Malt Powder, made with wheat berries, bought from the local market. Soaked in water for 3 days, and it started to puff with white sprouts coming out. Dried naturally and grind into powder.
With the last bagel experience, it was a little too salty, and it didn't puff as much. The taste was just normal, although chewy. I just had to try again this recipe to see what is so different if I use malt powder. I had to make my own. Patiently, I waited 3 days for the wheat berries to sprout. I saw some white stuff, it didn't quite sprout like what I saw in Dan Lepard's book - The Handmade Dough. But I went ahead anyway. Using my food grinder, I grind it into powder form. I still did not have malt syrup, and I used brown sugar I did exactly the same as the last round, and this time, I didn't over rise it the 1st time, slightly over 1 hour. Shaped it, and this time, I made it bigger, 4 oz each, I managed to make 6 out of this batch. The last round was a little tiny and difficult to shape. Let is sit for 1 hour before I fridge it overnight for about 7 hours. I almost forgot about the ice water, which was critical process here. Well, I made it. The dough puffed nicely in the oven, although I had difficulty getting it off the baking paper and putting it directly on my iron cast skillet. Somehow, the 2nd batch didn't puff as much. I wonder why (see bottom right picture, on the right, it's the 2nd batch.) Could it be that the ice had all melted from the 1st batch of soaking, and the water not cold enough? Perhaps. The taste....this time, the taste is right, there's a certain sweetness perhaps from the malt powder? I wonder. Very very chewy. Bagels have to be made the right size, to get the right taste I guess. There's a certain satisfaction in me when I see these big bagels, that puffed up nicely, and chewy to the taste. Eat it when its warm...yum yum..  | Ingredients: Japanese Strong Flour: 450g Water: 261g Malt Powder: 3g Salt: 8g Yeast:1g Brown sugar enough to turn the water into tea colour. |
