Rice flour is my go-to flour in gluten free baking. It’s neutral in flavour and colour and more widely accessible in comparison to other gluten free flours. I find rice flour very easy and convenient to use. Up until now, though, majority rice flour bread has eluded me. It turns out that rice flour makes a great loaf of bread, but it is trickier to use than other wholegrain flours. The key, I found? Making a yeast free rice flour bread.

Rice flour bread (gluten free)

Name: Rice flour bread (gluten free, yeast free)
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 50 min
Ingredients: 650 g fine, fresh white rice flour ((see notes)); 30 g gluten free baking powder; 25-30 g psyllium husk powder ((see notes)); 10-12 g fine salt; 300 g thick plain Greek yoghurt or thick plain coconut yoghurt; 20-40ml (1 -2 tablespoons)* maple syrup or sweetener of choice; 20ml (1 tablespoon)* oil of choice; 500-600 g water ((see notes) )

This rice flour bread is made 100% white rice flour. It uses psyllium husk powder to bind everything together and baking powder for leavening. Salt, maple syrup and a small amount of oil add flavour and browning, while yoghurt and water bring everything together. It is a super simple recipe that tastes great has a lovely flexible and soft crumb.

The bread is gluten free, yeast free, egg free, easily dairy free/vegan, xanthan gum free and nut free. It is very easy to make – simply mix and bake. A delicious white bread style loaf that is not full of high starch flours. The only trick is adjusting to the hydration needs of rice flour, which are quite different to other gluten free flours when making bread.

Recipe notes

The most important thing here is to buy fine, fresh rice flour. Rice flour tends to go rancid easily and has a musty, floral taste and smell.

It can also easily ruin a gluten free bread if it is a coarsely milled rice flour. Australians, take note: the variety in the box sold at the supermarket is way too course to make a good loaf of bread.

I recommend buying your rice flour from a bulk food store if that is an option for you. If you are coeliac, you will need to buy a gluten free certified brand. I don’t know about their certification, but I like Ceres Organics brand if I can’t get to the bulk food store.

I have only tested this recipe with white rice flour so far. Brown rice flour has FODMAP thresholds so I don’t often work with it. If you try it, let me know how it goes.

White rice flour has a huge variation in how much water it absorbs. Sometimes it is incredibly thirsty, other times it is not. Keep your eye on the dough as you mix it up – it should look slightly crumbly (but with no flour left in the bowl) and yet feel very moist in your hands.

I buy psyllium husk flakes from the supermarket and grind them to a powder myself these days. I find the powder sold at the supermarket is too fine and often turns my baked goods purple. To grind my psyllium husk, I use a Breville spice grinder.

A side on image of a loaf of 100% rice flour bread on a wire cooling rack atop a white marble table. The loaf is golden brown and set against a dark backdrop.

Substitution options for your rice flour bread

If you can’t have rice flour, see some of my majority wholegrain loaf recipes below. If you were hoping for a white bread style recipe without rice flour, my grain free vegan white bread is a good place to start.

As mentioned, I have not tested this recipe with brown rice flour.

There is no substitute for psyllium husk powder in this recipe. It holds everything together and absorbs enough water to make a pliable bread.

You can use any oil and liquid sweetener that you prefer. I have used olive oil and maple syrup, but other oils and liquid sweeteners would also be fine. Honey or agave syrup would work well here.

I have tested plain thick Greek yoghurt and plain thick coconut yoghurt in this recipe. Both work well, although the loaf is a little shorter and paler when you use a plant based yoghurt. You can taste a little bit of the yoghurt flavour in the finished bread when fresh (particularly coconut yoghurt) so choose accordingly. To make a low FODMAP bread, you can use a lactose free thick Greek yoghurt.

Working with 100% rice flour bread

This bread has taken me FOREVER to perfect. Rice flour works in very curious ways when compared to other gluten free wholegrain flours in bread. I want to dive into a few of them so you know a little about what to expect.

Firstly, 100% rice flour bread has more flexibility than you’d expect. This surprised me, as I assumed it would be inflexible. With that said, it often becomes very gluey in consistency. To achieve a flexible slice, you have to add as much liquid as possible without overdoing it. This can take some trial and error.
Rice flour bread needs far less liquid than you’d expect. This really surprised me because generally rice flour is quite a thirsty flour.
Rice flour bread proofs really poorly. In fact, I ended up making this a yeast free recipe because of how badly a yeasted 100% rice flour bread proofs. I found the same with my oat bread, which is why that recipe is also yeast free.
It took me a long time to perfect yeast free gluten free bread, but I can confidently say now that yoghurt is key. It softens, adds elasticity and adds flavour. You can use plain Greek yoghurt or a plant based alternative but you can’t omit it.
The same rule applies to this bread as any gluten free bread: you need to allow it to cool completely before you slice it. If you slice it warm, the crumb will ball up on the knife and it might have a dense base.

A side on view of a loaf of rice flour bread on a white marble table against a dark backdrop. The bread has been sliced to reveal a soft crumb inside.

Troubleshooting your rice flour bread

If your bread has a layer of gummy dough on the bottom, you have added too much water for your rice flour. Add 50-100g less water next time.
Another thing to try is dropping the psyllium husk back a bit. This can sometimes help with a gummy layer on the base.
If your bread is super pale, you need to turn your oven up. The oven dial can be hugely inaccurate and it might be that you are not truly cooking the bread on a high heat. Non-yeasted breads don’t brown nearly as easily as yeasted breads. I also find that plant-based yoghurt browns less than regular yoghurt.
If your bread doesn’t rise much, there are a few things to consider. Firstly, bread that does not have enough water added won’t rise as well. A dry dough will produce a dense, short loaf with a tightly knitted crumb. Adding water to this bread is a fine balance and one that will differ for everyone. The aim is to add as much water as possible without creating a gummy layer at the base of the bread.
Of course, it’s always worth checking your baking powder to ensure it is in date.
Just to reiterate: a gritty, coarsely ground rice flour will result in a bad loaf of bread. The box variety at the supermarket is not good for any sort of baking.

Can I use a silicon baking tin for this loaf?

No. This loaf, like all my gluten free loaf recipes, requires a pan with solid, steel edges. I use a USA Pan Pullman pan in size small. It is 23cm length X 10cm width X 10cm height or 9 X 4 X 4 inches. I use the pan with the lid off – it’s just the perfect size bread tin for a gluten free recipe.

I should also say that this is not sponsored and I don’t have affiliate links on my site. It is just the best pan for the job and the only one I use. If you intend to make a number of gluten free bread recipes on my website, this loaf pan will serve you incredibly well.

More gluten free bread recipes