Malt flour

The enzymes in wheat, and hence in flour, that often cause problems in the bakery are present in the seed to make nutrient available to the seed. Similarly, this is why sprouted wheat causes problems if it is allowed to get into flour. Thus, the a-amylase is low in mature wheat grains but rises rapidly on germination. In bread, a low, but not too low, level of a-amylase is desirable since it produces sugars to feed the yeast and opens up the structure. Deliberate additions of malt flour were once common, but are now rarely made, to increase the amylase level. 

While malt flour is not suitable for bread making it is added to wheat flour in small quantities to feed the yeast, open out the texture and improve the flavour. This practice has declined in recent years for several reasons. When British bread flour was mainly made from Canadian wheat with a Hagberg Falling Number of around 600 the addition of... 

An overdose of malt flour will introduce too much enzyme activity in the dough, potentially reducing the product to a sticky syrup. Fungal a-amylase is now much more commonly used than malt flour. However, some malt flour is still used, particularly in wholemeal bread. 

Other additions to flour are fungal a-amylase malt flour, malt grains or other mixtures of grains. Alternatively, the flour can be supplied untreated by the miller and any treatments needed can be applied in the bakery. This could be an attractive option for a bakery that made a mix of products, some of which needed untreated flour while others, e.g. bread, needed flour treatment. 

Malt Flour. Malt flour is the traditional source of extra a-amylase to add to flour. Now that British bread flour is substantially home grown there is little need of this supplementation. Some bakers would claim that malt flour improves the flavour of the bread. Malt flour is a food and not an additive. 

When Canadian wheat flour was the norm in British bakeries, with a falling number as high as 600, it was desirable to introduce malt flour to increase the a-amylase to feed the yeast and open up the structure of the crumb. 

The application of enzymes has a long history in the flour, milling and baking industries (Haarasilta and Pullinen, 1992). Cereal-based enzymes have been used for decades in the form of different malt products, such as malt flour, malt extract and malt-based improvers. The use of fungal hr-amylases became widespread during the 1960 s. hr-Amylases produce dextrins, which ate further broken down to sugars by naturally... 

Any of the above mentioned flavourings may be added to carriers such as maltodex-trin, dextrose, torula yeast, malt flour, salt or non-food, approved carriers such as phosphates or silicas. Individual countries regulations restrict or limit the use of some carriers. 

In the past, the enzyme activities present in malt flour were used for flour treatment. Advances in microbial production of enzymes in recent years has lead to the availability and use of a whole range of more targeted enzyme preparations. 

V2 pounds dextrin malt 5 ounces chocolate malt flour V2 ounce Hallertauer hops, in boil 90 minutes Vi ounce Hallertauer hops, in boil 60 minutes V4 ounce Hallertauer hops, in boil 15 minutes Vs ounce chocolate malt flour, in boil 15 minutes Vs ounce Hallertauer hops, in boil 5 minutes V2 ounce Hallertauer hops, steep 2 teaspoons calcium chloride... 

Calnan CD (1973) Malt flour dermatitis. Contact Dermatitis Newslett 14 390... 

Formula contained wheat flour, cow milk, malt flour, and potassium bicarbonate 1915 - Formula contained cow milk, lactose, oleo oils, and vegetable oils powdered form 1935 - Protein content of formula considered... 

Hours derived from wheat without sprouted grains have some [i- but very little a-amylase activity (cf. 15.2.2.1). Thus, only a small amount of starch is degraded to fermentable maltose by handling dough. An insight into the extent of starch degradation is provided by the maltose value (cf. 15.4.1.1.1). Addition of a-amylase in the form of malt flour or as a microbial preparation increases the flour capacity to hydrolyze the starch. 

Barley flour (also see MALT FLOUR WHEAT MALT FLOUR.l... 

Small amounts of diastatic malt flours lor the equivaleni in molt syrupsi may be used by bak ers because the enzymes present in these mall products convert the sUfCh of dough to sugars... 

When carrying out these determinations, it will be found advantageous to make control determinations simultaneously on a malt flour or syrup of known diastatic activity. 

Most bread recipes include diastatic barley malt flour. Diastatic malt contains high levels of a- and P-amylases and proteases that mainly hydrolyze damaged starch granules and proteins, respectively. These enzymes gradually and slowly provide substrate for the fermenting of yeast. Diastatic malt is especially important in those formulations where sugar is not used, such as in French breads. Many commercial hard-wheat flours are supplemented with diastatic malt in order to adjust their diastatic activity, usually measured by the falling number assay (Chapter 15). The quantities used vary from 0.1% to 1.25% (Doerry 1995, Kulp and Ponte 2000, Stauffer 1990). 

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