Rice family

Brown Rice

Oryza sativa

7–8.5% protein (typ. 7.5%)0% dry gluten · 0% wetNo gluten

Domesticated ~8,000–9,000 years ago

In the atlas

Rice feeds more people daily than any other grain. Brown rice is simply rice that kept its bran. Mill it and you have the backbone of gluten-free baking — mild, slightly gritty unless you mill very fine or buy superfine rice flour. Short-grain mills stickier; long-grain mills drier.

Origin. Yangtze basin, China; also independent in India

Flavor. Clean, faint nut, steamed-rice sweetness.

Worth knowing

Naturally gluten-free.
White rice flour is just brown rice with the bran milled off (or never there).
Fresh rice flour tastes sweeter than the bag that's been on a shelf a year.
Arsenic can concentrate in rice bran — vary your grains, especially for kids.

Flours you can make

Flour	Extraction	Protein	Gluten	Notes
Whole-grain flour	100%	7.5%	0%	Everything the berry holds — bran, germ, and endosperm. Mill 1:1 by weight. Use within days, or freeze.
High-extraction (85%)	85%	7.4%	0%	Sift once through a #30–#40 sieve. Keeps most flavor and minerals, slightly stronger dough than 100%.
Sifted / bolted flour	75%	7.3%	0%	Second sifting (#50–#60). Lighter crumb, longer shelf life, less fiber. Bran left behind is gold in porridge.

Nutrition / 100 g

Calories: 370 kcal
Protein: 7.5 g
Carbs: 77 g
Fiber: 3.5 g
Fat: 2.9 g
Iron: 1.5 mg
Magnesium: 143 mg
Zinc: 2 mg
Thiamin: 0.4 mg
Selenium: 23 µg

Typical whole-grain flour / 100 g.

Sources & USDA links

Buy it retail

Any grocery (bulk brown rice)
Azure Standard
Bob's Red Mill
Asian markets (sweet / glutinous rice as a separate flour)

Availability rotates by harvest. Search the berry name plus “food grade.”

Bakes well as

GF blendsMochi-adjacent doughs (sweet rice)Batter fryingPancakes

Mill Brown Rice now

Miller’s desk

Grain to flour

Whole grainFlour type

Flour you want (g)Blend a second grain

Vital wheat gluten booster

Target protein %Target gluten %VWG protein %

Most bags of vital wheat gluten are 75–80% protein. The booster is added on top of the flour, not swapped in.

Brown Rice

Whole-grain flour · No gluten

Whole grain needed: 505 g
Flour you’ll get: 500 g
Bran left behind: 0 g
Protein in that flour: 37.5 g · 7.5%
Natural gluten: 0%
Add VWG: 44.4 g
After VWG: 13% protein · 5.9% gluten

About 2.7 cups of berries → 3.2 cups of whole-grain flour. Whole-grain milling is essentially 1:1 by weight; sifting is where you lose bran.

How to mill it

Sweet (glutinous) rice is a different starch — great for mochi, not for sandwich bread.

Fine, two passes. Rice is abrasive — expect faster stone wear.

Tempering: No.

Everything the berry holds — bran, germ, and endosperm. Mill 1:1 by weight. Use within days, or freeze.

Milling 101 →

Next: bake it

Pick a loaf for this flour

13% protein after VWG · Brown Rice whole-grain flour. Sandwich loaf, focaccia, sourdough — the kitchen will scale dough, hydration, and times to this mix.