Grinding Rice For Flour

[4missinwheat]

I am new at this so bear with me. Can I use my mill to grind rice, to use as flour instead of wheat flour? Can I use it the same as I did the wheat? 2 days WF/gluten-free.

I also have another question.

We have to be off of vinegar due to a food allergy my daughter has (we haven't been tested yet, and also in support). This extremely limits our salad dressings, sauces, marinades. Does anyone have any suggestions? Salad seems to be the only thing we can get at restaurants on the go, so no dressings for that. My kids wanted Chick-fila today, and I told them that they could get a grilled chick fila sandwich, no bun, and no dipping sauce and their reply....well, then its not chick fila. So, no soy sc, no mustard, no mayo, no ketchup, no salad dressings....this seems so dry. Help!

[tarnalberry]

If you used your mill to grind wheat flour, it may be hopelessly contaminated. :-(

Is the restriction on vinegar due to grains? If so, would apple cider vinegar, rice vinegar, wine vinegar, or balsamic vinegar work? You can make mustart without vinegar (buy ground mustard and add a bit of water), though it's not quite the same. I believe you can also make mayo without vinegar, but you'd have to make it from scratch. My FIL uses salsa as a 'salad dressing' and you can make a ranch substitute out of raw cashews, italian spices, lemon juice, water, and salt. Sauces and marinades can be made entirely without it, but you may have to make your own. (You usually don't want to use vinegar.)

[Guest Robbin]

Hi and welcome! I am not sure about the rice since I am fairly new at this too. I'd be interested to know too.

Regarding the vinegar, maybe make some "ketchup" with tomato paste and brown sugar? Also, you could maybe use lemon juice or even dry sherry( can heat it to remove alcohol) in place of vinegar in homemade dressings/dips. Honey is good too. Maybe mix with dry mustard, ginger, etc for dips? You could take some with you in a little container when you go out. If she/they can have dairy, sour cream, or plain yogurt can be made into some good sauces/dips, maybe guacamole or hummus? Just throwing out ideas, here. I know how hard it is with special diets for "special kids"!! Good luck!

[kabowman]

I can't have any vinegar...therefore:

I make my own sauces for BBQ and marinades and I use lemon/lime rather than vinegar. Also, for baking, I use a little bit of tequilla; the baking cooks off the alchol. I think the key with my BBQ sauce is a whole minced onion. The rest of the family loves it too. There are some flavors I don't know how to repeat yet like A1 but I don't miss it too much. I also use a BBQ Salt Rub --thanks Richard--(from the BBQ Sauces and Rubs Bible--modified slightly) that has a little spice and I really don't need sauces too much any more...except for some BBQ for wings and ribs.

From what I had read in cookbooks, getting the right consistancy is key to non-gluten flours and you are better off buying pre-made flours. Also, I have yet to see a receipe that lets you do even-even substitution for wheat flour. Check out some cookbooks at the library and decide which ones to buy. I love Bette Hagman books and I have another I use, the Gluten Free Kitchen. You will also need a few other ingredients to get the same texture. Start reading cookbooks!

The only time I use just plain rice flour to replace wheat flour is when my husband is frying chicken and wants a coating...it works fine.

[pinktroll]

I use my grinder to grind brown rice, white rice, garbonzo beans, popcorn and other bean flours. It works great and I know that what I grind is definitely gluten free. Not to mention that it is easier to store the whole grains sometimes because the flours need to be refrigerated or frozen to keep them fresh. You also get more nutritional value out of a freshly ground flour. While it is hard to do a straight across swap with wheat flour, it's not that hard to make your own blend of bean and rice flours and then add any starches that the recipe calls for. I had a newer grinder (Whisper Mill, now a Wonder Mill) that I had only used a couple of times to grind wheat. I ran 3 batches of rice through it and then discarded the rice flour. I thoroughly cleaned the grinder and we have not had any problems. It would probably depend on how sensitive you are though.