Barley malt syrup and non diastatic malt powder

Regarding the diastatic but just checking.  Yes malt is fun to add to dough - once you get to a certain point you notice a color change as well - generally I don't add it these days thanks to the flour I generally use but of I had a more bland,flour I would consider spending more time at brew supploer as lazy loader mentions they have all sorts of malts and they are usually accustomed to bakers crashing their premises, after all don't they call beer liquid bread ? 

it's a perfectly reasonable one!

If you want to experiment with the full range of uses of the malt, then you should be asking for diastatic or base malt.  They should have that for barley, wheat, and rye at least.  The most common is barley, so that might be where you want to start.  The base or diastatic malt is whole grain berries that have been sprouted and dried at a specific temperature to be considered "malt" --- but haven't exceeded the temperature that would render the enzymes inoperable.

If you absolutely won't be using the diastatic malt, then start looking for a "crystal" or "caramel" malt, since those are the lowest roasting temps that have gone beyond usable enzymes, and give you the scope to be able to dry roast / toast some yourself to get different flavours.

Most of the brew shops that I've been in sell the malt as whole grains, or you can arrange for them to grind them for you.  Whole malted grains last better, and I find it easier to roast them to different levels, so I bought the whole grains and grind them at home.  A blender or a coffee grinder will work admirably for that (just make sure that you sift it after to make sure you don't get any super-hard kernels still in there).

Here's the malts from the local brew store that I use:

http://grapestoglass.com/product-category/beer-ingredients/malt/

Here are a couple of charts about malt types that you might find useful:

http://hogtownbrewers.org/brewschooldocs/malt-chart.pdf

http://www.onebeer.net/grainchart.html

The flavour notes are for beer, but that's really just under-cooked bread, so apply to baking as well ;) 

I have had some great conversations with the staff at the brew store, since it's actually pretty common to have the cross interest between beer and bread.  If you tell them what you want the malt for, then you are likely to get some great recommendations about their local stock.  I usually start the conversation with "Hi - I'm looking for some malts for bread baking.  What kinds do you stock, and do you have any recommendations?"

They all tease me here for my dedication to the less-common rye malt, but it just is the flavour that I like.  Wheat malts and barley malts (and buckwheat and all other grain malts) are made the same way and will have similar flavour profiles, but all with their own unique "base" flavour.  If you know that you love the taste of wheat over barley, then start with wheat malt, or vice versa...

As for what roast gives what flavour - well, I started with a dry non-stick pan full over medium heat, and just kept stirring them, and sniffing the aroma.  When I hit a point that smelled good to me, then I'd take some out and set them aside with a note as to how long I'd toasted them.  I kept doing that until I hit the darkest level that I liked the scent of, and then I stopped.  I ground them all, and then put a small bit (like - 1/4 tsp) in to an ounce of boiling water, to get the full aroma, and then tasted it when it cooled.  I also added a bit to some plain yogurt to get the flavour there.  I made some notes as to what I liked, had the timing notes, and since then have mostly stuck with 4 levels (what I call "red", "chocolate", "coffee", and "chocolate espresso").

Hope this helps!

Best,

Laurie