<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

Christie Priem asked about the differences encountered baking with different
brands of rice flour.  These differences can be a result of the type of rice
milled, type of milling process and how the rice flour was stored from time
of milling to time of baking.  There are thousands of types of rice grown in
the world and many different types grown in the U.S.  So the rice flour can
have differing amounts of moisture, protein, starch etc.  These qualities of
rice flour can affect the quality of any baked goods.

As to the Arrowhead Mills rice flour in question sometimes its possible to
improve the texture by heating the liquid in the recipe to 140-150 degrees
and then add the rice flour and stir so the flour will absorb the liquid
better.  For the long term baking you should try other rice flours.

We pay a premium price for rice flour because it a low volume specialty item.
Rice flour is usually made from rice grains that have broken during the
process of removing the outer husk so it is a byproduct (waste) of the rice
industry.  There are many interesting facts about rice in the book Rice:
Production & Utilization by Bor S. Luh.

The different wheat flours sold in stores are carefully blended of different
types of wheat to ensure a consistent result when used in baking.  Since the
important factor in wheat flour is the amount of gluten and since we don't
have gluten we need to be looking for other qualities in rice that will
improve our baking results.

If you have a home mill then you have the advantage of not only being able to
mill a supply of fresh flour but you can sample the many different rices sold
in whole grain form(both white and brown).  The aromatic rices such as
basmati or jasmine will give baked goods a wonderful popcorn aroma.

Keep baking...  Donna Renneke