The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Would diastatic malt work with Stollen?

Cellarvie's picture
Cellarvie

Would diastatic malt work with Stollen?

A question for the bakepedia that is TFL. I was sent a sample of this diastatic malt flour.  Would it work with stollen?  Normally I'd just give it a go and see what happens, but Stollen being a once a year kind of a bake, I don't want to risk my "stollen queen" reputation.  Be glad of advice.  Any thoughts?

jimbtv's picture
jimbtv

Diastatic malt is used for a few different reasons.

First it has a high concentration of amylase which coaxes more starch to sugar conversion. The sugars feed the bacteria and yeast in your leavening so they get a little boost from the added nutrition.

I am not too sure about the "softer crumb". Can't say I have really noticed that difference but hopefully someone else can enlighten us both. One thing I can confirm is that too much diastatic malt will turn your crumb grey... trust me on this one.

Lastly, it does help to develop crust color and tends to favor red hues.

If you feel you need any of those benefits in your stollen then experiment and let us know the results.

PS: My father always said to experiment on your immediate family and never your guests. 

 

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

"PS: My father always said to experiment on your immediate family and never your guests."

I rarely cook something that I have made before when I have guests. I love trying new recipes so for me, that is the perfect opportunity to go all out. This only backfired once when I made braised endive and didn't take into account the bitterness of the endive. My guests liked it but I hated the flavour. Ha ha! 

 

Lechem's picture
Lechem (not verified)

http://www.sourdoughbreadrecipe.com.au/recipes/christmas-stollen/ 

A Christmas Stollen recipe with Diastatic Malt

jimbtv's picture
jimbtv

My only question is why is it used here? What is the baker trying to achieve by adding diastatic malt?

 

Cellarvie's picture
Cellarvie

Well, thank you all very much for your advice, comments & links.  There have been many times when I should have used Dani's Father's advice to stop me being foolhardy, but guided by the knowledge received here, I went ahead and used just a little diastatic malt anyway. I only added 0.14% of total flour weight.  As I worked it, the dough felt softer and more active than previous enriched fruit doughs.  I'd love to see a crumb shot, but these are gifts so I'm going to have to wangle an invitation to see them being cut.  Or maybe I should make another batch and gift to myself.  Many thanks you amazing TFLers.