Home Bread-Bakers v108.n034.2
[Advanced]

Re: pizza flour

Roel Wyman <roel.wyman@utoronto.ca>
Mon, 08 Sep 2008 10:20:56 -0400
v108.n034.2
Many commercial pizza flours contain dough enhancers, relaxers and 
extenders. They offer different modifications to the taste and 
handling qualities of the dough. Domestic pizza flours may contain 
some or none of these additives. This is not to say that pure 
(wheat-only) flours are inferior for pizza, it's not as simple as 
that; in fact, it's too complex to go into detail here. One of the 
relaxers that turns some people off is L-cysteine hydrochloride also 
known as E920 or E921. This product is often made from hydrolized 
human hair (don't believe me? search the internet!). Minute 
quantities in the range of tens of parts per million help soften the 
dough and thus reduce processing time.

If additives bother you, don't use any commercial (that is, for 
professional bakers and pizzerias) pizza flour. There are many 
alternatives that give excellent results, but you may want to closely 
check the ingredients on the manufacturer's web site before committing.

Roel