I was a little intrigued by Clotilde’s post at Chocolate and Zucchini recently about the idea of roasting flour before you use it in baked goods to help bring out the slightly nutty flavor one gets from browned flour in things like roux.
For her experiment, she made some very simple cookies she calls sablés, but which you and I might call “sandies”: cookies made with nothing but flour and butter and a bit of sugar (and, very often, nuts). She also left out any of the other flavorings one might use in sandies, primarily vanilla, in order to get a real sense of the flavor potential of roasted flour. Her verdict was that the flavor of the flour really shone through in the finished cookies, which I guess shouldn’t be too surprising given the lack of other flavorings. I think it would be worthwhile making the cookies with the usual flavorings to see if the roasted flour really brings enough additional flavor to merit the effort of putting it in the oven first.
If that proved out, though, then I think it would be worth the time to think about what other baked goods might find a similar benefit. I’m thinking along the lines of cakes, mostly, but also possibly yeast doughs for savory pastries. Hmmm….
It’s how I make my roux. Learned the trick form Paul Prudhomme.
Sure. Clotilde talks about that too, and it’s a logical thing to do with roux. Even if you don’t roast the flour, you usually let it cook a little in the pan to kill off that raw flour taste.
But the idea of using it in baking products sounded interesting. Have you ever tried it in something baked?
I haven’t tried it yet, but when I read it I added it to my long-long list of things to try. *sigh*