Decisions, Decisions: Flour for pasta dough

You would think this would be easy - flour is flour, right?  Except.... not really.  In fact, these days, there are specialty flours for EVERYTHING.  It can be a tad bit overwhelming.  (And by "tad", I really mean "ridiculously"...)

So, feel free to browse the Wiki article on flour, if you want to learn all the things!

For now, I'm going to eliminate all the non-wheat flours.  I'm not gluten-sensitive or have Celiac disease, so I'm good with old-fashioned wheat flour (and prefer it).  One of my challenges in coming weeks and months may be to take a beloved recipe and try to adjust it for non-wheat flours.  One of my nephews is gluten-sensitive, so eats gluten free now.  It's worked wonders for him, but I'm not interested in getting into a gluten debate here.

Back on track.... flour.

Basics:

• Unbleached vs. Bleached
• This is pretty straight-forward.  Same flour, just one has had a chemical added to bleach the color to more white instead of tan.
• All-purpose vs. Self-Rising
• The only difference here is that Self-Rising flour has had a leavening agent added (baking powder) and distributed evenly through the batch.
• Enriched
• During the process of making flour nutrients are lost. Some of these nutrients are replaced during refining and the result is "enriched flour"
• Semolina
• "The coarse, purified wheat middlings of durum wheat used in making pasta, breakfast cereals, puddings, and couscous.[1] The term semolina is also used to designate coarse middlings from other varieties of wheat, and from other grains, such as rice and maize."

Types:
I started to write a whole piece here, and discovered that other people had already written it and better than I can do.  I particularly liked this Bon Appétit article. 

Short version: All-purpose is your best bet for most projects.  It's what you should have in your pantry.  It's a good all-purpose flour (imagine that!)...  Other types (like 00 or cake or bread or...) are good for certain projects and certain foods.  Always start with what the recipe calls for and try it at least once or twice that way before changing things up.

Tomorrow is the day!  I'm so excited!  We're going to make pierogies!