Make Béchamel Sauce

Béchamel is one of the five "mother sauces" in French cuisine. As a basic white sauce, it can be used as the base of many other sauces.

Ingredients

• 50 g (¼ cup) butter
• 50 g (¼ cup) white wheat flour (type 405)
• 1000 ml (4½ cups) whole milk (>3% milk fat)
• 1 small onion
• 1 fresh bay leaf
• Salt
• Pepper

Steps

1. Make a roux. In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in the flour to make a roux.
2. Cook the roux over gentle heat for 3–5 minutes, but do not brown. This cooking is necessary to remove the floury taste.
3. In a separate pot, begin heating the milk. Peel the onion, but do not cut it.
4. Add the onion and bay leaf into the pot with the milk. Keep stirring until milk is heated to 80°C. Do not let the milk adhere and cook to pot bottom. Remove onion and bay leaf.
5. Gradually whisk the heated milk into cooked roux. Add salt and pepper to taste.
6. Stir and cook for 15 minutes until thickened. No lumps should be present.