So you’ve never heard of malt loaf. Well that’s great, because I hadn’t either until I went to England 2 weeks ago and was offered a bite of this deliciously moist, sticky, “banana-bready” treat. Returning home what was the first thing I told my family about? Malt loaf. Sorry London Eye, you’re taking a back seat on this one. “I’ll make it for you guys,” I said. Well, here’s attempt numero uno:
Malt Loaf Attempt #1 (AKA “Molasses Bread”):
I thought it would be funny to keep a running dialog as I attempt this recipe, as there are so many more “steps” than normal. I’ve put this at the bottom of the post, below the final recipe and instructions. As I mention toward the end of my baking commentary, the molasses is very potent in this bread. Enjoy!
Crisco/baking spray and parchment paper
1/3 cup hot, strong black tea
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup mixed dried fruit
1 large egg, beaten
1 1/4 cup flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
Instructions:
- Coat/spray a loaf pan with grease and line with parchment paper.
- Preheat the oven to 300 F.
- While waiting for water to boil, combine molasses and brown sugar.
- Steep tea in hot water until dark and strong. Add tea to dried fruit and let soak for 3 minutes.
- Add egg to molasses/sugar mixture and stir well. Pour tea/fruit into wet mixture and stir again.
- Sift together dry ingredients and add to wet ingredients.
- Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Remove from pan and let cool on wire rack. Brush with additional molasses.
- Enjoy bread buttered with a cup of afternoon tea.
Malt loaf commentary:
9:40 am- I’ve decided on BBC’s Malt Loaf recipe as the one I intend to “translate”. Research online seems to indicate that it will be safe to substitute molasses for malt extract and regular brown sugar for its “dark muscovado” contemporary. No molasses in the house, so I’ve got to run down the street real quick to pick some up.
9:52 am- Molasses in hand I return home and begin converting grams and ml to cups. Silly Brits.
10:00 am- I am unable to find a solid conversion for grams of molasses to cups on the Internet. I decide to wing it. I also decide that I’m going to halve the recipe so as to lower my considerable potential for sticky failure.
10:05 am- I begin to combine ingredients, starting with the molasses and brown sugar. To make my fruit warm and plump I soak them in the hot tea for 1 minute. I also decide to add a dollop of the molasses/sugar mixture to the tea/fruit combo and zap it in the microwave for 30 seconds. Look, I’m being creative, don’t yell at me.
10:08 am- Pour the tea gunk into the molasses gunk. Add the beaten egg. Looks disgusting. Remember to preheat the oven to 300 F.
10:10 am- I sift together the dry ingredients, increasing the amount of baking soda and baking powder in the original recipe. Flat loaf = bad, I think to myself.
10:15 am- Ever so gently I incorporate the flour mixture into the molasses/sugar/fruit/tea/egg mixture. Still looks disgusting, just less runny.
10:20 am- The delicate balance of wet to dry ingredients is key in baking. I decide that the 1 cup of flour is not sufficient so I add another 1/4 cup to pull the batter together.
10:20 am- I’ve finished greasing and lining my loaf pan. The batter fills the pan about 1/3 of the way, which is about what I had expected.
10:25 am- Oven finishes preheating.
10:30 am- Kitchen is clean. Loaf is in oven. Timer set for 50 minutes. Now we wait…
11:15 am- I remove the loaf 5 minutes early because the toothpick tester comes out clean and, well, the smell is killing me.
11:17 am- I rummage the molasses back out of the cupboard and brush a few globs onto the warm loaf.
11:20 am- The verdict: yummy BUT nothing like what I had over in England, both in taste and texture. The extra leavening I threw in made my final product much less dense than the real mccoy, and the molasses gave it a very pungent flavor. I’d say this version is more molasses bread than raisin bread, as it was supposed to be. Nevertheless I like it. Definitely steer clear of this recipe if you aren’t a fan of molasses, though. Next time I think I’ll add more dried fruit and perhaps substitute some of the molasses for golden syrup or dark corn syrup. Hmmm….
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