Bechamel sauce is one of the classic white sauce recipes. I covered the basics of making a white sauce on another page in this site, and this sauce differs in that the milk is flavoured before being added to the roux.
In France it is known as sauce mére or mother sauce, because it is the base of so many other sauces, and as such, it is useful to learn.
Below the basic recipe I give instructions for making it as a...
These proportions will give a coating sauce, if you require a pouring or a thicker sauce.
If you do not stir it at this stage it could become lumpy. If you realise it is getting lumpy before it gets to the boil, you can sometimes rescue your bechamel sauce by using a Balloon Whisk to beat out the lumps vigorously. It is too late if it has already come to the boil, and you will have to resort to straining out the lumps.