Method and Madness

The more we look at cooking we wonder about our methods and question the madness behind them. Some of the questions seem obvious and it makes us wonder why no one has tried them yet.  Perhaps they have and we just don't know it. Tonight we are mulling roux. It's a classic and time consuming process that requires a cook to stand at the pot stirring constantly for a consistent result. Why not toast flour, really darken, even blacken it and then blend it with oil to make specific types of roux? You could greatly reduce the effort and cooking time if this method produced consistent, flavorful results. We spend so much time with ovens on that adding a sheet tray of flour and setting a timer is a non-issue. The question is would it work? And if it does it opens up a whole new world. What if we made a roux using toasted flour and brown butter? What amazing dishes could we build off of a base like that? You could get all the flavor of the cooked butter and toasted flour without risking the bitterness of a burn. Then we wonder what else would benefit from toasted flour. In certain Italian dishes pasta is toasted in the oven before cooking. Toasting the flour first would be an interesting twist. Picture it in breads or cakes. Some might say that the roasted flour will burn during the second cooking but we often cook and bake with roasted nuts without any negative repercussions. What would you do with toasted flour?