Fresh bread can be a comfort food to a lot of people. The problem is that when we grab at the bag of supermarket white sandwich bread, we end up eating something that is addictive because of the sugar content, not substantial enough to be called roughage – really important part of diet. And it never satisfies in the way we expected.
Irish Malt Bread is a solid food when it comes to cheeses and jams, butter and a nice snack food to go with a drink in the middle of the day – or the middle of the night.
In every land bread is different, and that’s what makes bread so fascinating to us, when we travel we are confronted by various ideas of what a loaf of bread should look like.
Irish Malt loaf is one of those well received ideas where somebody used their loaf to get it right.
Irish Malt Bread contains less fat and less sugar than your average shop bought bread or biscuit.
For you to make a loaf of Malt Bread, Irish style and enjoy the delights of its sweetness and chewy textures, here is an easy to follow recipe.
Time to prepare about 15 minutes
Baking Time: approximately 25 minutes
Plus 3 hours proving time.
- 270g strong brown bread flour, plus extra for dusting
- 40g malted bread flour
- 4g fast-action dried yeast
- 55g malt extract
- two-thirds of a tbspn of Olive Oil plus a bit extra for the baking tin
- Take a large mixing bowl, put both flours into the bowl. Add two thirds of a teaspoon of salt to one side of the bowl, then all of the yeast to the other side of the bowl.
- Take a new bowl, put the malt extract into this bowl.
- Put 145 ML of water into the bowl and add the olive oil. Mix it well together and then add it to the main bowl where you have the flour and yeast mixed.
- Start to mix everything together into a rough dough. tip it out onto a smooth work surface and knead until it becomes a smooth dough. About 10 minutes.
- Put the dough into a clean bowl and cover with a tea towel. Leave it to prove for two hours (2 hours), until it becomes double in size.
- Lightly oil a 900 gram loaf-tin, roll out the dough into a barrel shape so the size will fit into the tin.
- Place the dough into the tin, cover with a tea towel again and leave for another one hour to prove.
- Heat oven to 220C /200C fan /gas Mark 6
- Bake the loaf for about 25 minutes until golden brown.
- Turn out onto bread rack to cool.
Irish Malt Loaf is best eaten with lots of butter and jam, a cup of coffee or tea brewed properly.
A great bit of grub to enjoy in those moments of relaxation.
If you enjoy the idea of baking breads and biscuits you should get yourself a book to follow, here’s a really good baking book that is always good for instructions and ideas.
Some of the links on my blog are recommendations for utensils and books about cooking, these are affiliate links. I receive a small commission if something is purchased, the prices are the same to you.
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