The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

The scoop on Rice Flour

Porkbutter's picture
Porkbutter

The scoop on Rice Flour

What is the scoop on rice flour for dusting brotforms? I just milled some rice & I am unsure what to do. I sure that I read somewhere here that rice flour is mixed 50/50 with all purpose flour. I cannot find such a posting now. Is this the case? Or should I just use it straight up?

trailrunner's picture
trailrunner

I have been using it now for quite a while. It makes your surface like teflon, in a very good way. I don't have brotforms so I dust my linen napkins with it and turn out the bread to bake it. 2 things happen...it never ever sticks to the cloth- I rub it into the cloth, and also the dough is easier to cut through with your lame. Give it a try. I have never used home milled so I will be waiting to see if it is as fine as the purchased, which is like cornstarch. c

subfuscpersona's picture
subfuscpersona

Yup. I use rice flour at full strength also. Why bother with the extra labor of combining it with flour?

re home milled rice flour

   trailrunner on Aug 6, 2010 wrote:
I have never used home milled so I will be waiting to see if it is as fine as the purchased, which is like cornstarch.

I mill my own rice flour with a Nutrimill grain mill set to the finest setting that still allows the grain to flow into the milling chamber. The result is very close to the purchased. Works fine for flouring a banneton. (I use the cheapest white rice I can find, which is usually a long grain white rice. If you can find short-grain or medium-grain white rice it would probably mill even finer, but it is not worth paying more since long grain rice works fine.)

I only use the rice flour I mill for "dusting" - don't bake with the stuff so I have nothing to offer re it's merits in bread or other doughs that use rice flour.

alabubba's picture
alabubba

I originally bought some rice flour to use with my couche, but I found out that a couple tablespoons tossed into my white loaf give the crumb a soft/chewy/floppy texture I love.

Porkbutter's picture
Porkbutter

Trailrunner,

That is just what I was hoping to hear. I've been retarding 2 loaves of Hamelman's Seed bread overnight. One in an unlined brotform, & one with a linen liner. We'll see what happens in a few hours now. 

I kind of thought that the rice should be ground fine, so I set my Magic Mill near to the finer setting, but not all the way. It is very fine, but probably not quite as fine as cornstarch. It has that same squeaky feel to it as the cornstarch when you squeeze the bag of it.  Next time, I'll use the finest setting.

Porkbutter's picture
Porkbutter

alabubba,

That sounds interesting, I'll have to give it a try. Another bread experiment to put on the list.

longhorn's picture
longhorn

I like rice flour in some breads but when I have used commercial rice flour on brotforms I find it gives a grainy, sandy crust that is unacceptable - and I don't particularly like the color. It sounds like milled finely avoids the graininess problem. Any of you share my aversion to commercial rice flour and find grinding your own solved the problem?

Thanks in advance

Jay

trailrunner's picture
trailrunner

About $1 for a big bag...lasts FOREVER ! Why mill your own ?? You only need a teaspoon . I have used my bag for over a year and it is still almost full. Get yea to a Chinese grocery ! c

subfuscpersona's picture
subfuscpersona

Cheap, refined, long grain white rice is widely available in the USA. It can be home-milled to produce a rice flour (for dusting) that performs as well as the store-bought stuff.

Not all of us live close to an Oriental or Latino grocery (which also carries rice flour).

If you've already made the investment in a good quality grain mill, you can produce your own rice flour with rice that is probably available in your local supermarket.