PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a pretreatment method for producing rice flour, whereby rice hardness is considerably lowered while avoiding water drainage in a water-washing step and a soaking step, and a device therefor.SOLUTION: The pretreatment method for producing rice flour includes a moisture content homogenization step for feeding a low-humidity air stream to a starting material that is polished rice of a moisture content of 13.0-16.0% (w. b.%) and adjusting the moisture content to 11.0-13.0% (w. b.%) to homogenize the moisture content, and a conditioning step for adding water to the polished rice treated in the moisture content homogenization step to give a moisture content of 20.0-45.0% (w. b.%) and then promoting moisture absorption toward the core of the polished rice grains added with water.【課題】水洗工程及び浸漬工程による排水を生じることなく、かつ、米の硬度を著しく低下させるような米粉製造の前処理方法及びその装置を提供する。【解決手段】水分が１３．０～１６．０％（w.b.％）の範囲にある原料精白米に対して低湿度の風を送給し、水分を１１．０～１３．０％（w.b.％）の範囲に調整して水分を均質化する水分均質化工程と、 該水分均質化工程を通過させた精白米に、水分が２０．０～４５．０％（w.b.％）までの加水及び該加水後の精白米の米粒中心部への水分吸収の促進を行う調質工程と、を備えた。【選択図】図１
