How to Pick the Right Rice Flour (2024)

FAQs

How to Pick the Right Rice Flour? ›

The milling method also determines how the flour will behave in a recipe. Wet-milled rice flour is super fine and silky because the grains were soaked before being ground. It weighs less by volume and rehydrates quicker than dry-milled rice flour, which feels coarser because the grains were unsoaked before grinding.

White rice is the standard when it comes to rice flour while you do have milled brown rice and flour made from glutinous or sticky rice.

Rice flour is made from ground medium- or long-grain rice. It can be made with brown or white rice. Brown rice flour is made from whole grain rice and will have a slightly nutty flavor. White rice flour is made from white rice without the bran and will be tasteless.

In most recipes, brown and white rice flour can be used interchangeably. However, it is important to take into account the density and flavor profile of the recipe.

Wet-milled rice flour is super fine and silky because the grains were soaked before being ground. It weighs less by volume and rehydrates quicker than dry-milled rice flour, which feels coarser because the grains were unsoaked before grinding. One is not better than the other. They each have their uses.

The main difference between the two flours lies in the kind of rice grain used in their production. Regular rice flour is made from non-glutinous, long-grain brown or white rice. Mochiko is a sweet rice flour made from a glutinous, short-grain sweet rice called mochigome, also known as “sticky rice.”

Simply put, rice flour is a fine flour made by grinding rice grains of all types. You can buy pre-ground rice flour at the store but grinding rice flour at home gives you more room to experiment with different rice varieties and to find the taste and texture you love most.

The effects of rice flour on weight loss is yet to be proven however, it is widely recognised that it's a healthier alternative to refined flour due to its ability to boost metabolism because of its high insoluble fibre content. The fibre in brown rice helps to reduce cholesterol levels.

Why Use Rice Flour? Rice flour is more than just an alternative for those who may be living a Gluten Free lifestyle, in fact it has a higher fiber content than traditional all purpose flour and is naturally Gluten Free without any additives.

One benefit of rice flour is that it helps liquids absorb quickly into your baked goods, which gives it more structure.

What happens if you replace flour with rice flour? ›

You cannot use rice flour as a 1:1 substitution for regular flour in your baked goods. If you swap rice flour 1:1 in your cooking or baking then the results can be gritty, perhaps a little greasy and often with a gummy mouthfeel. Rice flour contains no gluten and absorbs liquid differently to wheat flour.

Glutinous rice flour can be swapped with other great alternatives, such as arrowroot flour, sorghum flour, and almond flour. Generally, you can also use rice flour, but the results will not be as sticky and chewy as glutinous rice flour.

So is it only possible to make proper stretchy mochi with rice or rice flour? Yes, that's right, but there's a caveat with this as well: it must be made with glutinous rice / glutinous rice flour. You may find glutinous rice being sold as “sweet rice” or “sticky rice”.

What Is Mochi Made Of? You can buy sweetened red bean paste (also called adzuki bean paste or anko) at the store or you can make it at home with our easy recipe. Make sure to get glutinous rice flour (mochigome) instead of regular rice flour. This ingredient is essential for mochi's signature chewy texture.

Not to be confused with regular white rice flour, sweet rice flour is finely ground from a specific type of rice referred to as sticky rice or glutinous rice (though it doesn't contain gluten). It's more starchy, sticky, and finely ground than regular white or brown rice flour.

Long grain rice tends to cook up light, fluffy and separate when cooked rather than clumping together. Medium grain rice tends to cook up moist and tender while short grain rice tends to clump together when cooked and forms what is called glutinous rice.