Grano tenero is the Italian term for soft wheat. In Italy, flour is classified according to the amount of bran (the hard outer layer of the grain) in the flour, not according to its particle size or granularity. All of the different types of soft-wheat flours in Italy have a very fine texture.

There are 5 types of soft-wheat flour in Italy, with 00-type and whole wheat at the far ends.

1️⃣ 00-type: used in pastry (approx. 9% protein)

2️⃣ 0-type: perfect for pasta-making (approx. 11% protein) 

3️⃣ 1-type: semi-whole wheat (approx. 12% protein)

4️⃣ 2-type: semi-whole wheat (approx.12% protein) 

5️⃣ Integrale: whole wheat (approx. 12% protein)

What to use for pasta. To make pasta, you want to choose the 0-type soft-wheat flour for 2 reasons: 1️⃣ it has a higher protein content compared to the 00-type and 2️⃣ it does not contain bran, unlike 1-type, 2-type, or whole flours. Even though these last 3 types of flour have a higher protein content, the bran in them would interfere with the production of gluten resulting in a less smooth and elastic dough.

Test and Explore Your Perfect Flour

What you need to do now is simply test and play around with the different flours available in your country, keeping in mind all of the information we have provided. So many different factors can influence the resulting doughs so you need to test, test, test!

Trial and error. This is the best way to find your perfect combination of ingredients. 🧑‍🔬