Homemade rice flour step-by-step recipe with photos.
Rice flour is a type of flour made by milling rice. It is a good substitute for wheat flour as it is gluten-free. It also acts as a thickening agent. Making rice flour at home is very easy. You can make small batches and use as needed. Homemade rice flour is obviously more fresh than the store-bought ones and it has a light nutty flavour and aroma to it.
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Benefits of making rice flour at home
The biggest benefit of making rice flour at home is that you can activate the rice before grinding. Activated grains are very beneficial when compared to unactivated grains. Activation is the process of soaking grains, nuts, or legumes in water. It is a fairly easy process, but an important one as it increases the health benefits of the grains many folds. Activating the grains reduces phytates, thereby increasing the availability of nutrients in this food. Phytates have the ability to bind to the nutrients, and thereby preventing the absorption of the nutrients. Phytates are classified as anti-nutrients. Activating the grains, nuts or legumes will reduce the phytate levels thereby making the nutrients from them absorbable. Activating grains is particularly important if you are a vegetarian or vegan, and all your nutrition comes from plant-based products.
I always soak the rice for 24 hours before drying and grinding it. However, for the phytates to break down, the grains, nuts, and legumes must be soaked for a minimum of 10-12 hours. I highly recommend soaking the rice for at least 12 hours. However, if you run out of time, soak it for at least three to four hours. This will definitely help in the grinding process.
Consistency of rice flour
It is really important that the rice flour is ground into a fine powder. Make sure you sieve the flour to remove any unground rice particles. Gritty rice flour will not combine well with other ingredients.
Recipes to try with it
Here are some recipes where rice flour is the main ingredient. It is used in many other forms, like dusting the banneton in which the dough for sourdough bread is used. It is also used in fritters to make it crispy.
Follow my simple guide to make rice flour at home with activated rice.
Click here for more cooking basics and kitchen how-tos.
Click here for more gluten-free recipes.
Click here to make Karnatak-style rice flour flatbread.
Step by step instructions
1. Wash the rice thoroughly and soak in water for three to four hours
2. Drain all the water and spread it on a clean kitchen towel
3. Let the rice dry completely
4. Grind in batches in a blender
5. Ground rice flour
6. Pass it through the sieve to remove any unground particles
Recipe card
Homemade rice flour
Ingredients
- 2 cups rice (I used dosa rice)
- Water to soak rice
Instructions
- Wash the rice thoroughly in water
- Soak the rice in fresh water for a minimum of three to four hours
- Drain all the water from the rice
- Place a clean and dry kitchen towel in a warm spot (like a window)
- Spread the rice onto the kitchen towel. Make sure it is spread in a thin layer
- Let it dry completely. This may take three to four hours
- Grind it in a blender into a very fine powder in two batches
- Pass the ground rice flour through a sieve
- You can add the small praticles from the sieve back into blender and grind again
- Rice flour is ready to be used or stored
Notes
- Soak the rice for a minimum of three to four hours. The more you soak, the easier it is to grind
- I prefer to soak the rice for 24 hours as this helps to activate the rice
- Make sure the rice is completely dry before grinding. It should not have any moisture content
- 2 cups of rice gave me approximately 3 cups of rice flour
