Flour Starch
Ingredients
Directions
Mix the flour with a little cold water until smooth.
Stir the mixture into the boiling water.
Keep stirring until it boils.
Cook for 5 more minutes.
Strain through a coarse strainer or crash towel.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Starch in the flour thickens the boiling water as its granules swell and gelatinise.
The step that matters
Mix the flour with cold water before adding it to the boiling water. Flour dropped into hot liquid clumps as its outer layer sets before the inside hydrates. Mixing it smooth with cold water first lets the starch disperse evenly, so it thickens without lumps.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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