Things You\’ll Need
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Fine sieve
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Saucepan
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Butter
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Spoon
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Whisk
By correctly combining flour and milk, you can prepare smooth, lump-free sauce. Image Credit: Jupiterimages/Goodshoot/Getty Images
By following the correct techniques to combine flour and milk, you can create a smooth mixture that is free from lumps. Both flour and milk serve as a base for preparing sauces or batters for a variety of recipes including white sauce, pancakes and as a thickener in soups and stews. Maintaining the right temperature of the ingredients when combining the flour and milk will prevent your mixture from forming lumps and ruining your recipe.
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Step 1
Pass the flour through a fine sieve. This will give it a fine texture and get rid of any existing lumps.
Step 2
Heat a saucepan on low heat. Add butter. Let it warm for 1 minute until it melts to form a thick liquid. Take the saucepan away from the heat source.
Step 3
Add 1 heaped spoon of plain flour. Whisk the flour with the melted butter. The contact with heated butter will prevent the flour from forming lumps.
Step 4
Set the saucepan back on medium heat. Pour in cold milk, a little at a time, continuously whisking until you get a smooth paste. The cold milk and constant stirring will separate the starch granules in the flour and prevent lumps from forming. Remove the saucepan from the heat source. Use the mixture as desired in your recipe.
Tip
You can pass the flour through a very fine colander if you don’t have a sieve.
Easily create a cheese sauce by adding grated cheese and a dash of mustard to the prepared mixture.
Finely dice a handful of fresh parsley and add to the prepared mixture, to create a parsley sauce to serve with fish.
