Authentic Foods Superfine Brown Rice Flour vs. Bob's Red Mill Brown Rice Flour

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Dear Readers:

Today I’m talking about brown rice flour. Though to some, this may seem about as interesting as discussing “toast”, hear me out.  If you’re interested in perfecting gluten-free baking, this is pertinent information.  Why? Because there is so much variance between brands.

In my new book, The Allergen-free Baker’s Handbook, I wax poetic about Authentic Foods Superfine Brown Rice Flour. I consider it the Cadillac, or Cashmere of brown rice flours.  And the reason I feel this way is because it makes superior baked goods. Combined with potato starch and tapioca starch, it’s about the closest approximation to all-purpose flour you’re likely to find for gluten-free baking.  In fact, I think I prefer the delicate crumb it produces to all other flours.

Today I got an email from a reader who was making my “Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies”, from The Allergen-free Baker’s Handbook.  She was concerned because the cookies kept coming out lacy. She’d had a lot of success with other recipes in the book, but was flumoxed by this one. She wanted to know if she was doing something wrong.  But the only thing she was doing differently from the recipe in my book was baking the cookies with a flour mix using Bob’s Red Mill flour instead of Authentic Foods… Hmm, well, I love a challenge, so I got to baking.  See below for the results.

The ONLY difference between these two batches of cookies is in the brand of brown rice flour used.  Whoa, that’s crazy, right? The cookies on the left are made with Authentic Foods Superfine Brown Rice Flour, and the cookies on the right are made with Bob’s Red Mill Brown Rice Flour.  Now, for what it’s worth, my kids actually preferred the lacy cookies, while I prefer the more traditional, heartier chocolate chip cookies.  There  is no right or wrong here. I created the recipes in this new cookbook using Authentic Foods, and in most goodies it won’t make a huge difference, (though trust me, the texture will be far superior with Authentic Foods… and no, I don’t work for them!). But in a few recipes, such as this one, you may find more variation between one brand of brown rice flour and another.

Next, I’ll test this recipe again using Ener-G Brown Rice Flour, and I’ll be sure to post a picture, so we can continue comparing.  Additionally, I will continue to update this site with answers to frequently asked questions….  So if you have a question, send it my way!

Happy baking!

Cybele

18 Responses

  1. Debbie Jones says:

    That was very intersting Cybele, I’m so glad you did this because that has happened to me also and I wasn’t sure why it did. I will have to order the flour from your site. They don’t sell it here in Canada, only bulk rice flour. Thanks again.

    • cybele pascal says:

      what about Ener-G products, Debbie? And stay posted, I’m going to try grinding regular brown rice flour finer, to see if it helps.

  2. Verena says:

    I phoned Authentic Foods and they took my order over the phone and mailed it to Canada. It cost a bit more in shipping but it is WAY worth it. While ordering buy the chocolate cookie mix, it’s a winner! The All Purpose Flour they sell is awesome and you can buy a Rye flavour to enhance bread. There is also a dough enhancer you can add to improve your bread. They told me how they ensure the grains they get are the best. I use their flours now whenever I can.

  3. Homa says:

    Just checked your book out from the library – my 17 month old daughter is allergic to soy, milk, egg, oats, wheat, corn, sesame seeds, tree nuts, and peanuts based on recent tests so I checked out every cookbook the library had. I made the snickerdoodles without xanthan gum and without superfine rice flour. I also used the canola oil substitution. They turned out great!

    I’m commenting to ask about guar gum. I know in your book you say one can try the substitution but that the recipes weren’t tested that way. I would love to see a future comparison of something made with guar gum versus xanthan gum. It is so hard to avoid corn. Oats are tricky since a lot of gluten/wheat free recipes turn to them instead.

    Thank you for your book, I was so happy to find it and have success with it. I said to my husband “if the recipe turned out this well when I didn’t follow the directions, I wonder what will happen if I do!” 🙂

  4. CPA Offers says:

    Thank you very much for that great article

  5. Brie says:

    Thank you. I just happened on this post today after I made the choc chip cookies using Bobs and having the same experience. I thought my shortening might have been to warm but now I know it was the flour. Awesome!

  6. Jennifer Pfeiffer says:

    I’m so interested to see how your experiment of grinding brown rice flour works. I was thinking of purchasing a high-end blender and was hoping I’d be able to use it (either Blendtec or Vitamix) to grind brown rice or brown rice flour into the superfine kind. Thanks, Jennifer

  7. Jenine Lawton says:

    I TOTALLY agree! Luckily the first brown rice flour I found on my GF allergen friendly journey was Authentic Brands! I have had many friends and family tell me that my cake had the texture of “expensive real” cakes made with cake flour! I would love to see if you find any difference in the ENER G brand.

    On another question…I am going to take a try at your donut recipe today. (the ones at Sweet Freedom in Philly are 3 bucks a peice! – although safe and yummy, I really think I could make them!) I had recieved a Babycakes brand mini donut maker and am going to try them in there. I am curious though if I am serving them tomorrow morning if it would be best to wait and ice them then? Do you have any other ideas for storing them so they are still good in the morning?

    Thank you!!!

  8. Tina P. says:

    Hi Cybele! Thank you for this post. I have been so frustrated making chocolate chip cookies that turn out flat and lacy. I’ve tried refrigerating the dough, freezing the dough, and now I realize it may have been the flour all along.

  9. Kat Freeman says:

    Cybele,

    I was looking (after a few months away) at your first cookbook. Can I substitute in the all-purpose GF flour mix for the equal combined amount of other flours in these recipes?

  10. Hi Cybele!! Your recipes are wonderful. Thanks for all that you do. What about the King Arthur gluten free flour mix? Does that make a big difference in cookies too?

  11. Heather says:

    I love reading your recipes and glad I found you on Facebook a couple of weeks ago. My son has allergies to corn, dairy, wheat, gluten and peanuts and my daughter is allergic to soy so I try to find recipes I can use for both of them. I love your recipes and so do my children. Thank you!

  12. Loretta says:

    http://www.paislig.com/blog/2010/12/brown-rice-flours/

    I compared these two flours recently. You might like to see the picture of the texture of both.

    Thanks for all the great information and recipes!

    Loretta

  13. I happened upon this article looking for superfine white and brown rice flour. Wow! – What a difference! I find that baking with sorghum or gluten-free oat flour provides more structure without having to add tons of egg white, but I heard that superfine flours do not have the graininess that regular rice flours have. Thanks for sharing!

  14. Joanne says:

    Can’t get the rest of my family to eat my gluten-free products because of graininess so will definitely try Authentic. If I am as pleased as others seem to be I would like to order 50 pound bag. Do you know how long it would be shelf stable, or refrigerator/free stable

  15. Liz says:

    hello!

    was the comparison between the ener g brown rice flour and authentic foods ever done?

    thank you!

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