Gluten-free rice flour bread

In Japan, it is still difficult to find gluten-free bread. You can find rice flour bread in most supermarkets and some bakeries, but they usually contain some wheat flour. It may be confusing and disappointing for people with allergy who must have wheat-free or gluten-free foods.

The other day, I found real gluten-free rice flour bread in Seijo Ishii (成城石井) in the station building. It had a long name, “Yaiteoishii Okomepan (焼いておいしいおこめパン)”, which means “rice bread that tastes delicious when toasted.” Beneath the name, it was clearly written that the bread is intended to be toasted. According to the package, it is gluten free and does not contain 28 allergen ingredients including wheat, milk, and egg. It is made by a company TAINAI in Niigata Prefecture, and they use rice powder made from rice of Niigata Prefecture. As Niigata is a major rice production area, I got interested in this bread.

As this was my first time to eat genuine rice bread, I didn’t know how it was different from other kinds of bread such as baguette and rye bread. I also wondered why it should be toasted. When I sliced the bread, I was surprised to find how smoothly and easily it could be cut with an ordinary knife. It was different from wheat bread.

This time, I toasted slices with olive oil plus some other things. This one has salt, garlic, and dried parsley sprinkled on it,

and this one has salt, garlic, and black pepper.

These two slices of bread were not bad. But I still thought this combination of flavors might go better with baguette. The texture of the rice bread was also different from that of wheat bread. It was drier and felt a little strange as I wasn’t used to eating it.

But the third slice tasted much better than the first two. After toasting the bread with olive oil and salt, I put dried seaweed from South Korea.

This product is my favorite seaweed flavored with corn oil, olive oil, which is different from Japanese flavored seaweed. Like Japanese one, it can be eaten with rice and rice cakes as well.

Later, I toasted one more slice to see how it tastes without olive oil or any other flavors.

The toast somehow reminded me of a rice cracker while I was eating it. It was just like a thick and spongy rice cracker. Next time, I have to make some kind of paste with soy sauce or miso to spread on it.