May 20, 2020 - 8:35am
Bagel Help - diastic malt powder
Hello all,
I'm trying to make sourdough bagels, I want to use non-diastic malt powder but I have never used it before so I'm unsure of how it effects taste/texture etc.
From my research, non diastic malt powder acts as a sweetener. So if I have a recipe that calls for 25g sugar and 25g diastic malt powder. Can I substitute the diastic for non diastic malt powder and should I eliminate the sugar?
I feel like I'm overcomplicating this but I'm so lost. Please help!
Edit:J to clarify I have a TON of non diastic malt powder. So I want to use that. But is non diastic sweeter than diastic?
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I think you can use brown sugar in place of the malt powder if it's acting as a sweetner.
If you google Emilie Raffa sourdough bagels, she has a great recipe that doesn't ask for malt. It's so foolproof but they're the new york style, not montreal
I have actually made her recipe (so good) but I was looking to use non-diastic malt powder since I have so much of it at home. Do you think I should replace the honey in her recipe with non-diastic malt powder?
Oh sorry i didn't read your question carefully. Yes you can i think because non- diastic means it has no enzymatic activity and is used as a sweetener , so you can put it in the boiling water for the bagels. As i recall Emilie's recipe doesn't include honey in the dough. i think it's sugar in the dough and honey in the water? I use agave instead of honey because it's less expensive. But you can also replace the sugar with the non-diastic malt
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This is what i found online
''Non-diastatic malt is simply for coloring and flavoring.
(The color change is most pronounced in the crust. You can easily go all the way from a light golden crust to a dark brown crust.)
Diastatic malt (often in the form of "malted barley flour") in addition to the coloring and flavoring effects also affects the developing chemistry of the dough.
Diastatic malt is sometimes used by professional or organic bakers to reduce the "falling number" of flour - what's that? home bakers don't need to care, as U.S. flour makers have usually already put tiny amounts in their retail flours as needed.
Use diastatic malt only in very small quantities (as little a 1/4 teaspoon per loaf)
Just a little too much diastatic malt will make the crumb of the bread "gummy", often impossibly so.
Diastatic malt can make the rising process work better so you get higher breads ...but using it is a form of playing "chicken": a little rises higher, twice a little is even better, but three times a little and suddenly your bread is wrecked.'' it breaks down the starches to maltose which yeast loves to eat.
''If all you have is diastatic malt, you can still use it on the bagel’s water. The boiling temperature will destroy the enzymes, but it will not contribute to the flavor and the colour as much as the non-diastatic variety you can purchase from a store.''
If your recipe is calling for diastic malt powder, it probably needs the enzymatic activity, so no i wouldnt use non in place of it.. and if it's calling for non , i wouldn't use diastic because it can wreck your dough depending on how much you put and how long you ferment for.
sorry for the million posts. but i can't seem to find non-diastic malt anywhere! just keep putting it in your bagel/pretzel water, pizza dough, and it'll be all gone before you know it!
site search on Diastase ? This is the name of the enzyme that is active. Malt with no diastase or nondiastatic malt is inert from heating active malt which often darkens the colour and gives a more caramel taste. Both impart certain flavours that you don't get with with other sugars. Those who know the flavour may not know its source but sense when it is not present.
Using nondiastatic malt will be milder than diastatic malt which factors in time and moderate temperature for its strength as it breaks down available starches into maltose, another sugar. A recipe that asks for 25 g sugar (table sugar, roughly half sucrose half fructose) and 25g active malt is a bit puzzling. Is it in the dough? How much flour in the dough? Or is it boiled as a dip? It looks like a money saving technique to extend (thin) the malt for a dip.