The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Can maltose be used as a substitute for diastatic malt?

Syd's picture
Syd

Can maltose be used as a substitute for diastatic malt?

Was wondering if anybody had any experience with using maltose when baking bread.  It is freely available here in the East and is most often seen sandwiched between two crackers where it makes a delicious sticky/crunchy  treat.  It is very sticky and needs to be heated before it can be worked with.  Here is a link to a Wikipedia aticle if anyone is interested. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see a pic.

 

I was wondering if it could be used to replace diastatic malt.  I have never seen diastatic malt here but that may be because I haven't looked hard enough.  Have been wanting to experiment with it for a while.  Does anyone know if this would produce a similar result?

mrfrost's picture
mrfrost

The key component(s) of diastatic malt are the active enzymes which don't seem to be present in the maltose. So the maltose will essentially act as just a sweetener/flavorer and a more likely substitute for non-diastatic malt.

Just my opinion.

 

Chausiubao's picture
Chausiubao

Diastatic-malt is made from sprouting barley, and milling it. The enzymes that are produced as a result of sprouting the barley are the desired product in the diastatic malt.

Alternatively, maltose is just a sugar, so it doesn't have the enzymes that you get from milling sprouted barley. However you could sprout some grains yourself and use that as a substitute if you really wanted to.

--chausiubao