We get this question with some regularity, and there seems to be some conflicting information.
We inquired with Molino Caputo, in Naples, and they told us that the Chef’s flour in the red 1 kilo (2.2 lb) bags is the same flour as the Rinforzato (translated: “Reinforced”), which comes in the red 55 lb bags.
That is our current answer, since it’s what the person at the mill in Naples is telling us.
Some additional history
When we initially inquired with a distributor in the U.S., he told us that the Chef’s was the same as the Pizzeria flour. We talked to the importer, and he insisted that the distributor was incorrect, and that it was actually the Rinforzato. So we decided to contact Molino Caputo ourselves because we saw others making the claim that the Chef’s used to be the same as the Blue, but some time in 2009, they switched to using Rinforzato as the Chef’s, and the packaging also changed on the Chef’s a bit.
So the distributor may have just been relying on outdated information perhaps? Maybe there was a change at some point? Regardless, since the mill and the importer are in agreement that the Chef’s is Rinforzato, that’s what we are telling you.
To further cloud things, it doesn’t help that the front of the bag for all of the types of flour mentioned above shows an image of a pizza.
But that should bring some comfort that all three of the flours are suitable for making pizza. Ultimately it comes down to your preference as to which flour creates a crust that you prefer.
I would be remiss not to mention that after I talked to another customer about what I’m telling you above, that he contacted Caputo himself, and their answer was that the Chef’s is the same as the Pizzeria. Honestly, I throw my hands up in the air in desperation.
Technical Specs
Caputo did provide us with some technical specifications that you can review if you’re a real food techie. We have specs on the Pizzeria and the Rinforzato. To me, they look pretty much the same.
If you know something different or have any other information to clear things up, leave a comment below.
It’s not too late to get started on your own backyard wood-fired brick oven. By mid-summer, you can be making delicious bread and pizza in it too.
Daniel Wing and Alan Scott are a pair of experts who authored The Bread Builders, filling it with their knowledge on building ovens and baking bread with it.
Have a look at what Gary pulled together a few summers ago after reading The Bread Builders. He took a lot of pictures that you can look at in a gallery that he created.
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave one below, or email gary@BrickOvenBaker.com. He likes to talk about his oven with interested folks.
If you think you’ve been bitten by the bug to build an oven, then get a copy of the book because it answers lots of questions and will pass a lot of expertise on to you.
OK, well… maybe more like $20 plus whatever it costs for a case of beer, which you will need to drink so that you can use the empty beer bottles for the construction of this fascinating oven.
We’ll box up a bag and ship it to you in the states. It will ship via UPS Ground, so when you add it to your cart, you can get an estimate for shipping to your part of the US by simply entering in you zip.
We still continue to offer the 12lb and 20lb boxes that are repacked from the larger bags.
Do you dislike how the outside of your brownies get overcooked while you wait for the middle to finish cooking? Does everybody want a piece from the middle because the edges are overdone and hard?
BrickOvenBaker.com has these professional grade pans, which are manufactured in the USA by Baker’s Edge. The interior sidewalls allow the heat to circulate and reach into the middle of the pan. Thick cast aluminum also helps heat the food evenly for a superior baking experience. Non-stick too!
Dessert after Easter Sunday dinner was always special for us because of the Italian specialties that we only had at Easter time. But some traditions fade as the years, and our older relatives that had more knowledge of the old world, pass on. For the younger generations, holidays become more American over time, and sometimes more generic in what we eat and how we celebrate.
Ah, but enough grieving, because Easter is also the time to resurrect traditional recipes to bring new life and hope to your festive Easter dinner table!
This recipe for Neapolitan Easter Pie looks wonderful. If you haven’t enjoyed this in a number of years, you should make it, and get your kids and grandchildren building memories of this and other fantastic traditional holiday foods.
What are your favorite foods that originated in the old world? Do you have a favorite food that you miss?
Despite pizza’s being around for hundreds of years in various forms, and since 1889 in it’s current form (crusts, sauce, and cheese), pizza apparently hadn’t hit in Canada as of 1957:
Working with a wood fired oven, you can easily get it over 900°F. Slide the pizza in, a minute and a half later, you can slide out a perfectly done, thin crust, Neapolitan masterpiece.
If you’re stuck with a conventional oven that tops out at 500-550°F, you might think you can’t come close to a wood fired oven.
The trick to get a surface to be even hotter so you can get closer to the results of a wood-fired oven is to use a cast iron pan, which is preheated on the stove, and using the broiler to hit the top of the pie.
Clever and worth a try.
My friend Gary tipped me off to this technique which he saw in this article at Lifehacker . Thanks Gary!
Congratulations to Gus and Pamela DaSilva, who came from Indiana to help his son get ready to deploy to Iraq. While they were here, decided to get married right there in Pepe’s.
I got a kick out of some things said in the comments section for the article, like this one:
“What a cheesy story. I bet they had a saucy affair. But at least they didn’t have to part with a lot of dough on a big reception.”
