I have come across another article from an old Organic Gardening Magazine ( September 1975 –authored by Jane Nordstrom) and thought that I would type it out for you all this week.
Maybe some of you have heard of this…but in my many years of bread making and doing self sufficiency this was the first I had come across in some detail the idea of using malt for my bread in place of sugar. Most recipes seem to substitute malt for some of the sugar and then either use (still) a bit of refined sugar or a substitute like honey or molasses. Personally honey or molasses in my “regular” bread is not my favorite anyway—though I know many enjoy it for their selves. And though I don’t have pictures for you since I am just trying it myself as of this weekend I am adding some links for you to research this further. This idea seems to have been popular in the 70’s. This one I am re typing from OG is, as far as I have found, the earliest reference still around though.
Hope you all enjoy it.
Diastatic Malt – The Secret of Sugarless Bread
Better bread, higher in protein, lower in cost, uses an Old World yeast food that makes sugar unnecessary.
Professional bakers in Europe have an ingredient in their yeast breads that is virtually unknown to home bakers in the U.S. It is a unique yeast food and bread improver called diastatic malt.
You may have noticed that most recipes for yeast breads call for a small (sometimes not so small) amount of sugar, even for those breads which are not meant to be sweet. The purpose of the sugar is to feed the yeast and increase its gassing power. Sugar, because of its ability to caramelize, also makes the crust brown. But these are the sum of sugar’s virtues in bread, and we all know about its manifold vices.
People who are concerned about nutrition often substitute honey or molasses, which perform the same functions of feeding the yeast and browning the crust. But more effective still is diastatic malt. Not only does it do everything sugar does, it has other significant qualities. Diastatic malt is full of enzymes and vitamins which increase bread’s nutritional value. In addition, the catalytic action of these enzymes on the yeast and flour improves both flavor and appearance of the loaf, fosters a finer texture, and helps the bread stay fresh. Is it any wonder the travelers remark about the superiority of bread in Europe?
Just what is diastatic malt anyway?
That was my question when I first learned about it in a letter from my daughter who was apprenticing in a Swiss bakery. I remembered seeing cans of Blue Ribbon Malt on grocery shelves when I was a child, but I had no idea what malt really was nor where it came from. I thumbed through every cookbook I had, but found no reference to diastatic malt. Most cookbooks don’t mention malt of any kind, except possibly a passing reference to malted milk. Even the dictionary referred to malt only as a “germinated grain used in brewing and distilling. “
I took the dictionary’s lead and began reading books on beer making. That is how I discovered what malt really is. It is sprouted grain ( usually barley) that has been roasted and ground. It is then dissolved in water and filtered to remove the husks and bran, after which it is reduced to a syrup or dehydrated to make a powder. I also learned that DIASTITIC malt, unlike conventional malt, has been dried and processed at a low temperature (under 170 degrees) so that its special enzymes are not destroyed by heat. Much later I learned form my daughter that these enzymes have the power to transform the starch in flour into maltose and dextrin – yeast foods which assist in the fermentation process. These enzymes also help in the production of soluble proteins for the yeast’s use.
After checking several sources I was finally able to obtain some diastatic malt syrup at a beer supply store, and thus began an adventure in baking bread with malt rather than sugar. The bread was great. The problem was that the malt syrup was so thick and unmanageable it was a nuisance to use.
At about that time my husband happened to be reading a book on Mesopotamia. In it was a detailed description of how the people of those ancient times made malt for their alcoholic beverages by sprouting barley kernels and then drying them in the sun. That is when I made the critical connection. Malt was not so exotic after all. I had been sprouting mung beans in my kitchen for years. Why not sprout barley as well and carry it two steps further – dry the sprouts and grind them? There would be no need to filter out the husks and bran since my malt was to be ground and made into bread rather than beer.
The problem was where to find the grain. Hulled barley would not sprout and there was no unhulled barley anywhere. I searched through health food stores in New York City and wrote many letters to organic grain suppliers, but to no avail. Finally in an encyclopedia, I learned that malt can be made from wheat as well as barley, and that the enzyme action is the same.
For several years now I have been making my own diastatic malt with wheat berries. They are available at any health food store. I am convinced that diastatic malt makes the subtle difference between a good bread and a great bread.
Used in place of sugar, honey or molasses in any yeast bread recipe, the action of the diastatic malt is so powerful that only a small amount is needed. One teaspoonful will be enough for a batch of dough yielding three to four loaves. A little more won’t hurt but use restraint. Once you have made your own diastatic malt and see how easy it is, you may be tempted to simply dump it into the dough, believing that “more is better.” It is true that diastatic malt is richer in nutrients than the grain it was made form. However, if used in excess it will overwhelm the yeast (give it indigestion, so to speak). This will cause a breakdown in the texture of the loaf during baking and will yield a sweet, sticky fiasco.
For those who do not wish to make their own, Schiff Bio Food Products, Inc. makes a dehydrated diastatic malt called Dimalt ( This company no longer makes this product—you can find malt through King Arthur Floors now).
How to Make Your Own Diastatic Malt:
Place on cup of wheat or barley berries in a wide- mouth glass jar and cover the top with a pieces of nylon net or cheesecloth, secured with a rubber band. Pour 4 cups of tepid water into the jar through the net and let the grain soak for about 12 hours or over night. Drain off the water from the swollen grain (save the water for bread liquid, soup stock, or for watering your house plants—it’s full of water-soluble vitamins and minerals.) Pour more tepid water into the jar, shake gently, and drain thoroughly. This rinsing and draining keeps mold from forming on the sprouts. Keep the jar near your kitchen sink and repeat the rinsing, shaking and draining three times a day for two days or until the little shoots are about the same length as the grains. There will also be tiny white rootlets. The temperature of your kitchen will determine the length of time required.
When the sprouts have reached their proper length, rinse and drain once again and arrange the sprouts evenly in thin layers on two large baking sheets. Place them in an oven at a temperature no higher than 150 degrees. The sprouts should be dry in 8 hours or less. They’ll give off a delightfully sweet, earthy fragrance as they dry. Or you can air-dry them by placing the baking sheets in a warm place, preferably in the sun, for several days until they are thoroughly dry. Then grind the dried sprouts to a fine meal or flour in a an electric grinder or blender. This amount will yield one cup of diastatic malt – enough for up to 150 loaves of bread. Store malt in a tightly closed glass jar in the refrigerator or freezer. It will keep indefinitely.
Whole Wheat Bread:
2 cups water
1 tsp diastatic malt
2 tablespoon yeast or 2 packages
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (olive is good but others can be used)
2 teaspoons salt
5 cups whole wheat bread flour.
Since I am retyping this out I am going to leave you to figure out how to make the bread. Simple instructions can be found most anywhere. Below are some links to take you to some other interesting places. As I said in the beginning: Enjoy. Oh yes…have a great week too.
http://www.radicalfrugality.info/homemade-diastatic-malt.html
http://www.sugaraddict.com/Bread_Recipes_2.html
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/1979-09-01/Sugar-Free-Bread.aspx
http://abrfaq.info/treatise/195
Jane Nordstrom also wrote a few books. One deals specifically with this subject and is called “ The Barmy Bread Book”. You MAY be able to find it. Search hard — there are copies out there for under $25 dollars if you would really like one.
Lastly as an addendum to a previous article on pressure canning I did on January 19th,2009 (http://womennotdabbling.wordpress.com/2009/01/19/pressure-canners-and-all-their-uses/)
I wanted to add this link that I found by searching through the radical frugality link above:
http://missvickie.com/recipes/recipeframe.html –loaded with pressure cooking recipes, times and information.
Wow! That’s really interesting… I have been baking bread with honey, but I also have some issues digesting gluten – not horrible, but still not great. I wonder if using the malt would help with that? I’d never even heard of it before reading your post. So basically do you just add a bit of it to any regular bread recipe? Is there a ratio involved?
Brilliant idea. Have started soaking my wheat grains straight away.
Thanks so much for the tip.
i’m going to try this today! i have a jar of malt barley that has a layer or 10 of dust on it because i never know what to do with it.
i’m also going to have to try making my own!
Monica, great post – Bob’s Red Mill carries diastatic malt under the name: MALTED BARLEY FLOUR.
Mangochild the diastatic malt does not help the gluten intolerance, my hubby cannot handle gluten either. At first I dropped the diastatic malt out of my bread recipe and that helped but the yeast and gluten combination was still an irritant.
I’ve been using malt for a while, and it does make a difference in my bread. Although I still often make bread without it.
One thing I like to do to make my bread a little sweeter is to use the delayed fermentation method of baking (making all or part of the dough on one day and baking after a day or two in the fridge). This helps covert more of the starch to sugar resulting in a sweeter bread.
Bread Baker’s Apprentice by Peter Reinhart is a great book for learning about delayed fermentation bread making. This may even help with gluten intolerance (I don’t know for sure though).
The process you describe for making malt sounds the same as the process for making bulgur. Are they the same thing? If not, what is the difference?
[…] a coordinating palette. Hmmm. Here’s a great post from Women Not Dabbling in Normal about using malt in home made bread rather than sugar, and how to “make” your own malt by sprouting wheat berries, then drying and grinding […]
[…] and good stuff we put into the loaves and then add sugar? Well, WNDN have addressed that issue here. I think I may try my hand at making my own diastatic malt. My one grandmother is now in her […]
Mangochild..the author I copied wrote: “One teaspoonful will be enough for a batch of dough yielding three to four loaves. A little more won’t hurt but use restraint”. My bread recipe makes a large loaf (not 3 or 4) I figured I would just replace my 1/8 cup sugar with one teaspoonful and start from there.
As to the gluten issue…I some of the others answered that which helps me because unfortunately (or maybe thankfully) I don’t know a thing about gluten intolerance. Good luck with that.
FW…that’s exactly what I thought too (when I read the article) which is why I shared it with all of you 🙂
Kristine…When you said malt barley I had to think for a second. The first thing that always comes to mind for me when I think of malt is that fabulous “malt” for malted milk. Mmmm. Make sure you are using diastatic malt and not NON diastatic malt since the latter won’t work.
Matron..thanks for the place to buy and the help with the gluten issue.
Chiot’s run…Could you comment at greater length as to why you sometimes use it and sometimes don’t?
Segwyn..it is similar except with malt you actually let it sprout first. Sprouting enhances the nutrition factor. Bulgar is “pre soaked” to speed it’s end use in cooking. Like making fast cooking oats. Oh yes…malt is ground to powder and bulgar is ground (cracked) into pieces.
Just think – I finally know what that rat was eating in “The House that Jack built”!!!
Bonnie! I never thought of that hahahaha
Now I know too!
Hi!
I see you’re in NYC and I thought I’d let you know that the 4th St Co-op in the East Village has unhulled barley. I started sprouting them 2 nights ago and they are almost there!
Also, you might like to know that in the case of most commercial flours, malted barley flour is already added, especially in ones marked “Best for Breads” or “Bread Flour” (organic ones are usually pure wheat). I don’t know if adding more malt to it helps or not, but I’ll let you know how my experiments pan out.
I remember malting wheat berries, must have been back in the 70’s, and using it in bread baking. Haven’t kept up with it and had almost forgotten that it worked so well. So glad to see your post because I’m ready to start malting wheat for bread baking again. Thanks so much.