In order to investigate the effect of the reduction degree per rolling pass on the evolution of recrystallization textures and microstructures, the hot band of 17.5 Cr-1.1 Mo ferritic stainless steel sheets were cold rolled with lubrication according to two processing routes, by which different reduction degrees per pass were introduced. Rolling with a large number of passes led to the formation of fairly homogeneous rolling textures at all through-thickness positions. In contrast, cold rolling with large draughts resulted in pronounced texture gradients along the thickness direction. After recrystallization annealing, the texture maximum was obtained at {334}< 483 > in all samples regardless of the rolling routes and thickness layers. During subsequent annealing, recrystallization was observed to be faster in those grains with {111} < uvw > orientations, while it was retarded in grains having orientations close to {001}< 110 >.