The writer has watched carefully the growth of a great many doughs during the course of fermentation, both with sugar and malt, and while the malt process is shorter it is much more gentle than the sugar and gives a more compact dough from start to finish. It will also save the baker considerable money in the course of a year, as it saves sugar and cuts down yeast and you can almost if not entirely cut out shortening.
Too much malt should not be used, as it is a powerful factor in a dough and might defeat the purpose for which it is used. From one pint to one quart of 120 deg. malt to the barrel is a good proportion. Good results are obtained with one pint malt, one pound yeast, eight quarts milk to the barrel of flour. No sugar and no shortening. By a different process with the use of malt, one and a half barrels of flour can be worked with one pound of yeast, obtaining the best of results. Of course, some flours require more than the pint of malt to the barrel, but those flours would also require more sugar. A quart, however, may with safety be used to the barrel of flour.
A vast amount has been written on the subject of malt extract, many writers disagreeing as to its value. The following article by Henry A. Kohman, of the Fellowship in Baking Technology in the University of Kansas, covers the subject pretty thoroughly, pro and con:
It will be remembered by members of the National Association that last year the Executive Committee established a Fellowship in Baking Technology in the University of Kansas, and that Henry A. Kohman, of Lawrence, Kansas, was appointed to this position for a term of two years. The agreement between the association, on one hand, and the University of Kansas and Mr. Kohman, on the other, was that Mr. Kohman should devote his time and best attention in an endeavor to solve some of the chemical problems which so often perplex the baker, the result of his researches to be the property of the association, on terms to be mutually agreed upon.
At the February meeting of the Executive Committee, in Kansas City, Mr. Kohman was present and made a verbal report on the work so far accomplished by him, and was instructed to prepare a paper on the subject for publication in the trade press, which paper is given herewith. In transmitting his paper Mr. Kohman says that he has spent much time in collecting publications relating to the science of bread-making, in order to get a thorough understanding of the whole subject, and that in order to be practical as well as theoretical he has spent part of his time in the bakeshop.
The paper is as follows:
The Use of Malt Extract in Bread-Making.
When the National Association of Master Bakers made it possible for me to visit a number of the best bakeries in this country and Canada, I met with frequent inquiries in regard to the malt extract question. Some bakers used it to good advantage, but the majority used little or none. Looking over the formulas which I obtained through the kindness of the bakers in these different baking establishments, I find that only about five or six per cent. of the bread contains malt extract.