Starch needs to "marinate" for a minimum of 2 hours on the fabric, from what my mom taught me growing up, so that's how I do it, I starch, put in a large plastic zip lock bag, again for a minimum of 2 hours, then I take the fabric/s out to either dry for a few minutes in the dryer or air dry, although I much prefer air dry I usually don't have the time for it, after dry, I iron with a dry iron, although I do usually mist the fabric with water. I've never had any problems with flaking or a gunky iron.