The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

How is malt powder made?

MJ Sourdough's picture
MJ Sourdough

How is malt powder made?

Does anyone know how malt powder is made? Thank!

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/30857/making-white-and-red-malts-sprouted-rye-whole-wheat-and-spelt

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/27954/making-red-rye-malt

Diastatic Malt or white malt is dried at temperatures 150 F or below to make sure the enzyme you created through malting are not killed off..   Malts are usually made with barley since it has more diastatic power than other grains.

The internet has a lot of info on malted barley and rye too.

suave's picture
suave

Malts are usually made with barley because their primary use is in brewing, and barley is what most beers are made from.  AFAIK the most powerful malt out there right now is wheat.

MJ Sourdough's picture
MJ Sourdough

Thanks for the info and links,

MJ Sourdough's picture
MJ Sourdough

Thanks for the replies. If you don't mind i have a follow-up question.

When you are using malt powder in a recipe (using bakers percentage) do you include it as part of the overall flour or as an ingredient (percentage of total flour)?

How much malt powder is best as a percentage of total flour?

Does malt powder store well in he freezer?

sorry for all the question! Any help would be great

mrfrost's picture
mrfrost

I include it as an ingredient(the calculator I use has listings for various malts as ingredients).

%- diastatic malt is typically a very small %: .6% or less, although sometimes a little more in bagels.

     non diastatic malt is used for flavor and/or sweetening, so much more can be used. Use like a sugar, to your taste.

     Diastatic malt is probably best kept frozen since so little is typically needed. That way it will last indefinitely. But even without refrigerating or freezing, it will keep for about a year if bought when fresh and kept cool and dry.

Pretty much the same for non diastatic malt. Probably best kept refrigerated if not used frequently. Otherwise, just keep it cool and dry.

I store my malted milk powder in the refrigerator.

Malt syrups best kept refrigerated.

Lastly, best to just follow recipes for a while to get a feel for how these malts are used.

Good luck.

Antilope's picture
Antilope

Peter Reinhart adds diastatic malt powder to the Vienna bread recipe. The recipe uses a total of 22 oz (624g) of flour along with 1 tsp (0.25 oz) (7g) diastatic malt powder.

mrfrost's picture
mrfrost

Hence, my last point.

Antilope's picture
Antilope

in the Vienna bread recipe, which is nearly twice the 0.6% stated. Hence my further post.

Antilope's picture
Antilope

from a recipe posted in Austria that used 2% diastatic malt powder. The rolls really puffed up and were delicious. Here's a link to the original recipe (in German). Copy and paste into Bing Translator for a full translation:

500g Bio Weizenmehl Type 480 Universal
10g Salz
10g Backprofi´s BIO Gerstenmalz
5g Bio Rohrzucker
18g Bio Butter (handwarm)
1 Pk. Backprofi´s BIO Trockenhefe*
60g Bio Milch
220g Wasser ca. 23-25°C

 

Bio 500 g wheat flour type 480 universal
10 g salt
10 g baking professional BB´s organic barley malt
5 g organic cane sugar
18 g organic butter (lukewarm)
1. PK back professional BB´s organic dry yeast *.
60 g organic milk
220 ml water approx. 23-25 ° C

Original Kaiser Roll recipe from Austria (in German)

http://www.derbackprofi.at/fileadmin/_temp_/Bio_Kaisersemmelteig_500g_03.pdf

http://www.derbackprofi.at/der-backprofi/rezepte/

http://www.derbackprofi.at/der-backprofi/aktuelles/

Bing Translator

http://www.bing.com/translator

MJ Sourdough's picture
MJ Sourdough

Thanks for all the insight!

timmytwo's picture
timmytwo

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/homebrewing-ingredients/malt-extract.html

in my neighborhood.  i guess i am lucky to have it so close.  they have huge selection of malt extracts.   Are the powders here the same as see in most recipes?  I asked the staff about the syrups and was told they were only good for about 1 week after opening so I prefer to get the powder.

 

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

a long time if in an air tight container in the fridge.

MJ Sourdough's picture
MJ Sourdough

My understanding is that malted barley is better than malted rye in terms of more food for the yeast in a 100% sourdough bread? true/false/comments?

Thanks!

suave's picture
suave

False.  There are scores of grades of malted barley, and quite a few of rye as well.  The activities vary wildly for both kinds.

Antilope's picture
Antilope

On another thread, someone asked the difference between Diastatic Malt and Non-Diastatic Malt in breadmaking and the suggested uses. I thought I would post my response here, also, as a reference:
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Malt powder is made from sprouted grain, usually barley, that is dried and ground to a powder (flour). The sprouting grain contains enzymes that improve texture, rise and browning when making bread. The resulting product is called diastatic malt.
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The diastatic malt powder contains enzymes, that will break down some of the flour in a recipe, into simple sugars, such as dextrose, glucose and maltose. These simple sugars provide extra food for yeast. Adding diastatic malt powder to a bread recipe feeds the yeast and results in a higher rising, better texture and better browning of the crust from the freed up sugars. It is usually added at a rate of 0.5% to 2% of the total weight of flour used. Adding 1 teaspoon of diastatic malt powder to 3 cups of flour is a rate of about 1%. A level teaspoon of diastatic malt powder weighs about 3.5 grams. Adding diastatic malt powder at a rate of more than 2% can result in a gummy crumb in the finished bread. Most flours come from the mill with some diastatic malt already added.
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If the malt powder is heated or toasted during manufacture, this destroys the enzymes and results in non-diastatic malt powder. This type of malt powder is used as a sweetener and flavoring. One such use is adding non-diastatic malt powder to water bagels are boiled in. This results in a brown, shiny coating on the bagels. It is also added to bread recipes as a sweetener and flavoring.
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So:
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Diastatic Malt Powder is a dough improver and yeast food. It improves bread texture and crust color.
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Non-Diastatic Malt Powder is a sweetener that is added to bread recipes. It is a flavoring.
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These products can come as a powder or a syrup.