Application Guide

texture, aroma, color, length of grain, and degree of translucency. Short-
grain brown rice is nutty, sweet, dense, and chewy. Unpolished, it retains a
layer of bran, which adds fiber and flavor. Long-grain brown (Texmati) rice
is beige in color and nutty in flavor. Converted rice is parboiled before dry-
ing, and cooks up nice and fluffy. Aromatic rices, such as basmati and jas-
mine, are known for their distinctive fragrances. Use 1 to 2 cups of cooked
rice to 6 cups of flour for the best results. Brown rices take twice as long as
white rice to cook, and have more nutrients.
In addition to using cooked whole grain rice in some of my
breads, occasionally I like to use rice flour in bread machine breads. Rice
flour can be ground from brown or white rice, although I always use brown
rice flour. There is also a sweet rice flour used in Asian cuisine, but not for
breads. Rice flour is an excellent thickener and is good for dusting (use for
dusting your pizza doughs when rolling out), as it absorbs moisture slowly
and has a light, sweet flavor. Use a small proportion of rice flour (a scant 1
cup of rice flour to 5 cups of wheat flour) when making bread. The crust on a
loaf made with rice flour will be a delicate light brown with a fine crumb.
For more information on rice flours.
Soy Flour
Soybean products were long thought unsuitable for breadmaking; on their
own they make moist, compact bricks with a hearty musty, sweet flavor that
many find to be an acquired taste. But soy flour in small amounts melds well
with other flours, slows the rancidity in baked goods, and, with its high fat
and protein content, adds considerable nutrition and moisture to loaves. Soy
flour keeps well on a cupboard shelf for up to a year. Breads that contain soy
flour are chewy, with a golden crust and delicate musty flavor.
The soy products that are available for baking include grits,
soy flakes, a soy meal, and, my favorite, a finely milled flour (ground from
toasted whole soybeans). Toasted soy products, labeled soya, have a nutty
rich flavor while raw soy products are blander. The best tasting, most nutri-
tious soy flour is stone-ground and full-fat. Defatted soy flour has the oil re-
moved by a process using chemical solvents, so don’t let the fat-free craze
tempt you to buy this. The proteins in soy flour complement the ones in
wheat flour, an especially nice pairing since soy has no gluten. Soy flour
makes a crust that tends to brown quickly, so a good rule of thumb is to set
your machine’s crust setting on light. Add no more than 1 cup of soy flour
per 3 to 5 cups of wheat flour, adding a tablespoon of vital wheat gluten per
cup of soy flour for texture.
Teff Flour
Teff flour, available almost exclusively in health food stores and from mail-
order catalogs, is a specialty flour and a staple in an ethnic cuisine not famil-
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