Malt Powder
Hi, im loooking for help, since im having a hard time trying to figure out malt powder.
The thing is I live in Argentina, and it took me a while to figure out what exactly malt powder is in my country, specially because of the language. Ive been doing some research on the subject, and read in some places that honey could be used instead of malt. I wasnt too sure, but last weekend i made some kaiser rolls, with honey instead of malt.
I spent the week visiting stores and supermarkets and wasnt able to find malt powder anywhere, all i could find was malt extract, which is a kind of syrup, but im not sure if it has the same use as powder. The syrup came in a little can of about 200cc, and it was a very thick kind of syrup. When i asked the guy at the store if he had malt extract in powder instead of syrup, he told me "You mean malt flour? no we dont have that". I didnt know malt flour even existed, but then i thought that maybe thats how they call malt powder in mi country.
I want to know if there is such thing as malt flour, or if it is in fact malt powder, and i can give malt syrup, the same use as malt powder.
I hope you can clear these doubts and questions I have about malt and the many forms it is available. Thank you a lot.
Have you tried a U Brew shop? Generally speaking, you can use malt syrup in place of malt powder, especially if you're wanting it for flavor and color. Diastatic malt is a different matter all together.
Hard to find any thing locally, except the syrup(and even that can be hard to find).
Don't sweat the difference between malt syrup/powder/flour, etc.
For most uses, you will probably not notice a difference.
This is what our resident expert, author, and one who sells the stuff says:
"...I really don't worry too much about the diastatic/nondiastatic distinction and haven't found it to make a perceptible difference in my baking...."
If you can't tell the difference, then your diastatic malt is not.
This is what our resident expert, author, and one who sells the stuff says:
"...I really don't worry too much about the diastatic/nondiastatic distinction and haven't found it to make a perceptible difference in my baking...."
Use too much diastatic malt and you get goo for a crumb. If the flour has a low enzyme strenth and you don't use enough of it, you end up with hockey pucks. I notice a difference at 1/10th percentage points, depending on the flour and the diastatic strength of the malt. It's a very poweful ingredient. Not the case with non diastatic malt. That's my experience.
There is such a thing as "malted flour" which is flour with a very small portion of powdered malt added to it. Most malt syrups cannot be used in place of malt powder as they are usually not diastatic, but it might be. Do you know the brand name of the malt syrup?
Jeff
The malt syrup you got has all of it's enzymes denatured after conversion is complete. Process goes as such:
With the amounts you are using, the syrup and powder are pretty interchangable, but if you're really worried about it, you can do some math and make syrup from the powder by making the moisture content near 60%. There is a big rivalry in the home brewing community about LME (liquid malt extract [syrup]) vs. DME (dried malt extract), and which one makes better beer. Home brew shops are usually your best source of less expensive DME and LME, that will also be fresher than what is available in the local grocery store.
thank to all of you for your help.
I bought a jar of malt syrup, and I will be using it for now.
And i got this malt syrup from a u brew store, today i went there again, and they told me the only malt in powder they knew, was the one used to make beer. And when I googled it, I realized that that sort of malt was the one I was looking for. Malt powder is called Diastastic Malt here, and its mostly used for making beer, and not related to making bread in general. I asked again in the u brew store, and they told me they didnt have any of it. But I know a friend who used to make beer, so I will be asking him about it.
Again thank to all of you for helping me out, i will be making bread for my sister brithday tomorrow so i really wanted to get this sorted out by then.
Seems expensive.
Sorry, my comment was not applicable given where you live.