The food industry is being continually
challenged to redesign local foods into healthy
foods that contain nutrients and also have potential
properties to reduce the risk of celiac disease where
the food contains wheat but also maintains the
desirable characteristics of appearance, taste and
texture, while still using the same methods and
processes. One way to achieve this is by using rice
flour instead of wheat flour. Rice flour is popular
as a food ingredient since it is low in fat content,
neutral in flavor and highly hypoallergenic
(Pongjanta et al., 2008). Rice flour can also be
used to produce gluten-free rice bread for glutensensitive
individuals (Yeh, 2004). Thus, glutenfree
alkaline rice noodles (ARN) made from rice
flour provide opportunities and choices for both
producers and consumers. However, the native rice
flour by itself cannot be used practically for glutenfree
ARN preparation since rice protein lacks the
functionality of wheat gluten in making a cohesive
dough structure. Some partial starch gelatinization
is required to render it more susceptible to water
hydration and to form the amylose network that
can act as a binder to form flexible dough (Lai,
2001). Moreover, the partial gelatinization can
help to improve functional properties and give