Can You Replace Wheat Flour With Rice Flour In All Recipes?

Rice flour is gluten-free, so therefore would certainly be used to replace wheat flour by coeliacs. When you substitute wheat flour with rice flour, there will only be a best result if the amount of flour you use is small. Gluten-free flours absorb more water than normal flours. They don't have the tolerance and robust structure that you find in gluten-containing flours.

If you do use rice flour instead of wheat flour, then you should probably use Xanthan gum to replace the gluten, as it helps to stretch bread dough and bind the dough together. Xanthan gum is needed in most gluten free recipes. Bread relies greatly on gluten for structure. Cakes don't need it as much and cookies don't need it at all.

Here's an indication of how much Xanthan gum to use with gluten-free recipes (rice flour included): 1 teaspoon for every cup of wheat-free flour (for cakes), 2 teaspoons for bread or pizza and 1 teaspoon or none for cookies.