Cooked Rice Bread isn't very common now, but back in the mid-19th century it was. Or at least in South Carolina's Lowcountry. Rice was an abundant crop, so it wasn't unusual for resourceful cooks to add rice to dough to increase loaf size or create new breads. And there were many! Some breads such as Philpy, were made entirely of rice, while others had a mixture of wheat and rice flours. Which brings us to this recipe. It's an excellent sandwich or toasting bread that calls for bread flour and cooked Basmati.
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Cooked Rice Bread Texture and Flavor
The rice gives the bread some chewiness, so the texture is somewhere between basic white sandwich and French bread. The rice bits are barely noticeable, but you can tell they are there. And then there's the flavor. The salted butter helps for sure, but the rice also flavors the dough. I threw sesame seeds on as an afterthought, and while they are optional, they add even more flavor.
Charleston Rice Bread
This bread was inspired by Charleston cuisine and Charleston rice bread, which is typically made with Carolina Gold. I veered away from the traditional by adding butter and sugar and using I also used Basmati, our house rice. One thing I discovered during testing is that rice bread made with freshly cooked rice comes out a little heavier, while bread made with leftover rice is lighter and fluffier, so make this when you have some leftover rice, as the dryer cooked rice absorbs some of the moisture that might otherwise weigh down the dough.
Loaf Pan Sizes
The dough rises high, but bread with cooked rice in it can only be so fluffy. But it's not exactly (or shouldn't be) real heavy either. For a taller loaf, make it in a narrow and deep loaf pan or a Pullman. The amount of ingredients in the recipe card version work best in an 8 ½ by 4 ½ inch size pan, but if you want bigger slices for larger, heartier, sandwiches, you can make it 1.5 times the size (I listed the ingredient amounts) and use a 9x5 inch pan. Here's the dough in my trusty deep loaf pan. I found it at TJ Maxx where it was branded "Jamie Oliver", but there's a similar deep loaf pan by Zyliss.
Cooked Basmati Rice
The recipe calls for a little over a cup of fully cooked rice. It shouldn't matter how you cook it because the rice gets mashed in with the dough. However, the method I use to cook rice is the pasta method. I boil about 7 cups of water, add teaspoon of salt and a cup of rice and cook for 12 minutes. I then drain the rice, return it to the pan and let it sit covered for about 3 minutes. Lastly, I fluff it up with a fork. This method works perfectly with long grain Basmati, but not so well with short grain or parboiled rice. Just use your favorite rice cooking method. My second favorite way to cook it is in the Instant Pot.
Flour and Other Ingredients
For the flour, bread flour is all I've tested with because the loaf needs the gluten for structural support. I have been using King Arthur and Bob's Artisan bread flours. I haven't tested with all-purpose and don't think it would work quite as well since there it's a lot of other protein in the dough.
Another ingredient is butter. The test loaves used Land o' Lakes but this bread could easily be made vegan with Earth Balance, Miyoko's or coconut oil. I have a version in my mind with eggs and milk powder that I'd like to try, but it's nice that the current version can be dairy and egg free.
Stand Mixer or Bread Maker
This is a bread that is probably best made in with a stand mixer, as the dough is quite sticky. If you knead it by hand, you'll end up using more and more flour to prevent sticking, so the bread will be lose some fluff. That's not necessarily a bad thing, it will just be a not-so-tall loaf. Can Cooked Rice Bread be made in a breadmaker? I don't have one, but maybe Sue will try it out!
9x5 Inch Loaf Measurements
I just can't settle on the perfect size loaf here. I like smaller but taller and narrower loaves, but the larger 9x5 works well for bigger, wider sandwiches. Here are the measurements for the larger sandwich loaf. The printable card as of now has measurements for an 8 ½ by 4 ½ inch regular or deep loaf pan.
- 1 heaping cup of cooked day old Basmati rice (5 ½ to 6 oz)
- 3 ¾ cups bread flour (525 grams)
- 3 tablespoons sugar (36 grams)
- 1 tablespoon of instant yeast (SAF)
- 1 ½ cups 130 degrees F water
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 3 tablespoons softened salted butter (42 grams)
Because my 9x5 inch pan doesn't have very high sides, I used folded parchment paper to give the dough something to cling to. Not sure it mattered, but here's what it looked like before going in the oven.
Recipe
White Rice Bread
Ingredients
- 1 cup cooked white rice, warm (140 grams)
- 2 ½ cups bread flour, divided into two parts (280 grams and 70 grams)
- 2 tablespoons sugar (20 grams)
- 2 teaspoons instant yeast (SAF gold label)
- 1 cup very warm water (130 degrees F)
- 1 ¼ teaspoons salt (kind of a generous 1 ¼ so close to 1 ⅓)
- 2 tablespoons softened butter (salted) or dairy free alternative (28 grams)
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds (optional) plus beaten egg to help them stick or aquafaba if dairy free
Instructions
- Grease an 8 ½ by 4 ½ inch loaf pan or better yet, a deep loaf pan with 4-inch high sides.
- Put a cup of warm cooked rice in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add 2 cups of the flour (280 grams), the yeast, and sugar. Add ¾ cup of the warm water and stir by hand until well blended, then add the salt and super soft butter. Continue beating by hand, adding the remaining ¼ cup of water so that you have an overly sticky dough.
- Attach dough hook and let the machine knead the dough. Stop after the first minute or so and scrape the sides. Continue kneading and begin adding the remaining flour 2 tablespoons at a time, stopping to scrape every so often. The flour will start to leave the sides of the bowl and the dough will alternate between stiff and slack. Stop every so often to scrape it off the side of the bowl. Knead until you've used the full ½ cup flour and the dough is sticky, but has a little elasticity to it and snaps a bit when you scrape it off the side of the bowl. This whole kneading process should take about 8 minutes.
- Grease a large bowl with oil or more softened butter. Cooking spray should be okay too, but I haven't used it. Add the dough and roll it in the fat to slick. Cover the bowl and let it rise in a warm spot for 1 hour. It should almost double in bulk.
- Turn dough onto a pastry mat that you've dusted with flour. Press into a rectangle, then told downward into a cylinder, turning down corners as your roll and pressing out air. Bounce it gently to shape it and evenly distribute air, then plop it in a greased loaf pan. Cover with greased plastic wrap and let rise for another hour. During the end of the rise, you can brush the top with a little egg wash or aquafaba and add sesame seeds IF you have some.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Bake for about 45 to 50 minutes. Let cool for just about 5 to 10 minutes in the pan, then turn it out. It may seem heavier than you hoped at this point, but let it cool completely and cut into it while cool. If using it for sandwiches, you may want to even chill it a bit to make it stiff enough to slice neatly. That's only if your loaf comes out really fluffy for some reason. Chances are it will be still enough to just cut at room temperature.
Notes
Measurements for a 9x5 inch loaf
- 1 heaping cup of cooked day old rice (5 ½ to 6 oz)
- 3 ¾ cups bread flour (525 grams)
- 3 tablespoons sugar (36 grams)
- 1 tablespoon of instant yeast (SAF)
- 1 ½ cups 130 degrees F water
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 3 tablespoons softened salted butter (42 grams)
Sue says
This is an intriguing recipe! I’ll give it a try but I’m not sure which method I’ll use. I think the bread machine pan might be a little big for this loaf. I think I’m out of basmati rice too.