Using Ground Rice For Banana Bread

Our answer

Nigella's Gluten-Free Banana Bread (from COOK, EAT, REPEAT) is made with a mixture of rice flour and ground almonds. The combination gives a moist loaf that doesn't crumble when cut.

Ground rice and rice flour are unfortunately not interchangeable. Although they are both made from crushed rice, rice flour is much finer than ground rice and they cook differently, so if ground rice is used in baking it will have a slightly gritty texture. This is fine in shortbread (where ground rice is sometimes added to give a crumbly biscuit), but for the banana bread we think that it could be slightly unpleasant. Instead, we would suggest using a plain gluten-free flour blend (gluten-free all-purpose baking flour) for the bread and most major supermarkets now stock gluten-free flours.