Have you ever made Bechamel with Butter or do you always buy it? At my house, heaven forbid you mention buying it, my two grandmothers would feel faint! I admit that I often buy it because I rarely keep butter in the fridge, only if I know I have to bake sweets where it can’t be replaced with seed oil. It might be my quirk, but I use very little butter in my recipes.
The Bechamel, however, is a must; every respectable cook has their version, their recipe, and the one I present today is the homemade Bechamel with butter from my Grandma Licia.
Have you ever wondered what it means: “How to prepare the Roux?” The Roux is the combination of melted butter with flour that forms the base of our cream. Roux is used to thicken sauces or soups. The term Roux (French) translated into Italian means “rust color.” In preparing the Roux, the butter proportion must be sufficient to avoid lumps, so it must weigh at least as much as the flour.
I’ve already presented many of my Grandma’s recipes, partly because her dishes were delicious and partly to preserve them, so her kitchen continues to live through my preparations.
In fact, the first time I prepared homemade bechamel with my Grandma’s recipe was in 2014, and indeed until yesterday this recipe still had a photo from that year. This morning on the Facebook fan page of my blog, I showed you the “behind the scenes” of the new photo set and the dish of baked pasta in which I used the bechamel!
If you don’t follow the Facebook page yet, you can do so by clicking here! Obviously, the quintessential recipe in which bechamel is used is this, indisputably, the Lasagna or Vincisgrassi from Marche, a true highlight of our regional cuisine.
The Bechamel you will obtain is delicious, delicate, and easy to prepare. Perfect for dressing lasagna, timbales, or the classic potato gratin. If you need to prepare more than one course, maybe for the Christmas Menu, try these stuffed conchiglioni with white ragù, an easy and delicious recipe!!
If it’s Radicchio season, don’t miss the Radicchio and Walnut Lasagna, in this case, you can use the homemade Bechamel with butter recipe from Grandma Licia! Craving for Winter Lasagna? Try the easy and delicious recipe: Lasagna with Bacon, Scamorza, and Walnuts super creamy!
I will present two lists of ingredients so you have the right amount of Bechamel for each dish to avoid waste.
Let’s move on to the list of ingredients you need to prepare the bechamel with butter for dishes from 6 to 8 people or from 2 to 6 people.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very economical
- Preparation time: 2 Minutes
- Portions: 4 people
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
- Energy 650.25 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 46.46 (g) of which sugars 18.45 (g)
- Proteins 16.34 (g)
- Fat 45.87 (g) of which saturated 29.25 (g)of which unsaturated 16.53 (g)
- Fibers 5.12 (g)
- Sodium 391.49 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 50 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for Bechamel with butter for 6 to 8 people:
Of course, use these quantities if you need to prepare several dishes or more portions, otherwise scroll a bit further down to find the list of ingredients to prepare less homemade bechamel!
- 4 1/4 cups milk (at room temperature)
- 7 tbsps butter
- 7 tbsps flour
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 pinch nutmeg
- 2 cups cups milk (400 ml of milk may be enough)
- 3 1/2 tbsps butter
- 3 1/2 tbsps flour
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 pinch nutmeg
Tools for Homemade Bechamel:
- 1 Saucepan
- 1 Hand whisk
- 1 Spoon
- 1 Small bowl
Preparation of Homemade Bechamel with Butter:
As specified above, you have two lists of ingredients, the first to obtain the amount of bechamel to dress lasagna, baked pasta, or other dishes for 6 to 8 people. The second list is to obtain less bechamel, suitable for dishes from 2 to 6 people.
Take the saucepan and melt the butter taken directly from the refrigerator.
Once the butter is melted, add the flour and with a hand whisk (which you can purchase by clicking here) start mixing, being careful not to create lumps and ensure the flame isn’t too high to darken the flour and butter.
This step in many recipes is referred to as “how to prepare the Roux”. My Grandma Licia, of course, never called it that; I don’t even think she knew that step she performed for years had a name. So don’t be intimidated and proceed cooking the Roux, which is thus the base of our bechamel with butter.
Pour the milk gradually, initially half of the recommended dose, and continue to stir, letting it cook for about 5 minutes.
During this time, add the pinch of salt and the pinch of nutmeg, the quantities are obviously “to taste”, to your liking and preference. We love nutmeg a lot, so we always add a little extra.
Continue to whisk well with the hand whisk to prevent the bechamel from sticking to the bottom of the saucepan.
When the bechamel is well thickened and lump-free, let it rest in the saucepan for a few minutes before using it in other preparations where it is needed.
Enjoy your meal!!!
Tips:
Two tips: my grandmother used to let it cool completely before using the bechamel, whether she was making lasagna, meat casseroles, or vegetables. The second tip is to taste it once it’s cold to check if it needs salt or not, bearing in mind that you will later add it to other more or less salty preparations.
Storage:
The Homemade Bechamel with Butter can be stored, once completely cold, in a plastic or glass container with a lid, tightly closed, placed in the fridge for a maximum of two days. Before using it, if kept in the fridge, we can warm it again in a saucepan with a splash of milk or butter to melt it a bit and make it softer for the preparations where it’s needed.
Variations:
You can choose to prepare the bechamel with more or less salt, more or less nutmeg, using white pepper or not, or with seed oil instead of butter. The amount of oil to use is about 1.6 oz for 1.7 oz flour and 2.1 cups of milk, or 3.2 oz of oil for 3.5 oz flour and 4.25 cups of milk. However, I have not yet tried it with oil, I prefer the classic version of bechamel with butter.
