Volatile Compounds of flour

A bit old school, but when making a roux it is recommended to heat the flour and butter at least 15 minutes in order to get rid of the typical flour taste. I did this and yes it works - and in turn, the rushed roux had this odd flour taste. Can you guys help me here: what is the compound in flour that gives it the taste? Thanks.

Find more posts tagged with

All About Ingredients

Comments

stenehjemj

I don't think you are driving off flavor compounds. The proteins and carbohydrates from the wheat and butter are altered by heat and chemical reactions (Maillard and some caramelization) create compounds that alter the flavor of the flour. http://modernistcuisine.com/2013/03/the-maillard-reaction/

Brendan_Lee_56950

What is your normal "non rushed" process? I have always assumed the cooking time was to gelatinize the starches and brown the proteins if you wanted to make a darker roux. Perhaps you are only used to a blonde roux and this went past that?

Ivan_34496

Hi Brendan, the rushed process was about 5 minutes - I needed to make a bechamel for my lasagne. Did it over very low heat to not brown the flour and stirred the stuff like crazy.

Ivan_34496

Hi Jeff,

Yes, that's the first explanation. Now that I am back home, I reviewed a book from Hervé This-Benckhardt. According to him, the flour-taste is due to amylose . Due to longer heating it is split into other sugars, which have no flour-like taste. And the Proteins in flour (Gluten) change due to Maillard-Reaction.

Best,

Ivan