We love pizza (of course). And when you love to create something, you want to explore what can elevate it to be the best it can be. So it was a lovely surprise when Heather brought home some Roan Mills Organic Pizza Flour from a local bakery. And let me tell you, this flour made for one amazing Neapolitan pizza!
Imagine the scent of fresh-baked pizza, the dough’s earthy aroma filling the air, and the rich, golden crust as you bite into it. one key ingredient: Roan Mills’ pizza flour. This isn’t just any flour; it’s a product of passion, heritage, and meticulous care, grown and milled by Andrea Crawford and Robert Dedlow of Roan Mills.
Roan Mills Flour? Why haven’t I heard of it?
Roan Mills, an offshoot of Kenter Canyon Farms, is the first farmer/miller/baker/pasta maker in California. They started in October 2013 with a mission to bring heritage wheat from the farm to your toaster. Andrea and Robert, seasoned farmers with a love for quality, decided to grow and mill their own wheat because Andrea, also an avid home baker, couldn’t find commercial flour that she liked. Their journey began in North Berkeley, where they developed an efficient urban salad farm, producing beautiful and delicious Mesclun greens. This community-driven, farm-to-table approach laid the foundation for what Roan Mills would become – a bakery that’s selling the best whole grain bread and rustic dry pastas in Ventura County!
But the fact that they are growing their wheat and milling it all themselves means that this is pretty small operation. Most folks who’ve had their bread in the Ventura and Los Angeles area have probably bought it at a Farmer’s market unless they’ve been to their store located at 411 Central Avenue in Fillmore (which is where Heather got us our flour).
What Sets Roan Mills Flour Apart?
What sets Roan Mills’ flour apart is Andrea’s and Robert’s dedication to preserving the identity of each wheat variety. Grown in California from November to June, their wheat is stone-ground fresh daily, ensuring the flour retains its full flavor, fragrance, and natural nutrients. The result? A flour that not only enhances the taste of your pizza but also adds a distinctive color and texture to the dough.
They keep a nice selection of flour berries at their bakery and will mill them into flour while you wait! Their flour absolutely shows their love for the land and their crops.
While most of their flours are grown themselves, their 00 flour is outsourced. According to Andrea, “our 00 flour is organic, Neapolitan style flour, the bran has been sifted off and the granulation is very fine.“
And I can attest to that!
Neapolitan Pizza with Roan Mills Organic Type 00 Pizza Flour
So, when I saw that the packaging said Roan Mills Organic Type 00 Pizza Flour, obviously I had to make a traditional Neapolitan pizza. Following the AVPN pizza recipe, I went to work.
The instructions for the recipe are detailed on our AVPN page (and also in the recipe below), but I followed the classic method of making Neapolitan pizza dough.
One thing that really stood out immediately was the lovely texture during the kneading. I would liken it to Polselli, which is probably my favorite Italian flours.
The dough was left to ferment at room temperature for 24 hours, allowing the natural flavors and textures to develop fully. Life got in the way, and I couldn’t bake the pizza as planned. So, I decided to cold ferment the dough for an additional day in the refrigerator. This step is a bit unconventional for traditional Neapolitan and could have led to over-proofing, but Roan Mills’ organic flour proved to be up to the challenge.
Despite my deviation from the traditional process, the dough remained robust and easy to handle. There were no issues with tears or inconsistency, a testament to the quality and strength of Roan Mills’ stone-ground flour. When it came time to shape and bake the pizza, the dough performed beautifully, rising just as a high-quality 00 flour should.
Baking the pizza at the traditional 900°F, the crust developed the perfect Neapolitan texture: slightly charred, airy, and with just the right amount of chew. The slices were characteristically floppy, as a true Neapolitan pizza should be, yet firm enough to be enjoyed without the need for a fork and knife.
The result was a pizza that captured the essence of Naples, thanks to the exceptional quality of Roan Mills’ 00 pizza flour. Just look at that crumb struture!
Can I Make Other Types of Pizza?
Of course! Type 00 flour is best known for making Neapolitan pizzas but it is also commonly used to make other types of pizza, such as New York. Here’s a lovely pepperoni pizza made with Roan Mills 00:
Roan Mills also grows another flour that works well for pizza. Andrea also told me “This year we are introducing a new wheat called Amarillo and we are very exited about it. Highly versatile with a warm, yellow color it produces excellent results in our trials for bread, pizza and shortcrust.“
I can’t get Roan Mills Flour where I live!
Sadly, that’s probably true for most of our readers.
But here’s the thing – wheat is the third largest crop in the US. And while most farmed wheat ends up in large commercial flour mills, there are bespoke small farms in many parts of the US. The Whole Grains Council has webpage that can help you find small-scale, local grain production happening near you. There’s even a Google Maps page!
In Conclusion: Roan Mills Pizza Flour
For anyone passionate about making authentic Neapolitan pizza at home, you’ll likely agree that pizza flour is probably the most important ingredient. And I was very happy with how Roan Mill Pizza Flour performed. It delivered great structure and workability with a delicious flavor. Among American pizza flours for making homemade Neapolitan, this flour had no shortcomings. I wholeheartedly recommend bringing Roan Mills organic flour into your kitchen too!
Roan Mills Neapolitan Pizza Recipe
Equipment
- 1 Stand Mixer (Optional)
- 1 Outdoor pizza oven AVPN says wood-burning is required, but use what you've got!
Ingredients
- 2.5 Cups 00 Pizza Flour Roan Mills Organic Type 00 (320 grams)
- 7 Ounces Water Filtered or bottled drinking water preferred. Do not use reverse osmosis purified water.
- 1 Tsp Sea salt fine is best
- 0.01 Ounces Dry yeast (1/2 of 1/8 Teaspoons)
Instructions
- Pour the water into the mixing bowl of a stand mixer. Pour the salt into the water and whisk (or stir) until the salt is dissolved.Add about 1/2 cup of flour into the water.
- Start your stand mixer using the hook attachment on its slowest setting.
- Add the yeast to the water.
- Slowly add more flour. Not all flour hydrates the same, so it may be that you'll need a little less or a little more flour.
- If you don't have a stand mixer, you can do this all by hand. Just make a "volcano" of all of the flour and pour the water into the middle. Slowly move and mix the "volcano" walls into the water.
Checking the Dough
- The dough will form into a single compact ball.· When this happens, stop the mixer and check the texture. · Dust your hands with flour and pull the dough off of the hook. · Knead the dough in your hands. · The texture and moistness should be consistent throughout. If it is not, return it to the mixer and check again. · The dough should be slightly tacky and smooth but should not be leaving much sticking to your hands. If it is, return it to the mixer and continue adding flour – slowly. · The final dough ball should be "fat" in appearance and sticky, soft, elastic. It might not be perfectly smooth to the touch yet.
First Fermentation
- Place the dough on a clean surface and cover with a damp cloth for one hour. The damp cloth is important to keep the outer surface from drying out.
Second Fermentation
- Remove the damp cloth and separate the dough into two balls of equal size (this recipe will make two dough balls approximately 9 ounces – which should make about a 11" to 12" pizza).
- Work the two halves into balls (the traditional technique is to shape them the same way Italians prepare fresh mozzarella balls).
- Place the two balls into one or two sealed containers – the dough balls will double in size, so make sure they have enough room.
- Let the dough rest for 24 hours at room temperature.
Stretching the Dough
- After the second fermentation, the dough will have become extensible (meaning you can stretch it) but not very elastic.
- Put 1 tablespoon of flour on your work surface
- Remove one dough ball from its container onto the floured work surface.
- Stretch the dough by hand from the center to the edge. Create a round shape but ensure that the edge of the crust is about 0.5" tall and 0.5" to 1" wide and the rest of the crust is very thin (less than two pennies, if you can).(If needed, add more flour to the work surface so the pizza does not stick, but do not use more than you need)
- With this recipe (which makes two 9 ounce pizza dough balls), you should be able to make up to a 12" pizza.
- Put 1 tablespoon of flour on your pizza peel and rub it into the wood (so the dough will not stick when launched into the oven).
- Transfer your dough to the pizza peel.
- You will want to quickly apply your toppings and get the pizza into the oven before the dough sticks to the peel. Start with the sauce.
- We used grated, low-moisture mozzarella although fresh is always better if you have it! I also decided to add black olives.
- We also had some lovely coppa left over from our Pancette Copa pizza, so we used the last of it up here!
- Launch the pizza into the oven on the hottest part of the stone without being in the flames.
- Rotate the pizza one quarter turn every 30 seconds. Generally, the pizza will be done in 3 minutes or less. So watch it closely!
- Remove the pizza from the oven and let it rest for about 3 minutes.
- Cut and serve immediately.
Notes
- If you are going to cook this in a conventional oven, you’ll want the highest temperature you can get the oven to.Â
- If you have a pizza stone (or pizza steel), that’s going to help a lot in getting the most authentic crust. If not, a pizza pan (or cookie sheet) will still turn out a great pizza.
- You can either start the pizza on a pan (or cookie sheet) and transfer it to the stone after about 10 minutes (when the crust is firm enough to be safely transferred). At this point, turn off the oven and let the pizza cook on the stone for another 5 minutes. Remove and let rest on a cutting board for another 5 minutes before cutting and serving.
- Alternatively, you can start by launching the pizza directly to the pizza stone in your oven. This is more tricky and you might want to practice with some dough with no toppings!
Nutrition
Todd’s cooking skills have revolved around the grill since about age 12, when he developed a love for grilling and took over for Mom at the BBQ. He worked at Wendy’s and at Earl’s Tin Palace (a restaurant chain in Canada) but never really did any sort of baking…until he and Heather started making pizza together! Now he’s often making dough in the mornings and pizza in the evenings.