Barley malt extract in bread?

[Karen_Schaffer]

I'm making a whole wheat loaf bread, and I used barley malt extract instead of the molasses I usually use, using 1/3 c instead of 1/4 c. The dough seems to be very, very slow in rising, way slower than usual. Reading about barley malt (which I did after adding it instead of before, ahem), I see it's less sweet than sugar/honey/molasses. Maybe that's the problem, that there isn't as much sugar to feed on so the bread is rising slowly? If necessary, I can put the bread in the refrigerator overnight and resume in the morning (or heck, just leave it rising slowly on the counter overnight).

Any wisdom out there on using barley malt extract in bread, and what I should (or should not) have done?

[Channa]

I agree with the others who said malt extract shouldn't taste sour. One more consideration -- how much dough were you making with that 1/3 cup malt extract? When the proportion of sweeteners is too high, regular yeast slows down There are special yeasts for such doughs:

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/i...

[The Professor]

Barley Malt will not kill the yeast.
Yeast LOVES malt.
Salt is probably the culprit...you should _never_ put salt into the yeast you are proofing. Salt would kill the yeast for sure, or at the very least, kill some of it. The salt should be mixed with your dry ingredients. By the time the yeast has proofed it will be active and the salt in the dry ingredients will be at a low enough concentration that it will not damage the yeasties.

[silverhawk]

king arthur white/AP flour contains a bit of malted barley right off the shelf. the addition seems well calibrated for taste and performance.

[Karen_Schaffer]

I'm now convinced the barley malt extract killed my yeast. This recipe calls for proofing the yeast (so I know it was alive) then making a sponge with the sweetener (for which I used the barley malt extract) as well as flour, salt, butter, dried milk, and water. I was a bit suspicious that the sponge didn't look as lively as it should have after its allotted time, but I kneaded in the flour anyhow. The dought hasn't budged a bit in 20+ hours, so I hereby declare it dead.

The barley malt extract has a definite sour taste to it, as well as the expected sweetness, so I suspect it was the pH that done it. Does all barley extract have a sourness? Or is my jar bad? I don't know what this stuff is supposed to be like. I must say, I'm hesistant to ever use it again!

[Murman]

I just started to experiment with barley malt extract in my breads after stealing some from my beer making supplies. I can say that the extract should definitely not have a sourness taste. I found with two tablespoons the bread gets a soft chewy texture yet is crispy when toasted. At first I thought that it wasn't fully cooked. I like it and will probably use only 1 tablespoon and maybe mix it with molasses. The yeast may not be growing as strongly because I read that the barley sugars are more complex. Perhaps making the yeast work harder. I did notice that my bread didn't rise as tall as it does with molasses or brown sugar I usually use.

[paulj]

The sourness may have something do with it. I wonder if it has fermented.

The sugar or molasses is not required to get a good rise, at least not white flour. The nonknead recipe that been discussed a lot does not have any sugar or the like. However a whole wheat bread may benefit more from added sugar.

There are a couple of reasons why your malt extract is not as sweet. It may not be pure maltose, and maltose does not taste as sweet (to humans) as sucrose. Maltose is 2 glucose molecules, sucrose is a glucose and a fructose. I don't know if yeast has the same taste preference as humans. It may like maltose just as well as sucrose.