Malt loaf update

 though you will I doubt go for this, this is the  sticky in the loaf..

 diced dates,,,, you can't tell they are there,  try it, just once. I do have a recipe that a friend sent me from UK that I will look out tomorrow for you. though it is not "the"

malt loaf...... qahtan

where are you???????

 Oooops, sorry I looked for the recipe that I thought I still had, but it was the one with Sultatnex in it.. sorry about that.

 qahtan

...for a sticky date malt loaf which I could post if you'd like.

Soreen have been making malt loaf for quite a while and I've enjoyed their product for many years  and frankly don't care if it's Delia's ingredient du jour. 

One suggestion I would make is that as with other mixtures that use syrup - you might want to let the final baked loaf 'mature' or 'ripen' over the course of a week (keep it tightly wrapped in a tin).  This works great with fruit cake and gingerbread. I'm pretty sure it would do wonders for malt loaf also.

Do you still want it?  It's got dates, nuts, sultanas, and raisins, along with treacle and malt extract.

Hello all,

I am wandering down the dark and mysterious side-track of trying to make something like Soreen, the English sticky block of malt bread, with the ‘secret recipe’ .And I found lots of posts and interesting things here so thought I would post what I did yesterday, though the results were not the answer sadly.

I made two malted loaves yesterday.

No 1, trying to figure out the recipe with the help of Dougal’s post here. The results were edible, just, but not really right.

So no 1
had 64 grams of raisins soaked in 50 grams of warm water. Later added 50 grams of milk to this just before mixing.
145 grams of a mix of plain (soft) white flour and strong bread flour
27 grams of tapioca flour (for the starch)?
10 grams of something called nutbrown flour
3 grams of diastatic malt flour (Diax)
4 grams of salt
20 grams of barley malt organic syrupy stuff) 
10 grams of molasses (treacle)
13 grams of a white vegetable fat
6 grams fresh bakers yeast



Basically I mixed the dry ingredients together, rubbed the fat into the flour mix, added the fresh yeast with the liquid ingredients, and mixed it all very well together.  Left in an oiled tin to rise, it took about 2 hours at  room temperature (here about 20 degrees C). It got to the top of the tin by this point, I probably leift it a bit long. 

At this point I put No 2 together, which was a Fruit malt loaf recipe of Dan Lepard’s from the Guardian which is made with barley malt syrup, golden syrup and molasses and raised with baking powder.

 You can find the recipe on Dan’s website. I hadn’t made that before so I thought I would give it a whirl, though I could see from the ingredient list it wouldn’t make anything like a Soreen bread.    Raised with baking powder. So I had weighed out all the ingredients earlier, and just put it together so that both breads could use the same oven.

Oven preheated to 170 C on a fan setting. 

The Lepard recipe makes a very tasty but cake like well risen block, low in fat and high in malt and syrup sugars and very delicious,  with a scrape of unsalted butter, good for taking out on a cold winter walk as a reward at the end.-  but not Soreen at all.  

The experimental malt loaf has something of the texture of the Soreen, and a hint of the look,  but too many raisins and not quite dark or sticky enough. Today, the day after baking,  it was hard and not something you want to eat at all. But I didn’t think I would get it right first time.  I am going to take a break now from these and return to my normal baking, if I feel the urge to try again I’ll let you know, or if anyone comes up with a recipe for it in the meantime..... Here are pics, guess which one is which?

The collapsed one had a sticky quality about it, but not enough!  I will have to work on the recipe and see if I can get it better, though I suspect there is some super sticky malted product in the Soreen that one simply can't get hold of.   Here is the link to the recipe for the other one, cake really, made with baking powder, and all the sugars are syrups and malts,  regular flour, so not sticky at all, but not dry, something like a treacley slab of tea loaf/fruit cake

recipe and method here: http://www.danlepard.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1269. I haven't asked there about making Soreen though, as I  tend to stick to DL's recipes on his forum.

(The countertops are recycled glass in some sort of resin,  made in the uk, don't show the crumbs at all! )

I am a ex pat living in Austin, Texas, craving all things British.  I attemted to make a malt loaf but alas, nothing compared to Soreen.  Then, at the Outback Restaurant, they served soft brown bread, shortly after I had made a couple of rye loaves, and read someone's comments about addng dates, and it got me thinking....so here is the recipe that I used.  Not perfect but in my daughter's words, 'You're nearly there!'  The taste is similar and the consistency gooey. (The recipe is in cups as it has been adapted from a American recipe).  I use a mixer with bread hooks but have made it by hand.

2 packs of yeast 1/4 ounce each; 1.5 cps of warm water. 1/2 cup molasses (I used tate and lyle's black treacle), 2oz of butter; 2 cups rye flour, 2tsp salt, 3.5 - 4 cups strong white bread flour; 4oz malt extract; 1 cup raisins; 2 packs of putted dates (about 4 oz); 1 tsp golden syrup

Put dates in processor so they are chopped very small. Mix warm water and yeast. Melt butter with golden syrup; treacle and malt extract.  Add salt.  oour into water mixture. Add rye flour, dates, and enough white flour to form a sticky dough.  knead until smooth (try and keep as sticky as possible but pliable to work with by hand).  grease bowl, turn dough once to grease and leave to rise.  (I put a cloth over the bowl and leave on the kitchen table for a few hours).  Punch down dough and add raisins.  Separate into four oval loaves.  Put on baking tray(s), cover and leave again to rise.  Cook on 350 for about 25 mins (or until hollow sounding). 

As I said, it is 'almost' there.  Would love to hear from anyone who has any further ideas!

Chunkyman, I am sure you are right about letting the bread stand wrapped up. Thanks for the recipe I will try it soon.

Tracie, that sounds very interesting, though dates aren't in the soreen list of ingredients, but it sounds like a really good idea, improving on soreen maybe! I have heard dates add longevity to breads as well.

A bit off topic but  I just made a tamarind date walnut cake from a new Dan Lepard recipe with a cardamon icing and it is really, really good. Moist and sticky from the dates, a little sharpness from the tamarind and a hit of cardamon in the icing. And really easy to mix.  If you are working with dates it is much easier to put them in hot water first to soften them and then whizz them. I only worked this out after blunting several knives! Here is a crumb shot to give you the idea

 Dan Lepard's Tamarind Date and Walnut Cake with Cardamon Icing

Hi, everyone,

I have been searching for ever for the traditional English recipe for dark malt loaf, being married to an Englighman.  Every loaf I have ever tried, and there have been a few, have been a complete disaster. Then I discovered your site.  I have not come across any of the suggestions that have been given here, but I'm sure as heck not adversed to giveing them a try!!.

I might even be able to find out why it is that my cakes are always picture perfect but my bread, yeah, we'll get to that later.

Anyway, Very quickly, I live with my husband in a small rural town called Tintinara, (total of 400 residents), about 200km SE of Adelaide in South Australia.  I am 54 years old, mother to  (wait for it 7 children), (between hubby and myself) and 11 grandchildren.

I enjoy cooking, quilting, embroidery,  and meeting people. So that's me in a nut shell.

Thanks for your helf so far

Happy cooking.

Country Girl