September 18, 2023 - 12:48pm
Is Malted Barley Still Being Added To Commercial White Flours?
I just noticed that the ingredients lists for the two white flours I use the most no longer include barley malt. The flours are Gold Medal Unbleached All Purpose and King Arthur Bread flours. Instead, they include "Enzymes". Of course I'm aware that the purpose of using diastatic malts is to add certain enzymes. I wonder if these flour suppliers are getting enzymes from some other source than the traditional malts?
TomP
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just checked the CM website and the Artisan Baker’s Craft Plus flour still lists malted barley as the malting treatment. That is interesting that KA no longer uses barley malt. I wonder about Bob’s Red Mill which is the other one I see most available where I live.
-c
... is just one of many ways to introduce enzymes, like alpha-amylase, into flour.
For instance, in an approved USDA flour specification, one manufacturer is using fungal amylase, a different source of the enzyme:
"Ingredient Statement: Hard wheat flour enriched (niacin, ferrous sulfate, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid) enzyme. No other ingredients, carriers, or additives can be present in the flour.
Enzyme System: 1.90 Grams of Fungal Amylace per 100 pounds of flour Minimum 2.35 Grams of Fungal Amylace per 100 pounds of flour Maximum"
And in the US Code of Federal Regulations, CFR Title 21, part 136 (Bakery products) subpart B , secion 136-110 (bread, rolls, and buns) the requirements for standardized bakery products includes the generic inclusion of "(9) Enzyme active preparations."
in both regular and organic versions.
Why not just contact KA and ask them?
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But on my bag of Bread flour, behold! no malt:
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I guess asking for clarification might be best!
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/bakers-hotline
the label I posted above was from the packaging pdf on their web site. Perhaps their supplier is using fungal or bacterial enzymes. It probably doesn’t matter what source they come from.
It probably doesn’t matter what source they come from.
Perhaps it doesn't, I don't know. My question was about whether suppliers are changing from malt to "enzymes". If yes, we could try to get into the question of whether there's much difference. I imagine that the big suppliers are motivated to have their products to continue to bake the same way despite any changes.
I’m curious, too, It’s a very interesting topic!
Looking at a professional bread and pastry textbook, there is a notation about fungal amylase being “more predictable” than malted enzyme sources because malt has other enzymes that are less predictable than fungal enzymes. That speaks to your consistency hypothesis, which I agree with.
I also wonder about labeling regulations, which I tried looking at but never completed the task. Product labeling and ingredients identification can be fickle and sometimes seems to require specific sources and other times seems to prefer generic.
From what I read there are specific lab testing of flour quality and characteristics, including enzymatic levels, conducted routinely by millers.
I've just sent a request for information to KA about this. I'll post what they say when I hear from them.
Here's what I just got from KA:
A quick and very informative reply from King Arthur. Very impressive (as always with them).
Hi Tom, as a fellow retired engineer I tend to go a bit crazy with research. The past couple days I've been trying to determine a relationship between diastatic malted and fungal alpha-amylase additives. (I have both and haven't noticed a difference, except in the amounts various recipes specify.)
This morning I pulled off the shelf a professional bread baker textbook. In a section about enzymes used in baking, it confirms that some millers have a preference for fungal sources rather than malted because it is more predictable and avoids (a) "other enzymes in malt that are undesireable in certian cases" and (b) avoiding potential bug infestations from the sweetness of malt. The text also states that there is no noticable difference in baking between the two sources "when used properly".
In another thread, though, I was asking about the potential difference in diastatic power between the various sources but that research remains incomplete as of now.
A quick message to the KA hotline might reveal what their millers are actually using. I recently asked a supplier of diastatic malt powder if htey had a spec sheet or informationon the diastatic power of hteir product. So far, only crickets. Hopefully KA will be more responsive.
Brian, I'm hoping to avoid getting sucked into a swamp of malt! In another thread Mariana wrote that malts also contain sugar and proteases. She wrote that you want the protease when very strong flour overdoes the gluten and after cooling the crumb becomes unpleasantly resistant to eating - not something I've experienced yet. Usually I'm trying to keep the protease from degrading my gluten during long ferments.
At this point, I'm a little unclear about how much of what is supplied by the bare flour and by the malt: yeast, LAB, enzymes, proteases, sugars.
To complicate things, apparently it's different for rye flour, which is normally unmalted as supplied.
I just want to bake bread and trying to not fall into the same vat of malt!
My popovers were not rising like they used to, so I embarked on an investigation to figure out why. After following the myriad of advice on baking podcasts and YouTube channels, I still hadn’t achieved what I would call a success. I then noticed the change in flour ingredients that others here have mentioned, specifically the replacement of Barley Malt with an Enzyme by many flour suppliers including King Author and Bob’s unbleached organic AP flour.
When I spoke with Alex from the King Author hot line, he confirmed that KA has switched from Barley Malt to the Fungal Alpha Amylase Enzyme.
Below is the email response I received from KA who maintain there should be no noticeable change to your baking. My results do not align with their findings.
Thanks for contacting us here at King Arthur Baking Company.Popovers are raised with egg not baking powder or yeast and there is less than 1% of either the malted barley or enzyme used in the flour to help yeast activity. The tiny amount of malt or enzyme would have not effect on popover rise. Any difference in results adding 1.5 teaspoons of Diastatic Malt to the recipe, about ten times what is in the flour, would give more browning but would not likely improve rise. Active enzymes in diastatic malt help yeast grow fully and efficiently throughout the fermentation period, yielding a good, strong rise and great oven-spring. We used malted barley because it is a source of enzymes but found that the level and efficacy of those enzymes can vary just a smidge from batch to batch, again the enzymes help the yeast. The activity of straight enzymes varies less, so using them creates an even more consistent flour. Any difference in results is probably due to other factors like moisture content. If your theory were correct you would be getting better and more constant rise with the enzyme flour.
As the enzyme and malt are only related to yeast baking they don't have any relation to popovers. The enzyme has been used and is approved in Europe for decades. It simply gives better results with yeast in our testing and there are a growing number of people with barley allergies. Again the amount is so minute, less than 1%, it will have virtually no effect on any recipes not using yeast.
Please let us know if we can answer any additional questions or assist you further Good news: I have solved my problem with Popovers not rising by adding Diastatic Barley Malt powder back to the recipe! My popovers are rising as high or even higher than ever.
I am super interested in others’ Popover experiences…
Thanks
Ted
As noted by somebody else, DME contains other stuff: sugar, beta-amylase, proteolytic enzymes. Beta-amylase works in conjunction with alpha-amylase to degrade starch to simpler sugars, which are food to yeast. Alpha-amylase alone does half of the job, which is maybe wanted (too much food for yeast, too fast fermentation).
Proteolytic enzymes will damage the gluten net if let to work long enough (i.e. too long), that might be detrimental to the bread.
I suppose US manufacturers switch to alpha-amylase, from DME, because the switch makes their flour more "mono-dimensional", more predictable, easier to work with. Alpha-amylase and beta-amylase have their ideal environment at different temperatures. Some users might find beta-amylase working a lot while some other might find it not working at all. The interaction of the two is a bit of a complication (as a homebrewer, I can tell you).
In a rational world, one would buy flour, and then one can decide whether to add DME, or alpha-amylase, or both beta-amylase and alpha-amylase, in different moment or at the same moment, or whatever, or nothing at all. But you have to cross an ocean to find that rational world :-)
That rational world still exits, Central Milling offers versions of some of their flours with and without malted barley, and their Mountain High flour, their equivalent of King Arthur bread Flour does not contain malted barley (or enzymes). Many smaller mills do likewise.
Interesting. Before reading this thread, on 03/05/24 I wrote to KA to inquire about their switch to *enzyme in their ingredients. Response from David at KA was slightly different than above . . . "it is more consistent than malted barley which is an allergen for many consumers." Hunh, news to me that the malted barley would have allergens different than the wheat flour that contains it. But they do. Must be a very small percentage of consumers though.
I've continued to use it, only the organic bread and AP, and have noticed slight changes. First, my starter smells different. It has a cinnamony aroma, very slight spicy smell. So does my sourdough bread. Planning to go off all commercial flours soon, I'll add my own malt if needed.
My concern isn't that the changes will be significant, but that I understand how the malted barley is produced, but Fungal Alpha Amylase Enzyme is a little more opaque. It's probably fine, and I don't often use KA anymore anyway, but its always nice to fully understand ingredients.
As one of those seemingly rare people with barley intolerances (an IBS trigger rather than an allergy, but the reaction can be so bad that it might as well be), I have found this thread interesting and relieving. I know this may seem like I'm stating the obvious, but at least anyone unhappy with KA's change can add the diastatic malted barley back in. I'm actually going to be sending KA a thank you letter as one of those folks affected by this topic. It is hard to find barley-free flour, whether you are in the baking aisle or looking at baked goods. (Pick up any loaf of non-100% whole wheat bread in the bread aisle at the grocery store. I doubt you'll find one that is barley-free.)
Thank you to the person who started this thread, even though it had nothing to do with my food issues. It is a relief to have an easily-found flour option that should be safe, and now I have a better understanding of why. There are thousands upon thousands of enzymes, so listing them as an ingredient tells you nothing. I've steered away from anything listing them after an particularly severe episode that had me curled up in the fetal position for hours - no joke. Knowing this will help steer my decisions in the future.