Not many people know about Wondra Flour, but let me tell you: it’s great. It’s the secret weapon for quickly thickening sauces and soups, and it’s been my go-to for years. It even makes a superior dredging flour for pan-frying things.
Wondra Flour is a product from Gold Medal, and it’s sold in blue cardboard canisters in the baking aisle. If you’re reading this and thinking that it’s some sort of fancy flour, you’re right and wrong. It is special, but it’s not an expensive baking flour. Oh sure, Gold Medal would LOVE for you to bake with it just like regular flour because it’s exponentially more expensive than regular flour. They even have baking recipes on their website. But don’t be the chump and fall for this trick… where Wondra Flour really shines is for thickening parts of your food that are too thin at the very end. Let me explain.
USING WONDRA FLOUR TO THICKEN SOUPS, STEWS, AND SAUCES
So let’s say that you are making, I don’t know, maybe some New England Clam Chowder. You’ve followed the recipe, and at the end it’s not quite as thick as you would personally like. Of course, you could have used a roux in the recipe from the get-go, but then maybe it would be too thick. Wondra Flour is your friend here. See, through food manufacturing magic it mixes right in, without the need to suspend it in fat (that’s how roux works.) So you can just start stirring the soup and sprinkle the Wondra Flour in a little at a time. Still not thick enough? Stir and sprinkle in some more.
I haven’t talked about the part that makes this magic: regular flour can’t be used this way because it will clump up like crazy and make lumpy flour bits. If you tried to use all-purpose flour to just stir and sprinkle to thicken the soup, you’d have to be using an immersion blender to have even a hope of it coming out smooth. And that would blend up all the clam and potato bits too. But Wondra Flour mixes in easily without clumping, as long as you are stirring while you sprinkle it in.
This same method works for sauces too, even if you have a sauce that you have already thickened with a roux. When I cook, I usually aim low with the thickening ingredients and finish it off to “just right” with Wondra Flour. That way it always comes out exactly how I like.
For thickening soups, stews, and sauces, Wondra Flour is your secret ingredient.