We’re big fans of the Great British Bake Off, so we tuned into the recent inaugural series of Paul Hollywood’s Bread (and put his accompanying book onto our Amazon wishlist) with great interest.
One of the recipes he did which I’ve never attempted is malt loaf. Whenever I’ve had shop bought (and there seems to be just the one brand available in supermarkets!) I’ve always found it a dry, chewy and not very tasty. I thought I’d give it a try – surely I could do better!
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 3 tbsp malt extract
- 2 tbsp black treacle
- 25g/1oz butter, plus extra for greasing
- 350g/12oz strong white bread flour, plus extra for flouring
- 100g/3½oz strong wholemeal flour
- pinch salt
- 14g/½oz fast action yeast
- 225g/8oz sultanas
- 250ml/9fl oz warm water
- 1 tbsp warm honey, to glaze
Instructions
- Place the sugar, malt extract, treacle and butter in a pan and heat gently until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved. Leave to cool.
- Mix the flours, salt, yeast and sultanas in a mixing bowl.
- Pour in the cooled malt syrup mixture and the warm water. Mix thoroughly; the mixture will be soft and sticky.
- Turn the mixture onto a floured surface and knead gently for a few minutes to bring the mixture together.
- Grease two 450g/1lb loaf tins and divide the mixture among them. Smooth the mixture with the back of a spoon so that the top is smooth and level. Cover each tin with a plastic bag so that it is loose and not touching the top of the tin. Leave for a couple of hours, or until the dough has risen to the top of the tins.
- Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5. Remove the plastic bags and bake for 30-40 minutes. If the top of the loaf starts to brown too quickly, cover with a sheet of foil and continue baking.
- Remove from the oven and brush the top with warm honey to glaze. Cool on a wire rack.
- Slice and eat with butter.
