The One Grocery Item You're Probably Forgetting to Buy for Thanksgiving (2024)

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There’s nothing like being sent home after the holidays with a hefty dose of leftovers. My mom is the typical Thanksgiving host for my family, and I can always count on enough turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and gravy to create an epic Thanksgiving sandwich or two. As someone who likes a thicker gravy than others in my family, my mom even came up with a way to make sure that I could get the gravy as thick as I like it with my leftovers. She sends me home with some Wondra.

What Is Wondra?

Wondra flour is an absolute hero of an ingredient. You’ll find it in the baking aisle of your grocery store, but it’s packaged quite differently than you may be used to with flour. It’s packaged in a canister that comes in a 13.5-ounce or 32-ounce size, unlike the hulking multi-pound bags you typically buy flour in.

It does not fit into the standard flour categories—all-purpose, bread, cake, self-rising. What sets Wondra apart is that it’s pre-cooked flour. Wondra is pre-cooked, dried, and then milled to a fine powder.

How Does Wondra Work?

The result of that process is quick-dissolving flour that has multiple uses. It can thicken a sauce or gravy, aid in creating a flaky pie crust, and even work as a coating for your pans before baking.

Because it’s been pre-cooked and ground so finely, it dissolves much easier and more quickly into liquid, keeping gravies smooth and lump-free. Bonus: you don’t need to whisk it together with liquid before adding it to your pot (like when making a cornstarch slurry). The fine texture also makes Wondra a good candidate for greasing and flouring pans before baking. Because it’s such a fine powder, it dissolves into the batter as your baked good cooks without leaving a dusty flour coating on the exterior like you sometimes get with regular flour.

The reason why you can use Wondra in some pie crusts is due to its low protein content. Wheat flour contains protein that creates gluten. The higher the protein content, the more gluten the flour can produce. Sometimes, you want a lot of gluten development (think bagels and pizza dough); sometimes, you want a tender baked good, meaning less gluten development. Different flours contain more or less protein. Bread flour has a high protein level, cake flour has a lower protein level, and all-purpose falls in the middle. Similar to cake flour, Wondra is low in protein.

When baking a pie crust, you want a flaky, tender texture. In this pie dough recipe, you can substitute up to 75 percent of the all-purpose flour called for with Wondra to create a very tender crust. (You still need 25 percent all-purpose flour to help your crust come together.)

Why You Need Wondra This Thanksgiving

This flour is a quick fix for various recipes and uses. It’s forgiving, so you can eyeball it if your sauce or gravy needs a slight thickening. If it ends up too thick, add a touch more liquid until you’re satisfied. We’ve also heard it’s an excellent substitute for flour when making a roux for macaroni and cheese.