Rice Flour© Denzil Green
Rice flour is a flour made from pulverized brown or white rice.
White or brown rice flour give pretty much the same results. Rice flour ground in Asia tends to be finer, though, and less gritty than rice flour milled in North America.
When used in baking, the product will be light, but crumbly and somewhat grainy or gritty.
Rice flour does not form a gluten when you bake with it because its protein content isn’t high enough.
To make rice flour, the rice is washed, then dried, then ground into a powder. Two methods of drying might be used: freeze-drying results in a smoother powder than air-drying.
Rice flour is not the same as rice starch; nor the same as sweet rice flour.
Cooking Tips
Mixing in some tapioca starch when you are using rice flour helps to make a finer mix, as does combining any liquid in the recipe with rice flour before you add any other ingredients.
Substitutes
Not rice starch. Another non-wheat flour, if avoiding wheat is your reason for using rice flour.
To make rice flour, wash rice, then soak covered in water for an hour. Drain, then spread well out on a cloth such as a tea towel or paper towel. Let dry for about 4 hours, or until rice is dry and the grains no longer stick to each other at all. Pulverize in a blender or food processor to a fine powder.
Equivalents
1 cup rice flour = 6 oz / 185g
Storage Hints
Store at room temperature in sealed container.
Language Notes
Called “Chalerguro” in Bengali.