We’ve all been there before – you cook or bake something using rice flour and you taste that grittiness found in regular rice flour. It happens with white and brown rice flour. While superfine rice flour does not have that grittiness due its fine texture, not everyone has access to it. I purchase mine online through Authentic Foods.
A simple solution is to pour the batter into the baking pan and allow it to sit for about 20 minutes before baking. This allows the rice grain to soften before it sets in the oven. While this work well for recipes calling for baking powder, it does not work as well for some recipes calling for baking soda.
Baking soda begins to work immediately upon contact with moisture, evidenced by its fizzing when added to liquids. Baking powder, on the other hand, reacts more when heated, though it reacts a little bit when moisture is added. It’s okay to allow your batter to sit when using baking soda if you are already having trouble with the recipe being too heavy, as it will lighten the texture of gluten free baked goods when it sits.
You may have noticed that when using rice flour in bread recipes that the final product does not have a gritty texture. Because of the time, it is allowed to rise it has a chance to absorb liquids and soften. So there’s your proof! If you haven’t experienced this for yourself, you’ll have to take my word for it.
UPDATE Feb. 2013: I tried setting aside a cookie batter that called for only rice flour, oil, sugar, and cocoa powder, and it did not soften the gritty texture at all.
I hope you find this tip useful.
Happy gluten free baking!
I haven’t had any problem using Bob’s Red Mill for my brown rice needs. I haven’t tried something as fine as a croissant yet, but my pie crust is stellar. That said, if you own a high speed blender, you can make your brown rice finer using it.
My husband and I have been gluten free for over 6 months and with no success making bread I was getting discouraged until I tried your gluten free Quinoa and flaxseed bread and was thrilled with the results. I’m diabetic and must count carbs so I added the carbs in the recipe and came out with 10 carbs in each slice with 14 slices to a loaf. If I’m wrong please tell me.
Thank you for giving me a renewed enthusiasm for gluten free baking. Can’t decide which of your yummy recipes to try next.
what about when using it in cookie dough…….would letting the dough sit in the fridge for a day or more accomplish the same thing? Would I need to add extra liquid?
Thanks!
Wow can not believe all the tips and information I have learned from your site, seems like every time I find something to read about gluten free, it links back to your site. Can not fathom the amount of time you put into making these great recipes and imparting your experiences to us!
Carla, Thanks for such an awesome tip. I tried grinding my own rice flour before but the grit stopped me from doing it again. This is a fantastic tip for cost saving tips. I will try grinding rice again and see if it works with your tip.
This is something I’ve noticed so I appreciate the tip! I have shared this tip on my facebook page and pinterest.