the more moist it becomes. So if you're going for a quick 24-36 hour proof on the counter top, maybe you'll want to use a little less water. But only a little.But if you're looking for a truly beautiful pizza that haunts your dreams and makes you the angel from the Heavens among you family and friends, you will have to earn that title by being the portrait of patience and COLD FERMENT the dough for anywhere between 5-7 days.Yep you read it right. DAYS.And that's where the 00 will come to your aid. The rise is fascinatingly beautiful. You see big bubbles forming on the top and that's how you know there is enough air inside too. Once again,you're looking for the telltale beer smell. And I do not see APF lasting this long because there is just not enough gluten in it.The dough becomes extremely wet and needs some skilled hand to stretch into a crust but boy is it worth it! This dough is dangerously close to being a sourdough but not quite.I purchased two kilos of this flour about three months ago and I've baked more than ten large pizzas since then. When compared to market prices, ten 23cm pizzas will equal a giant hole in the pocket, very little satisfaction in the heart, even lesser flavour in the mouth, and loads of heaviness on the tummy. This flour, however, allows you to go crazy with your own customized recipes, is unbelievably light on the tummy, and is great value for money. I still have some odd 300gms left that will be good for another four large pizzas, and I've purchased backup as well. Planning to use this flour for doughnuts as well because why not.In a nutshell, if you're a pizza enthusiast, you must give this flour a chance. I wish I had pictures of pizzas to attach but they always get devoured within minutes. Trust my word, its the stuff that dreams are made of.EDIT:JULY 2021No change in opinion on the flour, it's still my go to. I did make a few additions to the recipe for a better dough.I now add two tablespoons on Vital Wheat Gluten and 1 tablespoon of bread improver to around 400gms of 00 flour. I discovered this by fluke when I was trying my hand at homemade bread-making during the fateful second wave. These additions make the dough softer and chewier... the bread improver really does improve the texture and the VWG makes it even more fun to stretch. You could totally skip the gluten but I highly recommend bread imrpover for ridiculously soft and conditioned dough that retains its oven spring even after 12 minutes in hot oven.I also tried proofing for three days in and out of the fridge with 50% hydration and the dough was well risen, flavourful and nothing short of a week's worth of fermentation but with the added advantage of easier shaping. I think I can finally rest for now as far as dough experimentation goes. Time to play with more toppings now.To all of you reading this, good luck for your pizza adventures. Just remember that patience is the name of the game. I have learnt that this flour with 50% hydration and 3-4 days of proofing needed 10-13 minutes in my oven that goes to the highest of 250°C, with only the bottom rods on and baked on the lower most shelf. Adding some kind of moisture (spray or water bowl) in the mix adds to the oven spring.Patience is the name of the game. I'll keep updating this review if I make more discoveries while feeding my ever-hungry-for-pizza cousins. Till then, all the best and don't give up. 😊

The media could not be loaded. While it’s rare to get high protein all-purpose flour in India, Josef Marc was my first experience and it is value for money and the product really delivers what it mentions. Proper high protein pizza dough with strong gluten formations and ease of use after some kneading.The dough has a perfect texture and chew to it, the pizza came out texturally and tasted great. Crisp on the outside, soft and fluffy inside. It has the perfect pizza “bite” to it.Would recommend to anyone trying to make pizzas, calzones and so on!10/10 product

price is somehow high

Nice but over het that time this flour going to very hard

Excellent unbleached flour designed for pizza-making with longer maturity period.. ur only indian alternative is maida - which is high chemical bleached and too light like naans.When water is added to flour the chemistry slowly changes to give nice bread flavour.. longer time its left aside for (maturing), gives better flavour. Ideally mature pizza dough for 6-12hrs or more (24hrs max).Note : in usual flours using 2% yeast gives perfect rise within 1-2 hrs.. but for pizza flour if you wanna mature long, then you can't let it complete it's rise in 1-2 hrs and make a mess outta it 12+ hrs later (ur maturing time).. so reduce yeast qty so that rising-time and maturing-time coincide.In my experience -12+ hrs maturing - use 0.05% yeast4-6hrs maturing - use 0.2-0.3% yeastI personally don't have patience for long waits, and wanna be done with pizza making in one go.. so I use 2% yeast.I suggest u use a good instant yeast, not active dry from kiranas.Also, I personally use 57% water, by weight, with this flour.. any more and the dough is too sticky to handle. Calibrate water qty to ur liking.So bottomline, this flour is very fine particle size (00), ideal protein level etc designed for a good pizza & for long maturing. U could use bread flour for pizza making, but it'll be a bit too dense or too naan-like light depending on protein content of ur bread flour.. and this one is better designed for an ideal pizza experience.Pls don't use our indian atta for pizzas - too heavy.Go for it!!

I was trying to make pizza dough with bread flour which couldnt handle 65% hydration I was looking for. This dough is a champ and can handle high amount of water in the dough. It is very easy to work this dough by hand and shape it after forming. I would highly recommend this to make thin crust pizzas like New York style pizza.With high water ratio the dough doesn't dry quickly in the oven and you get this amazing chewy taste. Thanks to the manufacturer for bringing this to India market. I noticed that if your order from their website it is cheaper and shipping in included. So maybe next time order from their site.

First I tried other brands which are more sticky and not were getting too crispy when baked. But this one added smooth texture and not much crispier but was good. Usually these will help for Neapolitan pizzas but in normal ovens also this one got good results. But it would be good if you have a machine for kneading, with hand you won't feel stretchy dought. Made 3 pizzas with different techniques (heating on pan and into the oven, direct oven putting dough in tray, direct oven putting dough on grill) all came good smooth and chewy inside and bit crispy outside.

This flour says 12.5℅ protein content when in reality it is close to 8℅. You can check it yourself by trying to make a pizza dough with 75℅ hydration, doing it with hands is next to impossible. I have spent 40 minutes into kneading and failed to build any gluten. I'm making pizzas since decade, and I would prefer regular maida over this brand. The reason for high rating of this flour is that most home cooks don't go beyond 60℅ hydration in their dough so they don't even know how weak is this flour.