Pastry cream is normally made with wheat flour, cornstarch, or a combination of the two. I used to swear by the latter combination until the day I tried rice flour and produced the best crème pâtissière of all! Think thick and silky-smooth with clear flavors of fresh eggs and milk and not a hint of flour or starch. Divine. <br /> <br />Even the method here is streamlined—no need to temper the egg yolks so long as you have a pot with a heavy bottom. <br /> <br />Just one thing: To get the silky texture promised, you will need superfine rice flour. Use Authentic Foods superfine white rice flour or use the Erawan brand of Thai white rice flour (which is even finer). The latter comes in plastic bag with red lettering—the bag with green lettering is sweet or glutinous rice, which is not what you want here. <br /> <br />Note: Authentic superfine rice flour weighs a bit more per cup than the finer Thai flour. In some situations (and this is one of them), it’s better to use a consistent weight measure rather than a consistent volume measure. This is why the volume measures differ, though the weight is the same. <br /> <br />Adapted from Flavor Flours (Artisan 2014).

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