What is the Best Rice Flour Brand?
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Rice flour is made from milled (finely stone ground) rice. It can be made from either brown rice or white rice. The flavor of rice flour is neutral and it is considered hypoallergenic and easily digestible compared to regular flour and bean flour because it is naturally gluten-free.
Rice flour has multiple uses and benefits, being a good gluten-free flour alternative to whole-wheat flour and can be used to bake cakes, cookies, bread, and more. It has natural thickening properties and is extremely easy to find in Asian cuisines for food bases like rice noodles and rice wrappers, as well as a thickening agent to thicken soups and sauces and coat fish and other proteins.
Rice flour can also aid in faster weight loss as it is a fine powder that contains insoluble fibers that build up the digestive system, making your metabolism better. When you feel like occasionally indulging in your favorite recipes and decadent baked goods, rice flour is one of the best guilt-free and low-carb flour anyone can use.
Wondering about all the benefits of rice flour, and which one is the best for you? Here are some of the best naturally gluten-free rice flour brands you can choose to replace the regular flour in your cupboard while still getting the same quality out of your favorite foods and baked goods.
Is Rice Flour All the Same?
The two types of rice flour are made from brown rice and white rice. Brown rice flour is milled from whole grain rice, while white rice flour is made from ground white rice that contains no bran. Brown rice flour has a nutty, slightly sweet flavor, whereas white rice flour is flavorless.
While both are fine powder and great gluten-free flour alternatives, brown rice flour is often touted as a better gluten-free baking option for baked goods because it helps balance out the density while keeping its sweetness.
White rice flour on the other hand is ideal for making batters, rice noodles and wrappers, thickening soups and sauces, and is used as a replacement for regular all-purpose flour thanks to its lack of flavor. However, because rice flour is gluten-free, it can’t be used to make yeasted loaves of bread like wheat flour can.
What is the Difference Between Rice Flour and Sticky/ Glutinous Rice Flour?
Rice flour and glutinous rice flour are often mistaken for each other by many people, but they have very different purposes.
Rice flour is produced by milling long or medium-grain rice. It is frequently used in Asian cooking due to its ability to thicken soups, thicken sauces, and add chewy and stretchy textures to various dishes. In addition, rice flour is gluten-free, making it soft and elastic.
The two types are brown rice flour, which is milled from whole grain rice, and white rice flour, which is made from ground white rice that contains no bran.
Milling dehydrated long and short-grained rice produces glutinous rice flour, also known as sweet rice flour. Just like regular rice flour, glutinous rice flour is also gluten-free. Like regular rice flour, it is also fairly tasteless. This rice flour has some stretch and a sticky, chewy texture, and is another perfect substitute for all-purpose flour in different recipes.
Many sweet rice flour varieties can be found in Asian cuisines, such as mochigome, chapssal, and malagkit. Mochiko and shiratamako are sweet rice flours made from cooked mochigome that are commonly found in Asian grocery stores.
Which Rice Flour/ Wheat Flour is Best?
Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free White Rice Flour for Gluten-Free Baking
This verified gluten-free white rice flour is manufactured in a dedicated gluten-free facility and stone ground on slow-turning quartz millstones to turn it into a fine powder.
It’s certified kosher pareve and comes in a resealable stand-up bag for ease of use and storage. To assure the integrity of their gluten-free flour, Bob’s Red Mill rice flour is batch-tested in a dedicated gluten-free facility and quality control laboratory using an ELISA gluten assay test.
Goya Rice Flour
Goya Rice Flour is a great choice if you want to make everything from Asian noodles to traditional baked goods or desserts like cakes and bread. Goya Rice Flour is gluten-free, kosher pareve premium white rice flour that is an excellent baking and cooking all-natural flour for any recipe you have in mind.
Anthony’s Brown Rice Flour
Anthony’s Brown Rice Flour is a non-GMO brown rice flour that is stone ground in California and made from medium-grain rice. Batch-tested and verified gluten-free, it comes in a 5lb resealable bag for your convenience and is one of the best low-carb flours and wheat flour alternatives for cooking and baking.
Mochiko Sweet Rice Flour
Mochiko Sweet Rice Flour is a short-grain white rice flour made by Koda Farms that creates a chewy texture great for baking sweet desserts that you feel like occasionally indulging in.
This glutinous rice flour from Koda Farms is the best rice flour for many different dishes that need a bouncy bite while remaining a verified gluten-free product and is preferred over wheat flour for gluten-free baked goods like mochi.
Birch & Meadow Brown Rice Flour
This gluten-free baking brown rice flour is an all-natural, non-GMO wheat flour alternative that can be used to make delicious baking recipes like pancakes, muffins, and bread. Packed in a resealable bucket for extremely easy access and storage, you’ll have a big supply of brown rice flour to help with your cooking and baking needs.
Eastern Feast Long-Grain Rice Flour
Eastern Feast Long-Grain Rice Flour is an all-natural white rice flour that is gluten-free, freshly milled, and enriched with iron. This white rice flour is produced from stone-ground polished rice.
This gluten-free baking flour is a great alternative for all-purpose flour and for anyone on a ketogenic diet. It can be used as a thickening agent for sauces and puddings as well as making noodles, cakes, and other such goods.
Naturevibe Botanicals Organic White Rice Flour
This white rice flour is 100% stone ground on slow-turning quartz millstones from premium white rice perfect for cooking and baking. Aside from being non-GMO and gluten-free, it also helps in weight loss, as this rice flour is a fine powder that contains insoluble fibers making your metabolism better, and is very easy to digest, much more so than wheat flour and bean flour.
Great River Organic Milling Brown Rice Flour
This brown rice flour contains more nutrients and fiber than its white rice flour counterpart and is made from stone-ground whole grain. Grown in the USA, gluten-free, and non-GMO, this is another rice flour that works fantastically as a wheat flour replacement for baking all sorts of goods.
Naturtonix White Rice Flour
This white rice flour is high in fiber with a finer texture than brown rice flour. Naturtonix White Rice Flour makes a superb gluten-free substitute and works well for baking, and thickening soups and sauces.
Batch-tested and kosher, you can mix this with other gluten-free flour to make noodles and baking bread, pastries, cakes, cookies, brownies, pancakes, and more.
Final Note
If you’re looking for other gluten-free flour that works just as well as whole wheat flour, rice flour is a fantastic option. This naturally gluten-free baking and cooking flour provide all the benefits while being a more inclusive ingredient for those with digestive system issues, dietary restrictions, and those on a ketogenic diet or looking for something to help faster weight loss.
Whether you prefer brown rice flour, white rice flour, or glutinous rice flour, gluten-free baking and cooking your favorite foods and recipes from anything like soups and noodles to bread and cakes will become easier than ever.
