Diastatic malt powder

bugster2 · 2 Weeks Ago

Is it the same as malt extract powder? I Googled it and really could find a good answer.

ArrrTea · 2 Weeks Ago

No, it's not the same. But depending on your application it may not matter. Diastatic has active portions that would contribute to a fermentation...as I know it, as I used to brew beer. Malt extract is just that...extracted from a diastatic malt- inactive except for it's sugar (maltose) content, and flavor imparted by the extraction method. It's apparent "sweetness" is about 1/3 of "sugar" (Glucose).

bugster2 · 2 Weeks Ago

Thanks Arrrtea! For breadmaking, depending on the recipe, you can use both kinds. I will order some. I was hoping I could get it at my local brewing supply but as you pointed out it ain't the same thing. i need the enzymatic kind.

Dillbert · 2 Weeks Ago

interesting you should bring this up....

I've been on a decades long quest to bake real good German Broetchen.
sounds easy, t'aint.
having spent a lot of time in (especially southern) Germany, breakfast without a dang good broetchen is like a day without breakfast....

recently came across multiple citations where "Backmalz" is 'the secret' - it's the diastatic kind....

King Arthur (website) has both diastatic and non-diastatic
non- type is cited as adding sheen to bagels whereas the diastatic is cited for breads more generally. I am hot on the trail.

ArrrTea · 2 Weeks Ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dillbert

interesting you should bring this up....

I've been on a decades long quest to bake real good German Broetchen.
sounds easy, t'aint.
having spent a lot of time in (especially southern) Germany, breakfast without a dang good broetchen is like a day without breakfast....

recently came across multiple citations where "Backmalz" is 'the secret' - it's the diastatic kind....

King Arthur (website) has both diastatic and non-diastatic
non- type is cited as adding sheen to bagels whereas the diastatic is cited for breads more generally. I am hot on the trail.

Dammit I WANNA BAKE! You guys are gonna push me over the edge here... speaking of baking... check out this dude at Smoked-Meat.com...

http://www.smoked-meat.com/forum/sho...8160#post68160

bugster2 · 2 Weeks Ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dillbert

interesting you should bring this up....

I've been on a decades long quest to bake real good German Broetchen.
sounds easy, t'aint.
having spent a lot of time in (especially southern) Germany, breakfast without a dang good broetchen is like a day without breakfast....

recently came across multiple citations where "Backmalz" is 'the secret' - it's the diastatic kind....

King Arthur (website) has both diastatic and non-diastatic
non- type is cited as adding sheen to bagels whereas the diastatic is cited for breads more generally. I am hot on the trail.

You can make your own using wheat or barley berries.

Article Rating: (9 Ratings) Make Sprouted Wheat Flour or Diastatic MaltSprouted wheat is highly nutritious and surprisingly sweet. It is much easier for the body to digest since much of the starch is changed into vegetable sugars. Make it into flour and you have a great addition to your home ground flour. Also, if you spend a lot of money on diastatic malt powder, you can now save that money! This sprouted wheat flour is diastatic malt powder.

Difficulty: EasyInstructionsThings You'll Need:
glass jar
cheese cloth
rubber band
red hard winter wheat berries
filtered water
oven or food dehydrator
cookie sheet (if using oven)
Step 1 berries covered in waterUse a jar that will allow for one part wheat berries and three parts water. Rinse your wheat berries well to remove all dirt and foreign objects. Put the berries into the jar and fill it with water. Cover the jar with a three to four layers of cheese cloth, and put the rubber band around the cloth to keep it on the jar. Let it rest for 12 to 24 hours.

Step 2 draining water from berriesFor this step you do not have to remove the cheesecloth. Dump the water out into a bowl to use in bread, soups, or for watering your garden or house plants. Rinse the berries in fresh water. Dump out the water, and let the berries rest again for three to six hours. If the berries have not begun to sprout within six hours, repeat this step.

Step 3 sprouted berriesWhen the berries have a sprout 1/8 inch long, rinse them one more time, and dump out the water. Spread the berries out onto a drying rack without holes if drying in a dehydrator and on a cookie sheet if drying in the oven. Keep the drying temperature below 120 degrees Fahrenheit to preserve the nutrients. Dry for six hours. Make sure the berries are completely dry. See the tips below for oven drying.

Step 4Store your berries in an airtight container until you will grind them.
Grind them to fine flour by pulsing it in a food processor or coffee grinder or putting them through a flour mill right before you use them.

bugster2 · 2 Weeks Ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArrrTea

Dammit I WANNA BAKE! You guys are gonna push me over the edge here... speaking of baking... check out this dude at Smoked-Meat.com...

http://www.smoked-meat.com/forum/sho...8160#post68160

Incredible! I have never seen anything like it. What do you suppose he means when he says "starter at 100% hydration"? Methinks I should have bought that new book called Baking Bread or Bread Baking by an Eyetalian guy. I looked at the book, thought it was wonderful but it really is a text book and he thoroughly discusses hydration rates etc. $45 was a bit much so I thought I would look for a used copy or see if the library has it. In the mean time I will pull out some of my simpler bread books and see what I can find out.

bugster2 · 2 Weeks Ago

I can't make head nor tails of this:

My experience is with white flour starters, but it should work about the same way. You can use a starter of any hydration in your recipe - just adjust for the water difference in your starter vs. the one specified in the recipe. If you want to make the rise times more comparable to what the recipe specifies, it helps a little to match the amount of "fermented flour" in the recipe. A 100% hydration starter has less fermented flour per unit of starter weight than a 60% starter does. You can adjust by using the ratio of "one hundred plus the hydration" for the recipe starter vs. your own. For example, if you have a 100% hydration starter, and the recipe specifies 40 grams of 60% starter, then you will need (100+100)/(100+60) or (200/160)*40 = 50 grams of your starter to match the fermented flour amounts. The extra weight is water, so you will have 10 grams (50g-40g) of extra water in your starter, and you should therefore reduce the dough water in the recipe by 10g so that the total water in the recipe is the same.

Of course, there are some differences in flavor in starter maintained habitually as firm vs. paste, but I've found in practice, as others have mentioned on TFL, that it's a fairly subtle difference in flavor. Your recipes will work fine starting from a different hydration starter. To be absolutely true to a recipe, you could convert to the hydration the recipe states and maintain it that way for a day or two or more, but I don't think it makes a lot of difference unless you are splitting hairs on the flavor differences.

bugster2 · 2 Weeks Ago

OK, this is better:
QUOTE:
"I keep one starter. It is a white starter at 100% hydration, meaning that I always feed it with equal parts of white flour and water, by weight."

What is the hydration of a starter that is fed 1cup flour to 1/2 cup water?

Where's Randy when I need him?

Norm · 2 Weeks Ago

If you have a gram scale and want to measure everything, then Randy will be along soon enough I imagine. Other wise if you are using a regular bread recipe, just reduce the amount of flour and water in the recipe by the amount you are adding with the starter, then fine tune the mixture so that it is a slightly sticky dough. It should be wet enough to stick to your hands if you hold it for a few seconds but not stick to your hands if you knead it quickly on a lightly floured counter. I hope that is helpful.

PS if your recipe uses a starter and it specifies hydration, then just adjust your starter to equal it by adding more water or flour to the starter.

bugster2 · 2 Weeks Ago

OK. So the recipe calls for 100% hydrated starter. My starter is fed 1/2 cup water and 1 cup flour. So I would want to increase the water by 1/2 cup. What do I do if I only need 1/2 cup 100% hydrated starter? I dont want to do it to my whole batch of starter.

Norm · 2 Weeks Ago

What I'd do is go ahead and use your starter then add enough extra water to the total recipe to make a nice dough.

thesweetestpea · 2 Weeks Ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArrrTea

Dammit I WANNA BAKE! You guys are gonna push me over the edge here... speaking of baking... check out this dude at Smoked-Meat.com...

http://www.smoked-meat.com/forum/sho...8160#post68160

Why don't you bake some beer bread, Rich??? I think that would be right up your alley and you can use different beers for different flavors both sweet and savory. I've been baking a lot of them lately as my hubs really loves them, and he's not a beer drinker either. I've made them with fruit as a breakfast bread and with garlic, herbs and cheese to serve with stews and soups. I think I may have posted a couple of them recently. pea

ArrrTea · 2 Weeks Ago

Good idea... now that the weather is turning inside cooking is becoming slightly more attractive- heh! OK..I'll give 'er another run. Besides, I'm running low on doorstops...

bugster2 · 2 Weeks Ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by thesweetestpea

Why don't you bake some beer bread, Rich??? I think that would be right up your alley and you can use different beers for different flavors both sweet and savory. I've been baking a lot of them lately as my hubs really loves them, and he's not a beer drinker either. I've made them with fruit as a breakfast bread and with garlic, herbs and cheese to serve with stews and soups. I think I may have posted a couple of them recently. pea

Sounds interesting. I have never made bread with beer except the no knead recipe from CI which uses Bud. What brews make good bread?

ArrrTea · 2 Weeks Ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by bugster2

Sounds interesting. I have never made bread with beer except the no knead recipe from CI which uses Bud. What brews make good bread?

I'm gonna start with a Hacker-Pshorr wheat beer...of course! Also- it has active yeast in it! Bonus! Probably not enough for the whole fermentation process, but I'm sure it'll help.