Diastatic or Non-diastatic Malt Flour

Q: I need diastatic flour / non-diastatic flour - which product is this?

There is an in-depth article on this here.

A: Malt flour roasted below a specific temperature leaves the enzymes intact, and is diastatically active. Diax is called for in some recipes as a natural improver to lift dough more and to improve both the crust and crumb. It is pale in colour.

If the barley malt flour is roasted to a higher temperature then it takes on colour and is used in small quantities for colouring bakes. Roasted Barley Malt (RBM) for example is often used in bagels to give a warmer colour. Nut-brown and red-malt are often found in malt-loaves. These are non-diastatic and so will not improve the crust, crumb or fermentation, unlike Diax.

9 Nov 2021