MALT POWDER

I've been experimenting with beer bread and granary style bread. For this round I used a doppelbock along with some stuff labeled malt powder that I got at my local Korean grocery store. I tried it with WW flour as is included in a lot of recipes, but I felt like it was competing with the malt powder, so this one is just AP flour, plus what's in my starter.

I think this was 9 hours from mix to start of bake. I kneaded it for about 5 minutes after I mixed it and then let it bulk ferment for around 3 hrs at ~86F, shaped as a boule and let it proof in a towel lined bowl for another 6 hrs at 86F again before slashing and baking at 450 F for 40-45 min. The big revelation for me on this bread was using a lame to make the slashes. Up until now I've been using various knives and the difference blew me away, hence the crazy pattern- I was just enjoying the ease with which I could make the cuts.

Submitted to YeastSpotting

>

I'd say this looks more like bagels.  The previous ones were a little too small.  4 oz are the right size.  I also used a homemade malt powder,  tried to sprout my own with wheat berries.  Soaked for 3-4 days.  There was a little white sprout, but somehow didn't like the ones in Dan Lepard's book on The Homemade Loaf.  But I went ahead to dry and grind it then.  I added in this ingredient, but still without malt syrup,  I substituted with brown sugar.  The colouring looks fine I guess.

The puff was much better, the taste was chewy and there's a tinge of sweetness - could it be the malt powder?  I wonder. Perhaps.  

But my 2nd batch that went in didn't puff as much,  see bottom left picture,  the comparison,  the one on the right is the 2nd batch,  I suspect its the ice cold water,  most melted after the 1st batch.

More details here: click here.