Experiment with Diastatic Barley Malt Powder (2024)

In this experiment I compared malted (always on left in photos) and unmalted bread flour. I did the experiment twice because controlling the other variables, especially fermentation, was difficult, and I did get some conflicting results across the two test bakes. Nonetheless, a couple of results were consistent across both bakes. Specifically, flour treated with diastatic barley malt flour produced a moister crumb and a darker crust.

Rationale

Breadtopia’s bread flour has no additives but some bread flours have diastatic barley malt powder added to the flour. This increases the enzymatic activity of the dough, which means that the starch in the flour is converted to sugar faster. As a result, the dough may ferment faster, the crumb may be more moist, the crust may have more color from the caramelization of sugars (Maillard reaction), and the bread may be airier with more oven spring. My goal with this experiment was to test if I might actually see these purported outcomes and to what degree.

Background

Diastatic malt powder is made by taking a grain (often barley), sprouting it, drying it, and then grinding it into a fine flour. By letting the grain form a small sprout, the enzymes within it are activated. These enzymes reside primarily in the bran and germ of the grain, so whole grain flours tend to have more enzymatic activity, while refined “white” flours have less enzymatic activity.

Recommendations for how much diastatic barley malt powder to use range widely. Breadtopia recommends 0.5% of the total flour weight, and this is what I used in my test bakes. This is 2.5 grams or about 3/4 teaspoon diastatic barley malt powder for a bread dough with 500g flour or roughly 4 cups flour.

Too much diastatic barley malt powder can result in an overly extensible dough, gummy crumb, and a reddish crust.

Experiment Design

Baker’s Percentages

85% Breadtopia bread flour

15% fresh-milled yecora rojo whole grain flour*

75% water

15% sourdough starter, ripened with all purpose flour

2% salt

0.5% diastatic barley malt powder (in the malted dough only)

*I included whole wheat flour in the formula because most of Breadtopia’s recipes have some whole wheat flour, and because I knew this experiment would produce a lot of bread for my family and friends to eat, and we like the added flavor and nutrients. If I used more whole wheat flour, I would use a smaller percentage of diastatic barley malt powder (I wouldn’t use barley malt powder at all with a whole grain flour that has high enzymatic activity such as rye or einkorn).

Test Bake 1

In the first round of testing, the malted dough fermented faster by about 30 minutes. Both doughs had two rounds of stretching and folding and the same pre-shape and bench rest timing. Shaping was done with identical motions.

In order to sync up the doughs for a simultaneous bake, I let the slower dough proof at room temperature for 40 minutes while the faster dough proofed at room temperature for 30 minutes. This timing of when to put each dough in the refrigerator was based on how the doughs looked in their proofing baskets. I baked them cold the next morning.

Observations (see photo gallery below)

The malted dough fermented faster but not by a large amount (4 hours vs. 4.5 hours bulk fermentation).

The structure and oven spring of the malted bread was not as good as the unmalted.

The crumb of the malted bread was more moist but not gummy.

The malted bread had a darker crust as if any excess flour on the dough had dissolved more during the bake.

One taste tester preferred the malted bread, noting it was more complex. The other taste tester did not pick up on a flavor difference.

Photo Gallery Test Bake 1 (click on any photo to expand the view)

Test Bake 2

In the second round of testing, the unmalted dough fermented faster by about 15 minutes. Both doughs had three rounds of stretching and folding. I also let the doughs ferment more than I had in the first round, and then skipped the pre-shape and bench rest. Shaping was done with identical motions.

In the previous round of testing, I had been concerned that syncing the doughs for a simultaneous bake was imprecise, so in this round, I let the doughs proof at room temperature and baked each as soon as it seemed ready. This meant the oven had to stay at 500°F for the duration of the baking, and both vessels stayed in the oven as well. I used an infrared thermometer to verify vessel temperatures were the same when loading the doughs. The unmalted dough proofed for 35 minutes, and the malted dough proofed for 30 minutes.

Observations (see photo gallery below)

The unmalted dough fermented faster but not by a large amount (6 hours 55 minutes vs. 7 hours 10 minutes bulk fermentation).

The structure and oven spring of the malted bread was slightly better than the unmalted.

The crumb of the malted bread was more moist but not gummy.

The malted bread had a darker crust.

One taste tester preferred the malted bread, noting it had a “more balanced wheat flavor.” The other taste tester did not pick up on a flavor difference.

Photo Gallery Test Bake 2 (click on any photo to expand the view)

Conclusions

Based on these two rounds of tests with malted and unmalted doughs, I can conclude that diastatic barley malt powder at 0.5% the flour weight produces a more moist crumb, a darker crust, and additional appealing flavors that some people can detect. The testing didn’t yield consistent results about fermentation speed, oven spring, and bread structure. This is likely due to the challenge of determining the degree to which a dough has fermented.

For future experiments, I would use two aliquot jars to better pinpoint the extent of fermentation at each stage of the bread making process.

An incidental discovery I made in this experiment is that leaving the oven at 500°F for the duration of baking is great if you enjoy dark and crispy crusts.