Hydration guide
Italian Type 00 Flour Hydration Guide
Workable range: 58–68% · Absorption: 1.010× bread flour · Midpoint target: 63%
How Italian Type 00 Flour behaves at each hydration
Italian Type 00 is the finest-ground wheat flour category in the Italian classification system. Low ash content (0.45% max), very fine particle size, protein typically 11-12.5% for pizza and 13-14% for bread variants. Caputo's Pizzeria 00 (11-12%) is the global reference for Neapolitan pizza dough. Caputo Pizza Napoletana Cuoco (13-13.5%) is the bread-focused variant. Absorption is marginally higher than bread flour (1%) due to fine grind. Optimal for pizza (60-65% hydration), focaccia (75-80%), and sandwich loaves (65-68%).
Substituting Italian Type 00 Flour for bread flour
Absorption multiplier: 1.010×. When substituting for bread flour, add about 1% more water. For example: a 75% bread-flour recipe becomes 76% when using 100% Italian Type 00 Flour.
The calculator below is pre-set to 63%. Adjust the slider to match your target. Salt and levain percentages are the flour-independent defaults (2.0% and 20%).
Technique at target hydration
Minimal autolyse (15-20 min) — fine grind hydrates quickly. For Neapolitan pizza: 60-62% hydration, 24-48h cold bulk, short proof, extreme heat bake. For bread: treat like AP or bread flour depending on protein spec.
Calculator pre-set to 63%
- Flour to add
- 450 g
- Water to add
- 265 g
- Salt
- 10 g
- Levain @ 100%
- 100 g
- Total dough
- 825 g
- Effective hydration
- 63%
How the math works
Total water = flour × hydration %. Your levain contributes 50 g flour + 50 g water — both count toward the totals. You add only the remainder as fresh flour and water.
Salt % is computed on total flour weight, not final-dough flour.