Rice – How to substitute brown rice for white rice in recipes

The basic differences between white and brown rice is explained below (as written here):

An important first question to ask about all rice-and for that matter, most foods-is how much it has been processed. In the case of rice, processing usually involves milling and polishing. The outermost layer of rice, called the hull, is removed to make brown rice. Brown rice is rice with the whole kernel intact and the kernel is still surrounded by all layers of bran.

To produce white rice, the bran layers of the rice have to be milled off. Most of the rice germ is also removed during this abrasive grinding process. At this point in the process the rice is called milled, unpolished white rice. Finally, a wire brush machine is used to remove the aleurone layer that remains on the rice. This step is called polishing. As polishing is not an all-or-nothing process, semi-polished rice may still contain parts of its aleurone layer.

Additional information about brown rice (here):

[Brown rice] has a mild nutty flavor, and is chewier and more nutritious than white rice, but goes rancid more quickly because the germ—which is removed to make white rice—contains fats that can spoil. Any rice, including long-grain, short-grain, or sticky rice, may be eaten as brown rice.

So, because they are processed differently and have different parts of the grain intact or removed, your method of cooking is going to vary.

I have used this method of cooking brown basmati rice with pretty good success. It includes washing the rice a number of times prior to cooking and adding salt. This method advises adding oil after the cooking process, but I typically add it into my rice while it cooks, or even sauteeing the grains in oil then adding water to the pot to cook.

It is also suggested that leaving your brown rice to soak for 15-20 minutes (and sometimes even longer) can be beneficial as well.

All of that aside: if you're looking to stick with a flavor and texture similar to that of white rice then brown rice may not be your thing. I know that as a jasmine rice eater I do not particularly care for the texture of brown (even brown jasmine). As mentioned above it does have a "nutty" flavor and is "chewier" regardless of how well/properly it is prepared. It changes the flavor and feel of every dish I serve it with. Just a heads up.

Based on your edit, my best guess is that this particular rice has a really high amount of surface starch, which gelatinized when you first tried to cook it (liquid from the mushrooms might have been enough to get this result). That would have created a moisture-resistant layer around the grains that inhibited moisture from soaking in further. Your soak would have washed that away and allowed the rice to properly absorb the broth.

That's definitely weird - probably a byproduct of how this particular brand gets processed. A further experiment worth trying would be to briefly rinse off the grains in a colander for your next batch. That would also get rid of surface starch without quite the same effect as a soak. If they work after even a brief rinse, I'd consider that pretty good evidence for this theory.

Another thing you could try might be sauteeing the rice in a completely separate pan from the mushrooms, so that they're exposed only to oil and the surface starch gets toasted instead of gelatinized. Maybe not quite as desirable from a flavor perspective, and of course you'd have to clean another pan, but it's worth testing if you really want to figure out the root of the problem.