Diastatic malt
Barry Harmon
malt. It turns out to be nothing more than malted wheat, similar to malted
barley that is used in beer and spirit making.
"Place one cup of wheat berries ina wide-mouth jar and add 4 cups of tepid
water. cover with a piece of netting and secure with a rubber band. Let
soak for 12 hours. Drain off water (save for soup stock or use it to water
your plants, it's full of mineral.) Rinse well with tepid water and drain
completely. reeat rinsing process 3 times a day for 2 days or until the
shoots are about the same length as the grains.
Rinse and drain once again. Place on teflon sheets and allow to dry at
medium heat in your dryer. grind dried sprouts to a fine flour in an
electric grinder or blender. This will yield about 1 cup of diastatic
malt. Store in a tightly closed glass jar in the refrigerator or freezer.
It will keep indefinately."
Barry
Janet Bostwick
I have searched my bread notes and am posting them below with attributions
if I have them. I have more, but they are loaded with pictures and charts.
Janet
Malt is a miracle for bakers -
But it's really malt that's the miracle of modern baking. Diastatic
malt powder or barley malt extracts are often used in professional bakeries
to add nutrition, improve crumb texture and appearance, and enhance the
keeping quality of the finished loaves. Breads that require second rises
(pumpernickel, rye and other hearth breads) can benefit from a dose.
That's because professional bakers evaluate bread by many
characteristics beyond flavor and freshness. Breads are judged by their
volume, symmetry, crust color, crust crispness, break and shred, grain,
texture, aroma and mouth feel. Many bakers agree that adding malt to bread
dough will contribute to yeast baking success.
Susanne Stoeger-Moore, director of food sales for Briess Malts,
Chilton, WI, explains how diastatic malt differs from the malt extract
formulated for homebrewers. "Diastatic malt contains natural enzymes, mainly
amylases and proteases. This type of malt acts as a dough conditioner (for
example, a bucky pizza dough will relax, roll out and not shrink up badly
during baking)." In addition, the amylase also breaks down starch down into
sugars, which helps feed the yeast and aids in browning. The proteases break
the proteins in the flour down into amino acids, which also spurs yeast
growth, as well as improving the flavor and aroma in breads.
Malt extract is made from diastatic malt...so it also contains natural
sugars to feed the yeast and aid in browning as well. Extract also contains
amino acids. It does not have any enzyme activity and contributes more
natural sweet malt notes which are wonderful in hearth breads.
Just replace a tablespoon of sugar or sweetener in your favorite bread
recipe with a half-teaspoon of diastatic malt powder, or two tablespoons of
malt extract. Add malt extract to the warm water used to dissolve the yeast,
stir till blended, and mix it into the dough for the first rise.
Non-diastatic malt is added simply as a sweetener. With that in mind,
be sure to use unhopped malt extract. Eden Natural Foods makes a food-grade
unhopped amber malt extract as a sugar replacement. Packaged in a
re-sealable jar, the product is more convenient for baking than opening a
can of homebrew extract pre-measured to make a five-gallon batch of beer.
You can find diastatic malt powder at baking supply stores or through the
Baker's Catalogue (800-827-6836, or online at www.KingArthurFlour.com).
But beware of adding too much malt extract or diastatic malt powder,
since the increased yeast activity can cause problems. As homebrewers know,
carbon dioxide and alcohol are the normal byproducts of yeast metabolism.
Though alcohol is delightful in beer, it is less so in dough. The bread will
be "overproofed," a baker's term that translates into gummy, sticky dough
that's difficult to handle, and upon baking, yields a loaf that smells of
alcohol, with a dense, unpalatable crust.
From Roy Basan (below)
"Janet Bostwick" <nos...@cableone.net> wrote in message
news:<u91i0gm...@corp.supernews.com>...
> Roy,
> Will you explain how diastatic malt works? Thanks
> Janet
I will try to explain this complex mechanism as simple as possible
;how diastatic malt works specially in lean doughs common in artisan
baking.
Diastatic malt is commonly used by flour mills (and bakers) to
supplement amylase deficient flours.Therefore the resulting grist is
standardized.This is normal for bakery flour,but if its declared as
untreated flour,it does not contain this,and the baker can have the
option to do the treatment himself if it needs to be(however many
bread wheats grown in temperate countries are enzymatically balanced
and more addtion will be detrimental to baking quality).
Now this dastatic malt will react only on the damaged starch;and this
particular ruptured starch result during the milling process of the
wheat into flour.
At the start of the mixing process when hydration takes place,these
damaged starch absorbs more water,and this makes a good substrate for
the amylase enzyme activity present in the flour or malt.The malt
enzyme is mostly composed of alpha-amylase and (protease which we
will discuss later),and this will act on all exposed starch to break
it down into dextrins. This starch derivatives will then easily acted
upon by the beta-amylase(present in flour,etc)into maltose sugar.These
maltose is then acted by maltase present in yeast to convert it into
molecules of glucose;which is then finally reacted upon by zymase(in
yeast also) to produce carbon dioxide and alcohol. This stage is
obvious to many bakers already.
Now these protease enzymes will be responsible for mellowing the
gluten during the fermentation and other resting stages.Meanwhile as
the gluten is being modified gradually by these proteolytic enzymes,it
will become more extensible ,and that will help also in better dough
expansion . The effect of these enzymes will also release some amino
acids that will bind with the sugars in the baking process creating
the crust color while contributing also to the formation of bread
flavors.
Another effect of these malt enzyme is during the intial baking
stage;where heat will gelatinize the starch and it will be available
for the alpha-amylase enzymes to act again to form dextrins, as well
as, its conversion of some of it into reducing sugar(glucose)by other
existing enzymes in the dough; but for a brief moment until its
inactivated by heat.However the effect although fleeting,is
significant, because,this will affect the oven spring being the result
of a more extensible dough with these mechanism.
Roy
Malt. There are two types of malt. There is diastatic and
non-diastatic. Non-diastatic is simply added as a sweetener like in
chocolate malts. Generally, you don't use
Non-diastatic malt in bread. Diastatic malt helps breaks down the
starch in dough. This provides extra sugar for feeding the yeast. Flour
mills typically put in 1/10% malted barley flour (barley malt is cheaper
than wheat malt) to provide diastase (enzyme), which converts the starch in
damaged starch granules to sugars that can be used by the yeast over an
extended ferment. The use of too much diastatic malt can result in slack,
sticky dough, and will not improve yeast action. Malt is not made from
cooked grain, but rather sprouted grain in this case barley. I use about 1
teaspoon per cup of flour. This is also what gives bagels and pretzels that
special taste. If you are adventurous you can make your own, sprout 1 cup of
barley berries (make sure they are whole barley and not hulled) by covering
them with water in a jar for 12 or so hours, dump out the water & rinse with
clean water, and place the jar in a dark, warm, place. Rinse the berries
every day with clean water and return to their place. In 2-3 days they will
begin to sprout. When the sprout is as long as the berries themselves, dump
them out on paper towels, dry them off, and set them on a cookie sheet in
the sun for a day or so to dry out, then put the cookie sheet in a 100
degree oven for one to two hours. Do not let the temp get above 130F or the
enzymes will be destroyed. Then grind the dried malted berries into flour,
and use it in your favorite recipe. You can also do this with wheat berries.
Malt, the Natural Flavor, Sweetener, and Coloring Agent is available
in many forms.
Liquid, Dry, Diastatic, Non-Diastatic, Dark, Light, Extracts, Syrups
and Powders with Cereal Adjuncts.
Diastatic Malts (with the natural barley enzymes still active). are
used primarily by bakers to supplement the amylase in the wheat flour to
provide sugar for fermentation, improve pan flow, improve crumb color and
break and shred in bread type products.
Nondiastatic Malts (without active enzymes), are used as flavoring
agents, for color sweetness and humectancy. The nutritive materials present
promote vigorous yeast activity, accelerate dough conditioning and add
flavor and aroma to finished baked products.
Standard Malts available are:
LIQUID - Nondiastatic
F
Barry Harmon
I talked with the local homebrewing supplier just now because I
remembered buying diastatic malt from him a few years back.
He no longer carries it because after it sat on the shelf for a few
months, the stuff expanded and domed the ends of the can. Customers
immediately thought the stuff was bad and had all sorts of dangerous
pathogens and wouldn't buy it. He switched to a non-diastatic malt and
things are okay for him.
Barry