While most types of flour you see will be made from wheat, there are many kinds of flour available to use. In other cultures like Japan, sweet rice flour is a popular flour made from rice.
If you have seen a recipe that calls for sweet rice flour, you may be wondering what sweet rice flour is and how you can use it. I did the research, and here is what I learned!
What Is Sweet Rice Flour?
Sweet rice flour is a type of rice flour created from short-grain glutinous rice or sticky rice. Normally, sweet rice flour is used to make mochi because sweet rice flour creates a sticky and chewy dough. However, you may also use sweet rice flour as a gluten-free flour alternative, thickening agent, and more.
Do you want to find out what sweet rice flour tastes like, what the difference between rice flour and sweet rice flour is, and more? Keep reading!
What Is Sweet Rice Flour Made Of?
Sweet rice flour is made from ground short-grain glutinous rice, which may also be called sticky rice. These glutinous grains give sweet rice flour its signature sticky consistency when mixed with liquid.
What Does Sweet Rice Flour Taste Like?
Despite having the word “sweet” in the name, sweet rice flour is not sweet at all. Instead, sweet rice flour has a slightly milky and mild flavor.
What Is Sweet Rice Flour Used For?
Normally, sweet rice flour is used to create mochi, which is a Japanese dessert. Generally, mochi contains a very soft chewy dough on the exterior of the dessert, and sweet rice flour is often used to achieve this texture.
Despite normally being used to make mochi, sweet rice flour is also a great ingredient to use to make rice noodles. Moreover, sweet rice flour is sticky enough to work as a thickening agent for sauces, stews, etc.
Additionally, sweet rice flour can work for certain baking recipes especially since sweet rice flour can offer some structure and moisture. Plus, sweet rice flour can be good if you want your baked goods to be flakey instead of crumbly.
You may also use sweet rice flour as a gluten-free alternative to wheat flour in some recipes, however, you may want to mix your sweet rice flour with other types of flour to enhance the texture and flavor of your dish.
What Is The Difference Between Rice Flour And Sweet Rice Flour?
While rice flour and sweet rice flour are both made from rice, they are not the same. Firstly, rice flour is made from long-grain or medium-grain non-glutinous white rice while sweet rice flour is created from short-grain glutinous rice.
Therefore, the major difference we see here is that sweet rice flour is glutinous whereas rice flour is not. This can make a great impact on some of the recipes that you use.
For instance, rice flour can be used in most traditional baking recipes. However, sweet rice flour may be better for specific recipes like mochi or as a thickening agent since sweet rice flour is glutinous.
Is Sweet Rice Flour The Same As Regular Flour?
Regular flour is not the same as sweet rice flour because they are made from totally different grains. Regular flour is often made from common wheat while sweet rice flour is made from rice.
Due to being created from different grains, these types of flour will have different characteristics. Generally, using each of these in a recipe will give you different results.
For instance, regular flour contains gluten because regular flour is made from wheat, which gives more rise to dishes. On the other hand, sweet rice flour does not have any gluten, which means your dishes will not get very big.
Another example is how sticky chewy rice flour dough can be, which is why sweet rice flour is used for mochi. Trying to use wheat flour to make mochi will leave you with very crumbly and hard dough.
Is Sweet Rice Flour The Same As Tapioca Flour?
Tapioca flour and sweet rice flour are not the same because of their ingredients. Tapioca flour is created from the yucca or cassava root, which is very starchy.
One thing that separates tapioca flour and sweet rice flour apart is flavor. While sweet rice flour is not sweet, tapioca flour is sweet because the cassava or yucca roots are sweet.
Moreover, tapioca flour is often a better thickening agent than sweet rice flour. Since tapioca flour is particularly starchy, tapioca flour can be used to thicken various recipes.
Can You Make Your Own Sweet Rice Flour?
It is possible to make sweet rice flour at home using a coffee grinder, food processor, or high-powdered blender. Keep in mind that you may not get the same results as store-bought sweet rice flour because those rice grains are ground in grain mills.
Generally, one cup of rice creates 1 ½ cups of rice flour. For example, you can use three cups of rice to create three cups of rice flour.
To create your sweet rice flour, add one cup of short-grain glutinous rice to your chosen grinder. Next, pulse the grains on high for one minute until your rice grains resemble flour.
Does Sweet Rice Flour Have Gluten?
Despite being made from glutinous rice flour, there is no gluten in sweet rice flour. This is because rice does not contain the same proteins (gluten) that wheat has.
What Is A Substitute For Sweet Rice Flour?
Typically, the best substitute for sweet rice flour is tapioca flour, especially if you are making mochi or need to thicken a liquid. Tapioca flour contains enough starch and chewiness to mimic sweet rice flour.
Check out our other articles if you want to learn what sorghum flour is, what soya flour is, and what sweet potato flour is.
Conclusion
Sweet rice flour is rice flour that is made from short-grain glutinous rice. Despite what the name implies, sweet rice flour is not sweet because sweet rice flour is mild and slightly milky.
Normally, sweet rice flour is used to create chewy desserts like mochi. However, sweet rice flour also makes a great thickening agent and ingredient in many baking recipes.