[Sca-cooks] malt

[Terry Decker]

No, I'm talking about a recipe that calls for malt (probably barley malt,
but not necessarily) in addition to the leavening.  By itself, malt does not
leaven, but it does provide a serious boost for the leavening.  Modernly
bakers tend to use diamalt (malt extract with diatase) to improve the bread. 
If you use a teaspoon or two of malt, malt extract, or diamalt to a pound or 
two of dough, it will boost the yeast.  If you add a quarter cup or so, it 
will act as a sweetner.

Bear

> Bear, I think Lyse meant using the barley malt as a sweetener. You are
> talking about ale barm as a leavening agent, right? Not as a sweetener.
>
> I do have this tiny file on malt, but I don't remember it saying anything
> about using malt as a sweetener.
> malt-msg (12K) 12/29/99 Period use of malted grain. Modern sources.
> http://www.florilegium.org/files/PLANTS/malt-msg.html
>
> Stefan
>
>> The pre-1600 recipes and descriptions I've seen don't mention barley
>> malt,
>> but it would probably have been in the ale barm for those breads that
>> were
>> not leavened with sourdough.  The first mention I can remember for malt
>> in
>> bread is Markham in the early 17th Century.
>>
>> Bear
>>
>> > Would barley malt have been used instead or sugar?
>> > Lyse