The pancake recipe in The Baker's Companion by KA calls for the addition of 1/4 Cup of malt aka "malted milk powder"(sic). Would this be diastatic malt used for breaking down starches or non-diastatic malt for just flavoring. I just want to be certain of which of the malts to purchase.
What's stated in the Companion and I'll paraphrase is that malt, instead of sugar, is used for sweetening most commercial pancake batters.
(EDIT) Has anyone out there tried using either of those two ingredients or the malted milk powder that KA sells????
Here's a little info I gleaned for you from freshloaf.com:
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 alsoaffects 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
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