Anyone used diastatic malt flour?

[Becky]

I needed to buy some roasted barley malt online for a bread recipe, and while I was on the website I noticed they also had a product called diastatic malt flour. From what I've read you only need a very small amount. It apparently contains enzymes which release sugar from the flour and consequently helps the yeast to work well, but also acts as a dough conditioner. This is the product description:

Diax Malt Flour – Diastatic (enzyme active) malt flour, made from finely ground malted barley used in small quantities (typically 5-10g per 1kg flour) to give improved rise, softer crumb and more crust colour development without the need for adding sugar. Diax is used - but not limited to - sticky malt bread, dinner rolls and Vienna bread and is especially useful for doughs made with over 30% prefermented flour or where there is to be a long fermentation to improve the fermentation vigour, crust colour and flavour.

I thought it sounded interesting, and it was pretty cheap, so I got a small bag to play around with

Does anyone here have any experience with using it?

 

[Norcalbaker59]

I needed to buy some roasted barley malt online for a bread recipe, and while I was on the website I noticed they also had a product called diastatic malt flour. From what I've read you only need a very small amount. It apparently contains enzymes which release sugar from the flour and consequently helps the yeast to work well, but also acts as a dough conditioner. This is the product description:



I thought it sounded interesting, and it was pretty cheap, so I got a small bag to play around with

Does anyone here have any experience with using it?

Yes I use it for some applications. Too much of it can ruin your dough as it will overdevelop yeast.

Look at the flour ingredients; if it states wheat AND malted barley flour, then your flour already contains diastatic malt. So you would not use it or use very little.

Diastatic malt is frequently used in bread and pizza doughs.

I’m working on a croissant and baguette recipes. Both of which I am using diastatic malt.

I do like the texture and color it produces.

Croissant I made last week using diastatic malt

The brand I use is labeled “low” Different brands can have different l

Some of my flours are labeled “malted” on the front. But always check the ingredients label as many do not note the malted flour on the front of the package

 

[Becky]

That's really helpful, thanks! Good point about checking the flour ingredients, I'll be sure to do that. I'm looking forward to experimenting

I'm also excited to try the roasted barley malt flour - it's non-diastatic so I don't think it'll impact the yeast development, just add colour and flavour. Before I was ill I used to make this rye bread fairly often, but I haven't made it in ages. I slightly adapted the original recipe to account for the ingredients I could get - it's meant to have rye malt flour, but I can't get hold of that here in the UK. The closest I've found is this roasted barley malt, so I'm hoping to try the recipe as it's meant to be. My mouth is watering just thinking about this bread...

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Wow that sounds like a really good loaf of rye bread. What is brown flour? I’ve never heard of it.

Let me know how your experiments with the diastatic malt turn out. I haven’t used diastatic malt much, only in pizza crust, so any feedback from you will be appreciated.

I revised my croissant recipe to incorporate some bread flour for added strength since the all purpose flour I prefer only has 10.5% protein. I was concerned the strong bread flour might make the croissant a bit tough with less rise. Just the addition of 1 tsp diastatic malt to my batch seems to help the rise. The croissant are rising higher than the AP flour only.

I’m still fussing with baguette recipe. I want to change it from a poolish to a sourdough, but I keep losing my starter to fuzzy green mold So I’m not sure how diastatic malt will change a sourdough. But my standard baguette looks pretty decent with it.

 

[Becky]

What is brown flour? I’ve never heard of it.

Sorry, that's just slang - it's wholemeal flour. Wholemeal bread here is often called brown bread.

Ooh those baguettes look lovely! The place I've ordered the malt flours from also sells proper French flour, so I'm tempted to get some one day. I should probably work on my bread skills first though!

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Sorry, that's just slang - it's wholemeal flour. Wholemeal bread here is often called brown bread.

Ooh those baguettes look lovely! The place I've ordered the malt flours from also sells proper French flour, so I'm tempted to get some one day. I should probably work on my bread skills first though!

Ohhh. I see why wholemeal is called brown flour. We call it whole wheat in the US. We call bread made with it whole wheat bread as well. When additional ingredients like molasses is added, we call it brown bread. Baking terminology can be so confusing

I wish I could get my hands on some good French flour! I've only found one source in the US and its not the right type of flour for baguettes. Ordering it from Europe cost an arm and a leg in shipping, so its not cost effective.

 

[Becky]

Yeah we are pretty lucky being able to get European ingredients here, there are often good suppliers in the UK who have already imported it.

The roasted barley malt flour and diastatic malt flour arrived yesterday, so I have some bread in progress... The RBM is so dark it looks like cocoa powder! I'll report back and let you know how it goes...

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Yeah we are pretty lucky being able to get European ingredients here, there are often good suppliers in the UK who have already imported it.

The roasted barley malt flour and diastatic malt flour arrived yesterday, so I have some bread in progress... The RBM is so dark it looks like cocoa powder! I'll report back and let you know how it goes...

I look forward to hearing how the bread turns out.

Off topic here... I’m working on converting a cake recipe to unbleached AP flour. Not getting good results thus far. The initial attempts were a chiffon cake. Finally concluded unbleached flour and chiffon cake is impossible.

So I revised a butter cake recipe. It’s still on paper, so still just “theory”, but I thinking a combination mixing method. Cream butter and sugar; separate eggs; fold whipped eggs in last. Not sure if this will work to achieve a lot get airy cake with unbleached AP flour.

How do you deal with the dense heavy crumb produced from unbleached AP flour? Any tips on lightening up the crumb? Do you know the protein content of the unbleached AP flour in the UK? Or whether it’s white or red wheat? I’ve been experimenting with a unbleached, red winter wheat with a 10.5% protein and lower ash of 56%.

I want to turn this into a lemon verbena cake with ruby grapefruit curd, iced with cream cheese white chocolate ganache elderflower icing.

 

[Becky]

The bread turned out really well! I'll post a new topic, might be easier.

How do you deal with the dense heavy crumb produced from unbleached AP flour? Any tips on lightening up the crumb? Do you know the protein content of the unbleached AP flour in the UK? Or whether it’s white or red wheat?

Bleached flour is banned in the EU so I don't have any experience baking with it I'm afraid, I've always just used unbleached flour (my point is just that I don't know how it compares). The flour I use is 9.6% protein, so it's pretty light.

In terms of keeping cakes light, I'm always careful not to over-mix the batter once the flour is added - I cream together the butter and sugar with an electric hand whisk until it's light and fluffy, add the eggs one at a time and beat well, then add the dry ingredients and switch to using a spatula. I find that this tends to result in a light, moist sponge cake.

I want to turn this into a lemon verbena cake with ruby grapefruit curd, iced with cream cheese white chocolate ganache elderflower icing.

This sounds like a great flavour combination! My mouth is watering just thinking about it

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Thank you for your response. My apologies for taking the thread here off topic...

This morning I did a test using your suggestions here. I’ll post it on a separate thread.

 

[rubato456]

i've used the diastatic malt flour before it was quite a few years ago i used just a little bit few tablespoons maybe. i can't recall the recipe but i know i did like the results i remember that

 

[Becky]

i've used the diastatic malt flour before it was quite a few years ago i used just a little bit few tablespoons maybe. i can't recall the recipe but i know i did like the results i remember that

Good to know! I'd be interested to do a direct comparison - ie make two identical batches of dough, but one with the diastatic malt powder and one without. It would be interesting to see the effect it has.

 

[rubato456]

That's really helpful, thanks! Good point about checking the flour ingredients, I'll be sure to do that. I'm looking forward to experimenting

I'm also excited to try the roasted barley malt flour - it's non-diastatic so I don't think it'll impact the yeast development, just add colour and flavour. Before I was ill I used to make this rye bread fairly often, but I haven't made it in ages. I slightly adapted the original recipe to account for the ingredients I could get - it's meant to have rye malt flour, but I can't get hold of that here in the UK. The closest I've found is this roasted barley malt, so I'm hoping to try the recipe as it's meant to be. My mouth is watering just thinking about this bread...

stunningly gorgeous croissants btw!!! wow i've never tried those lots of work i've seen them done before.....

 

[rubato456]

stunningly gorgeous croissants btw!!! wow i've never tried those lots of work i've seen them done before.....

speaking of rye breads has anyone use clear flour for those? i have i ordered it from king arthurs years ago and had stunning results. huge crusty loaves my husband was just requesting one of those.....yum

 

[Norcalbaker59]

stunningly gorgeous croissants btw!!! wow i've never tried those lots of work i've seen them done before.....

Thank you for the compliment. I had baked for years before I had the courage to try laminated dough. It is a process with a learning curve. But after a few times, you begin to understand the process, know the feel of the dough and butter, and it then becomes second nature.

While I use my own recipe now, I started with one posted on a great bread blog called Weekend Bakery. They do an excellent job of breaking the process down for the beginner.

I would encourage you to give it a try. It is sooo rewarding to make.

http://www.weekendbakery.com/posts/classic-french-croissant-recipe/

 

[Becky]

speaking of rye breads has anyone use clear flour for those? i have i ordered it from king arthurs years ago and had stunning results. huge crusty loaves my husband was just requesting one of those.....yum

I've never heard of 'clear flour' until now! Had to Google it, lol