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I made a post last week regarding trying to find a substitute for wheat bran in a pumpkin bread recipe.  (the original recipe calls for regular flour and for wheat bran, so I planned to substitute the regular flour with a GF flour blend, but was a little concerned about what to do about the wheat germ substitution.  It only called for 2 Tablespoons of wheat bran).  I wondered if I could substitute with rice bran and still have the same affect and same taste.



THANKS to all of you who replied to my post.  Someone even sent me a pumpkin bread recipe that doesn’t call for any bran, (which was an easy solution)… but here are the replies I received.



·         Try Buckwheat Flakes

·         Try a mixture of Buckwheat Flakes and Ground Flaxmeal

   I do not know the answer to your question, but I have an awsome pumpkin bread recipe that I make with GF flour all the time.  All of the kids GF and Non GF love it.  Let me know if you want another recipe.
   I know the recipe  you're talking about.  The wheat bran is only used to dust the pan to prevent sticking and is used because it's low carb.  You can actually use any GF flour to substitute for the wheat bran.

·         Maybe you could substitute ground flax seed for structure or for fiber

·         I add flax to breads and in my experience, it adds taste and texture.   I had a bowl of rice bran once (as a cereal) and it was AWFUL!!!!!   Don't know if it is better in baking, but I can recommend against it as a cereal.  It doesn't taste like wheat bran.  Flax adds a little of a  nutty flavor.  Very mild.  If you add flax, you may need to add additional water to your recipe as  well.

·         I wouldn't try it, unless it is a very small amount. Rice bran tastes awful--very bitter, unlike wheat bran, which has a kind of "nutty" flavor. I'd try using amaranth bran, which tastes good, or perhaps a mix of quinoa and amaranth flours.

·         If the wheat/rice bran is to be used to coat the greased bread pan substituting rice bran will make no difference!  Its sole purpose is to keep the loaf from sticking to the pan.

·         I used Ener-G's rice bran in substitution for wheat bran in the bran muffin recipe, but it is a little flavorless.  I think next time I  will use apple juice instead of milk, or add nuts or something to give it a little zip.  Or brown sugar, something to make it taste more wheat-ish.

·         Wheat & rice bran are quite different.  Wheat bran, as one would use it in say bran muffins, is very high in insoluble fiber, aka roughage.  It has a negligible amt of fat, minerals & vitamins.

·         By comparison, rice bran is very high in fat ... it can easily go rancid & is therefore "stabilized" somehow by heating.  The fiber in rice bran is more of the soluble type.  My impression is also that there are B vitamins in rice bran, but I could be wrong.

·         I do use some rice bran in most of my GF breads, as well as on cereal. Adding a small amt. (say 1 Tbspn per cup of GF flour) does IMO add a wonderful depth of flavor to the otherwise fatally bland GF starches. But if you add too much you can end up with a moisture balance problem ...gummy inside, etc.  At least in my experience

   I think flax meal has the same consistency of wheat bran, but it might change the flavor.  I don't mind the flavor, my kids do and say it makes things taste beany.  Rice bran doesn't seem to absorb moisture the same way that wheat bran might?  Just a thought.

·         Take a chance and try it!  The difference might be miniscule

·         I have long used rice bran to get more nutrition into baked goods, such as banana muffins and buckwheat pancakes.  I don't think rice bran tastes like wheat bran, but it does add the same texture.  I would think that it would be good in pumpkin bread.  You might try substituting it for 1/8 to 1/4 of the total flours.  The banana muffin recipe that I use has evolved over the years, with the addition of garfava and sorghum to add more nutrition.  They are sweetened only by the banana and optional applesauce.

·         I'm sure rice bran would be ok. I eat it all the time.  Just keep well away from the "wheat bran" and forget all about it.

·         In pumpkin bread, I would guess it is for structure.  I would use chopped nuts -- something sweet like pecan or pistachio.

·         Having used whole wheat and products a lot before my dx, I can tell you that wheat bran adds fiber, tenderizes (b/c it reduces the ability to form gluten), and adds a nutty flavor. I agree that flax seed would be  a nice substitution flavor wise, but it will add oil. It shouldn't  be significant to ruin the recipe because you don't need that much wheat bran in the first place I am guessing, but just do you know. Because of the fat, flax seed is also much higher in calories, but very good for you. You won't need the tenderizing factor, because you won't be developing any gluten anyway!



~Melonie (R.O.C.K. leader for NoVa/Metro DC Chapter)  & Owner of SillyYaks (www.groups.yahoo.com/group/SillyYaks)
"Do not follow where the path may lead.  Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson





















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