This is interesting. I was trying to find malt recently - thinking of bagels (pretzels) too. No luck what so ever finding it locally. I got grumpy when a woman at the health food store lectured me on the fact the malt is already in the flour. I was aware that there are several variations but not the different uses.

This business just opened with a certain amount of fanfare - complete with a ribbon cutting and a Senator. They are malting for the beer industry - maybe I can chase down a bit of their malt.

http://www.pressherald.com/2015/07/12/maine-malt-for-local-craft-beer-has-arrived/

Sounds like a fun adventure!

A bakery supply store should have it.

Or you could just try Amazon. :)

You can also make your own malt - both diastatic and non-diastatic, and you can make it with wheat instead of barley. In fact, you can malt any kind of grain. But first, what's the difference and how are they used.

Diastatic Malt-

Contains the enzymes which help break starch down into sugar. The extra sugar feeds the yeast in the dough - which helps the bread to rise and gives the bread a browner crust. A good addition for crusty breads.

Diastatic malt does all of sugar's jobs and has none of the shortcomings. It's rich in enzymes and vitamins, so when malt is added to dough it gets a nutritional boost, not like the empty calories and non-nutritive - sugar.

Adding too much malt can cause problems. The use of more diastatic malt can result in a slack, sticky dough, will NOT improve the yeast action. Too much and you have bread that will be "overproofed" and you might have a nice gummy, sticky dough and when baked, will have an alcohol smell and a dense crust.

Malt extract is used the same as diastatic malt powder.

Non-Diastatic Malt-

Non-diastatic malt is primarily used to add flavor and color. Diastatic malt will do the same as non-diastatic plus supplies enzymes. Non-diastatic malt syrup is the form generally used in hearth breads.

Malt Syrup-

Malt syrup is a sweetener. Replace a T. of sugar or sweetener in a bread recipe with 1/2 t. of diastatic malt powder, OR 2 T. of malt extract. Add malt extract to the warm water if proofing bakers' yeast.

Adding barley malt, malt syrup, or malted flour ALL help break down big molecules of starch into simple sugars that yeast can use. For maximum sweetness add a tablespoon of baking malt syrup.

So, what is it?

Diastatic malt powder is grain that has been malted (sprouted until the sprout is at least as long as the grain), then the sprouted grain is dried and ground to a powder (flour). You can do this at home using barley or wheat. Mills typically put in 1/10% malted barley flour into commercial flour (barley malt is cheaper than wheat malt) to provide diastase (enzyme), which converts the starch in damaged starch granules to sugars that are used by the yeast over an extended ferment.

How to make your own!

Sprout 1/4 cup of wheat berries, using the normal sprouting methods. When the sprout is as long as the grain, rinse one more time then dry the sprouted grain. Dry it at 100°F. Do NOT let the temperature get above 130°F or you destroy the enzymes and the result will be NON-diastatic malt.

Once the grain is completely dry, store the grain in a jar with a lid on it. As needed, mill the grain in a spice/coffee mill. Use in your favorite recipe at a rate of approximately 1 t. per loaf.

In a pinch, if you happen to have some on-hand, try adding a little Malted Milk Powder (Nestle/Carnation brand), as a flavoring. It contains wheat flour, malted barley extracts, milk, soy lecithin, salt, and sodium bicarbonate.

-Grainlady

I'm so happy that you started this thread, plllog. Love the flavor of malt! Looking forward to reading posting from others on the subject.

A couple of years ago, I wanted to find the right malt for malted milkshake to try to recreate the malts that I remembered from long ago. Tried the Carnation malted milk powder and it didn't seem malty enough besides making the milkshakes too sweet. So I went to a local brewing supply store and asked for the 'maltiest malt'. I was disappointed in what they sold me...again, not malty enough and just too sweet. After using up that product, I abandoned the search.

Anyway, since you started this thread, I've gotten interested in malts all over again and here are a couple of websites with some hopefully useful info that I've just discovered...

Here's a link to a run down of some of the different malts from Breiss:

Breiss Malts

And here is another link to some recipes for cooking with malt from a UK malter, Muntons:

Cook With Muntons (Malt)

Unfortunately, the Muntons recipes don't specify a malt. Once you scratch the surface of malts, things get very confusing in a hurry. There are the diastatics, the non-diastatics, syrups, powders, malted milk powders....and even malted barley flakes (those sound very interesting---thinking bread...) And all that confusion without getting into all the different brewing malt 'flavors'!

Adding to the problem of making a great malted milkshake was, I discovered, how truly awful commercial ice cream has gotten to be. Not being into ice cream (had been years since I had purchased any), I didn't realize how much it has changed. I bought some Edy's, thinking it was a premium brand. Horrible stuff full of fluff and air and I hated how it seemed to coat & cling to your mouth. Not a clean mouth feel at all. I remembered liking Breyer's. Again, the recipe has changed and not for the better but not as awful as Edy's. Aldi ice cream was/ is superior to both Edy's & Breyer's but still not what I would call Good Stuff.

Soon realized that I was going to have to start making my own ice cream...a less-sweet ice cream because malt is sweet (50-65% as sweet as sucrose, depending) and I need a less-sweet base for my milkshakes that benefit from adding sweet malt and that doesn't push the concoction into syrupy-sweet territory. Or, I need to make a malted ice cream...

And that's where the project got abandoned. Need an ice cream maker and sure wished that I had gotten one when Kohl's had that killer deal on the Cuisinart a couple/ three Christmas's ago. I really hate the idea of buying one at current retail prices. At full retail price, I would feel like I'd have to use it a lot and no one here really, really needs that many extra calories! (Need to find/ experiment with low-carb ice cream recipes.)

Passed one up at a rummage sale at the start of last season...priced more than what I wanted to pay (in relation to the new one on the old Kohl's deal)...and then didn't see another one all summer long. Darn it.

Oh well. Maybe I'll find one this summer.

In the meantime, I'm going back to the Beer Brewing supply store and going to buy Marris Otter and Sparkling Amber malts to try. I don't remember what flavor malt that they sold me last time but I'm sure it wasn't either of those.

i have bought the different malts from King Arthur. I add it to my homemade ice cream. Tried the different types and still not decided which I like best.

That was a lovely interlude, Arley.

I have to say that the DME reminds me of malted milk powder. Similar color and damp absorption. It's been awhile since I used it in sufficient quantity with white flour to comment on the flavor. Just now it went into the whole wheat pizza dough, where it's only about 6.5% of the quantity of flour. It gives it that hint of malt and a little sweetness, without announcing itself like in a bagel. Supposedly, diastatic malt helps the rise. Neither it, nor the non-diastatic (assuming they were correctly labelled from the maker), were good for my pizza, but the DME helps it rise even when burdened with heavy toppings.

I'll have to give other malts a try in the future. I'll be interested to know what you all discover as well.

So I have a friendly acquaintance who works both at the local brewery AND the local gristmill. I asked him if the brewer would sell me a bit of whatever kind of malt they use. Today he sent me a message that he was milling malted barley flour at the gristmill. And did I want a two pound bag. Excited!