[Sca-cooks] "Adulterated" Flour

[Terry Decker]

Malted barley flour contains (relatively) large quantities of diastase, an 
amylase enzyme which helps break down starch into simple sugars.  This in 
turn helps feed the yeast during rising.  Commercial recipes often call for 
adding diastasic malt to bread flour when preparing the dough.

Bear

> Greetings!  Richard, the primary researcher of the Hampton Court cooks,
> commented about his visit to the US earlier this year that the flour and
> sugar sold over here had other things added to it, implying that wheat
> flour in the UK was just that - wheat flour.  I noticed on the bags of
> flour in the grocery store this week that (at least for the brands I 
> looked
> at) they all had malted barley flour added.  Does anyone know why?  Is
> there any flour in grocery stores in your area that is only wheat flour
> with no other grain added?  Would the addition of barley flour affect the
> baking properties differently than a product made entirely of wheat flour?
> (My tart cases still don't seem to handle quite the same way as the ones 
> in
> the Hampton Court video!)
>
> Alys K.