Tips for making GF Sauces and Gravies

Pamela’s Tips for Making Gluten-Free Sauces and Gravies

Use Pamela’s Gluten-Free Bread Mix or Pamela’s Baking & Pancake Mix to thicken your favorite sauces, gravies, stews, and fillings. For most adaptations, simply replace the wheat flour used as a thickener in the recipe with the mix of your choice. Create your own roux, or thickening paste, useful for making gravies, sauces, cream soups and stews by combining one part Pamela’s Gluten-Free Bread Mix or Pamela’s Baking & Pancake Mix with one part fat such as butter, margarine, or oil over medium heat and stirring constantly until bubbly and fragrant, 1 or 2 minutes. Roux needs to cook long enough to dispel the raw taste of the thickener.

To calculate the amount of roux to make, determine the amount of liquid you wish to thicken. For every cup of liquid you wish to thicken, use one tablespoon of Pamela’s Gluten-Free Bread Mix or Pamela’s Baking & Pancake Mix and 1 tablespoon of fat.

For example, a roux made with 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons Pamela’s Gluten-Free Bread Mix or Pamela’s Baking & Pancake Mix thickens 2 cups of liquid to the consistency of cream soup, such that it coats the back of the spoon. Use less thickener and fat for a thinner finish, more for a thicker finish, but always use them in equal amounts.

For example, create a roux with 2 tablespoons Pamela’s Gluten-Free Bread Mix or Pamela’s Baking & Pancake Mix and 2 tablespoons butter to thicken 1 cup of milk into a classic béchamel or white sauce, an essential ingredient in many popular recipes. To thicken 1 cup of milk into an even thicker sauce as a base for soufflés, create a roux with 3 tablespoons Pamela’s Gluten-Free Bread Mix or Pamela’s Baking & Pancake Mix and 3 tablespoons butter.

Browning the roux adds flavor to gravies, stews and gumbos, but may lessen the thickening power of the roux. This technique is typical with Cajun-style gumbos which require a flavorful dark roux in greater quantity to compensate for its diminished thickening abilities. Add 1/4 cup of Pamela’s Gluten-Free Bread Mix or Pamela’s Baking & Pancake Mix to 1/4 cup of vegetable oil and stir constantly over medium-high heat until dark and fragrant for a delicious start on your favorite gumbo recipe.

Add additional flavor to pan gravies by browning Pamela’s Gluten-Free Bread Mix or Pamela’s Baking & Pancake Mix before combining it with fat to make a roux, as in Pamela’s Classic Gravy for Turkey or Chicken. This technique works well for all kinds of pan gravies, but a well-browned thickener is especially well-suited to gravy for roast beef. Browning the thickener may decrease its thickening abilities, just as browning the roux may, so be prepared to use a little more if needed to achieved desired consistency.

SAFETY NOTE: Never turn your back on a pan of toasting flour. When toasting flour, be prepared to give it your full attention. Stir constantly to avoid burning but not so vigorously as to raise dust. Remember that dust from the flour could spark. Take extra care and keep a tight-fitting lid on hand to extinguish any stovetop flare-ups.