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How Toasting Flour Affects Flavor and Thickening in Roux and Gravy

Asked Mar 28, 2025 by Mary L.

I was looking back at my Jan/Feb 2024 copy of Milk Street and read about browning flour (“For Bigger Flavor, Toast your Flour”). That raised the question in my mind about toasting flour before using it as a thickener, or before making a roue. How would that change flour’s thickening ability in a stew (I generally lightly flour beef before browning when I make a stew)? Would it make my gravy richer or likely to need more liquid? Most importantly how would toasting change the flavor?

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COMMENTS

  • Elizabeth MindreauMilk Street Staff

    March 28, 2025

    Hello again Mary –

    We got a quick response from the Kitchen Team! Here is what they have to say:

    So when making a roux, the extent to which flour is toasted determines the finished product and its thickening ability. Also for a roux, flour is always cooked in fat until smooth, so in a way flour is always toasted.

    For a white gravy, say southern-style over biscuits, The flour and fat are melted together, then pretty quickly the liquid is added, which is how the gravy stays white. Now for a classic gumbo, the same flour and fat are melted, then can be cooked for an hour together, the flour toasting and getting darker, which does add a distinct flavor. But the longer that flour cooks, the less thickening capabilities it has. So a really proper gumbo is actually quite thin, but very very dark in color, because that roux is cooked for so long.

    So to answer the question, yes, toasting flour does affect both flavor and thickening ability. But there's no need to toast flour on its own like we do for baking recipes. You say you dust meat before browning, which is a really common, great way to introduce flavor. And you may notice that the resulting texture of that dish would be a little looser, more velvety than if you added a pale flour-fat paste at the end of cooking - that would come out thicker and taste less complex.