Spelt Flour

Farro: the 3 main varieties

Farro is mainly divided into 3 varieties: monococcum, dicoccum, and spelta. The monococcum and spelta are very similar to soft wheat: they produce a fine flour, while the dicoccum is more similar to durum wheat: it produces a coarser and "semolina-like" flour. From this, it can be inferred that the first two are suitable for all those preparations where soft wheat is normally used (bread, pizza, focaccia...), while the dicoccum is more suitable for making pasta. There are also different levels of sifting and types of milling. Sifted farro is a semi-whole flour (similar to type 2 soft wheat) that produces a sufficiently cohesive dough, allowing for good development of baked goods (bread, focaccia...), while cylinder-milled farro is a refined flour, with a baking quality that is definitely better than the former (it behaves very similarly to type 0 soft wheat flour). Finally, whole farro consists of the entire grain of farro ground without being stripped of anything; it is also suitable for baked goods (or pasta in the case of dicoccum) but, due to the presence of bran, it produces a less cohesive dough. Stone milling of farro flour is preferred when more flavorful baked goods are desired and a level of absolute purity is sought (stone-milled farro is processed in mills that only grind grains alternative to wheat), while cylinder milling is advisable when consistent uniformity of products is desired and the potential presence of traces of wheat in the production process is not an issue (farro is milled in a mill that also processes wheat). Furthermore, assuming there is contamination, it is very rare, and if it were to occur, it would be undetectable.