White sauce is indispensable for gratin and lasagna.
It is relatively easy to make by yourself, as there are only a few ingredients such as flour, butter, and milk.
However, when you decide to make it, you may find yourself saying, “I don’t have any flour! What happens?
Oh no! I’m out of flour. It won’t taste good…
This time, I’d like to introduce a substitute for flour in white sauce.
Even if you don’t have flour, you can still make a delicious white sauce, so please take a look at this page.
Why add flour to the white sauce?
The reason why flour is added to white sauce is to thicken it.
The starch in the flour becomes starchy when heated, resulting in a thick sauce.
However, simply heating the flour after adding it can leave a powdery texture or cause lumps to form.
This is because gluten, a sticky substance, is formed when the flour and water combine.
To prevent this from happening, it is necessary to fry the flour in oil (butter).
By combining with oil, the formation of gluten is suppressed, so we can make a white sauce with no lumps!
9 substitutes for flour in your white sauce
If you are making a white sauce and you don’t have any flour! If you are making a white sauce and you don’t have any flour, what should you do?
The following ingredients can be used instead of flour to make the white sauce.
Here are 9 substitutes for flour in white sauce.
Substitute for flour in white sauce 1: Rice flour
Rice flour is made from rice and can be used in place of wheat flour.
Rice flour has finer particles than wheat flour, so you can make a smooth white sauce without lumps.
Since it can be made in the microwave, you can also reduce the number of dishes to be washed.
Also, since rice flour is made from rice, even those who are allergic to wheat flour can eat it without worry, and since it does not require butter, it is healthy.
What to prepare
- Rice flour
- Milk
- Heatproof container
Procedure
- Put 2 tablespoons of rice flour and 200 cc of milk in a heatproof container, heat in a microwave oven at 500 W for 1 minute.
- Stir the mixture with chopsticks and microwave for another minute.
- Remove and mix well.
Rice flour will thicken as it heats, so if it is too hard, add water or milk a little at a time to make it thicker.
If it is too hard, add water or milk a little at a time. If you are using it for stew or gratin, add it last.
Substitute for flour in white sauce 2: Strong flour
Strong flour, which is often kept on hand by bakers, can also be used as a substitute for wheat flour.
However, it has coarser particles than wheat flour and is not as thick as wheat flour when made in the same way.
On the other hand, strong flour has more gluten, which makes it more chewy and elastic than wheat flour.
What to prepare
- Strong flour
- Milk
- Butter
Procedure
- Put 3 tablespoons of strong flour and 3 tablespoons of butter in a pan and fry over low heat for 4-5 minutes.
- Add 500cc of cold milk and mix with a whisk over medium heat until just before boiling.
- When it starts to thicken, replace it with a wooden spatula, and when it starts to simmer, it is ready.
If you are replacing the flour recipe with strong flour, increase the amount by about 10% because it will not thicken as much.
Substitute for flour in white sauce 3: Potato starch
If you don’t have flour, you can make white sauce with potato starch.
You can use potato starch in the same way as it is used to thicken the sauce.
What to prepare
- Onion
- Potato starch
- Butter
- Milk
Procedure
- Put 20 grams of butter and sliced onions in a pan, fry over low heat.
- When it becomes soft, sprinkle 2 tablespoons of potato starch, and fry further.
- When the sauce is thickened, add 200cc of milk little by little and it is ready to serve.
Substitute for flour in white sauce 4: Potatoes
If you don’t have any flour or potato starch, you can substitute potatoes. If you don’t have potatoes, you can use potatoes instead.
The potato starch I mentioned earlier is made from potato starch, so it can be substituted in the same way.
You only need a smaller amount of butter than flour or potato starch, so it is healthier.
I think many families have potatoes on hand, so if you don’t have any flour or are allergic to it, please refer to this article.
What to prepare
- Potatoes
- Butter
- Onion
- Milk
Procedure
- Peel and grate one large potato.
- Finely chop half an onion and fry it in a pan with 2 small pieces of butter. Turn off the heat when it turns candy brown.
- Add the grated potatoes and 400 cc of milk and heat over medium heat.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, stirring constantly. Add consommé, salt, and pepper to taste, and simmer gently.
Substitute for flour in white sauce 5 to 9: Everyone’s ideas
- Yamato
- Corn soup stock
- Okonomiyaki flour
- Tempura Flour
- Starch
Points to keep in mind when making white sauce
When making white sauce, many people may be troubled by the fact that lumps form even though they are careful.
One of the reasons for this is the temperature difference between butter and milk.
The following are some of the things to keep in mind when making white sauce.
Keep the milk cold
Image search results for “ac photo milk
If you fry butter or flour first, you add the milk later, right?
Some people think that putting cold milk in a hot place might cause lumps, so they keep it at room temperature, but it’s the opposite.
The opposite is true. If there is no temperature difference between hot and lukewarm milk and cold and cool milk, lumps will form.
Therefore, when adding milk to a paste that has been cooked, be sure to add the cold milk.
This will help prevent lumps from forming.
Do not overheat the microwave
Image search results for “ac photo microwave”.
If you use rice flour, you can make white sauce in the microwave, but the key is not to overheat it.
In the microwave, after heating, the sauce will gradually heat up, so even if the sauce is not very thick right after, it will become thicker after a while.
Of course, you can stretch it with water or milk, but this may result in a larger quantity and excess.
So, heat it in the microwave only to the point where you think it’s not quite enough. If you use katakuriko (potato starch).
When using potato starch, it becomes less thick and watery as it cools, so it is best to use it immediately.
Frozen storage, the next day is not suitable for use, so please be careful.
Summary
- Put flour in the white sauce to make it thicker.
- Rice flour does not need butter, so you can make the healthy white sauce.
- When using strong flour, use more than when using wheat flour.
- If you use potato starch, it becomes watery when it cools down, so it is suitable for immediate use.
- Potatoes need to be grated, but less butter is needed and they are more filling.
- Milk that is added to a hot dish should be well chilled to avoid lumps.
- When using a microwave oven, keep the heating time to a “little less than”.