White sauce is known as béchamel in France or besciamella in Italy and is an important basic sauce that is used in many dishes like lasagna. White sauce is made using only three ingredients: milk, butter, and flour. Most recipes will tell you to add the milk slowly while stirring. This is in fact a difficult method with a high risk of lumps and it will take more time. In this post I will teach you a much easier method.
The weight of the butter and flour should be 10% of the milk. To give you a few examples:
- for 250 ml (1 cup) of milk you will need 25 grams (2 1/2 tablespoons) of flour and 25 grams (2 tablespoons) of butter
- for 500 ml (2 cups) of milk you will need 50 grams (1/3 cup) of flour and 50 grams (3 1/2 tablespoons) of butter
- for 1 litre (4 cups) of milk you will need 100 grams (2/3 cup) of flour and 100 grams (7 tablespoons) of butter
It is easier (but not necessary) to heat the milk first (I always do this in the microwave, but a saucepan would work as well) until small bubbles are visible around the edge. So the milk should not boil, just be hot. (You can skip this step, but then you will have to stir for a longer time after adding the milk to the roux.)
Melt the butter in a saucepan.
When the butter foams, turn the heat to low and add the flour.
Stir for about a minute over low heat and make sure the butter and flour are well mixed. This is called a roux, which can be used to thicken other sauces as well. It can be cooked longer to make a brown roux, but for a white sauce you will need a white roux. (Many recipes tell you to cook until the roux until it no longer tastes like raw flour, but I have never needed to taste the roux.)
Now you add all the milk at once (either hot or cold, both will work). Be brave, just keep pouring quickly.
Once you’ve added all of the milk, whisk energetically until there are no more lumps. This should be very easy.
Increase to medium heat and keep stirring constantly until the white sauce has the desired thickness, making sure to scrape along the bottom while stirring so the sauce doesn’t stick and burn. (This step is a lot quicker if you used hot milk.) Turn off the heat as soon as it has the desired thickness. You may need to lower the heat if it starts to boil too vigorously.
You can now season the white sauce to taste with salt, and if you like also with freshly ground white pepper and/or freshly ground nutmeg.
You can use it straight away. If not, cover it with plastic wrap/cling film such that the plastic actually touches (clings to) the surface of the white sauce. This will prevent a skin from forming.
Stefan's Gourmet Blog 
That 10% rule with examples is very useful – a beginner’s recipe with a handy tip included. Thanks!
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Thanks. The 10% rule is easier in grams than it is in cups and tablespoons.
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PS – I like your new look (I’ve been away for a while). What template are you using to get the giant photo as a banner?
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Thanks. I had noticed you were not around for a while. Welcome back! I’m using the “Gazette” theme.
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… it is even easier if one adds COLD or room temperature milk actually, stefano
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You mean adding cold milk all at once?
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yes…for the explanation check: dario bressanini + besciamella
it does work
having said that, I make besciamella in many ways: when I want a highly aromatic sauce (more in line with french cooking) I heat up the milk very slowly with all the usual suspect (onion, clove, bay, parsley, thyme, onion, pepper, nut meg, mace) and I then use either the hot milk (never had any problem, provided that I add the milk very slowly and I whisk efficiently) or the cooled down milk. for a quick one: I just add the cold milk to the roux.
as an interesting (I think) note: I also make a fat reduced excellent white sauce with rice flour, full fat milk (and bayleaf ecc…), adding no but whatsoever: it does not keep more than a couple of days, but it does work and it has an incredible rich mouth feel (something I learn years ago from the most beautiful and useful cookery book: A new way to cook, by sally schneider)(it is a low fat cookbook BUT it is full of excellent techniques and ideas to maximize flavors) ciao stef,
the other stef
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Thanks for the link. I think Dario Bressanini makes it a bit more complicated than necessary, but it is interesting all the same. The main point of my post is that it is in fact easy to make besciamella and there is no need to add the milk in a thin stream.
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u r right, adding cold milk streamlines the process though….
but it is good to demystify such basic preparations
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I guess adding cold milk all at once will also work if you add it VERY quickly, so the temperature difference will not create splattering and the kind of turbulence that could lead to lumps.
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Update: I have now tried it myself with cold milk. You are right, in terms of preventing lumps it works just as well as adding hot milk. You do have to stir lower after adding the milk though.
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How long can you keep the sauce if not using immediately? And do u chill it or leave it at room temperature?
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You would have to chill it if not using it soon (with a couple of hours). As it is so easy to make it, I’ve never stored it, but I would imagine it would keep several days in the refrigerator.
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Excellent tutorial! It’s one of my favorite sauces! 😍
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Thank you for the 10% rule! I always knew to use equal flour and butter, but never knew how much milk to add to it. I’ve always just winged it, so to speak.
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What is a celiac alternative?
YUM!
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I think rice flour would work very well, but I’ve never tried it myself.
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Grazie! Faccio anch’io così 🙂
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Works like a charm, and thickens up smoothly and quickly. Many thanks for the rule of 10%. I think I may have been under-doing the flour in past attempts. Eyeballs are no substitute for scales when you’re learning!
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Hello, haven’t you though about thos this sous vide ? If so, what temperature should we try ? 80-84° celsius for one hour minimum ? I want to try haha 🙂
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