Fruity Malt Bread
At the half-way mark on my journey from Marin to my Mum's in Aptos, is a welcome cup of tea at my brother's house and also The British Food Center in Campbell. I was delighted to discover they carry Malt Bread in their freezer section. Malt bread is a food I fondly remember from childhood teas at my grandparents; the boozy, smoking grandparents who never seemed to worry too much about anything, except how the food tasted and that everyone was having a good time.
Malt bread is a dark, flavorful, sweet tasting bread with raisin. It is very sticky. I have yet to find a knife that slices it so the slices don't squoosh.
It's made with malt extract, which is made from sprouted barley processed with water.
The way to eat malt bread is topped with salty English butter (I use Kerrygold), along side a nice cup of tea. I haven't yet made it myself, but I plan to. Here's a recipe.
posted by Catherine at 11:24 AM
11 Comments:
It looks like a dark, rye raisin bread.. does it taste like that?
Hi melody - nope, it doesn't taste like rye bread although I've never had a rye raisin bread myself. It's more light a heavy raisin bread.
I'm in London now, but remember eating lots of it as a child in Lancashire.
Now, I like it with M+S's peppery cream cheese or, indeed, with hard cheese, but preferably one that can stand up to the strong malt and fruit flavours, like Lancashire or vintage Cheddar.
That sounds really good- I love being introduced to new foods. My parents lived in Englad for about 10 years before I was born, but I think their affection for the food got passed down to me!
Would it be all right with you if I linked to your blog from mine?
denzylle - I can't believe I didn't think of pairing this with cheese (guess they grandparents never did that). I must try that next time (I wish I'd bought more loaves- guess I'll just have to make them). Thanks for the recommendattion
bazu - you mean on your blogroll - of course. I'm adding yours to mine right now. Cheers!
I can find your recipe for malt bread and it sounds delish!
My mum used to put cheese on in Lancashire also, Sometimes she would slice an apple on it too. I'm in Tasmania now & have managed to get malt extract so here goes!
wiggy
have been looking for this malt bread recipe for years--BUT THE LINK TO YOUR RECIPE DOESN'T WORK ON MY SERVER. CAN YOU POST IT ELSEWHERE? OR SEND IT TO ME: REBECCAHILL@FRII.COM
tHANKS!
My sister brought this over to Australia from the UK on her last visit, and I have been on the look out for it ever since.
I can still remember the slightly sweet, malty taste with the chewy texture which gets stuck in your teeth. We ate it with a soft cheese, but butter also tastes good. So addictive
I haven't a clue why anyone would want to ruin a loaf of malt bread with sultanas, heavens.
English Malt Bread
To make 2 x 450g loaves
25g fresh yeast or 15g dried
300ml warm water
450g plain white or brown flour (not strong bread flour)
1 tsp salt
75g malt extract
50g black treacle (molasses ??)
25g block margarine
a little melted butter
crumble yeast and sugar in warm water and whisk until frothy,
Sift flour and salt in mixing bowl.
Melt margarine with treacle and malt over very gentle heat,
remove from heat as soon as melted. Stir the yeast mixture and
treacle mixture into the flour. Using wooden spoon beat well for 3 minutes.Spoon mixtureinto 2 greased 450g tins, cover and leave to rise for about an houror until mixture is almost to the rim. Bake in fairly hot oven Gas mark 6 400F or 200C for about 45 mins. A skewer should come out clean. Reduce heat after 25 mins if top browns too quickly. Remove from oven and brush tops with melted butter.
Cool on wire tray. Keeps for about a week (Fat chance) or will
freeze for 3 months.
Thanks so much for the recipe! I'm going to try this. I'd be happy to credit you if you'd like to email me your name (see my profile to get my email).
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