Malt Bread

Did you know that golden syrup is gluten free?

Also, did you know that malt extract is even more syrupy and has a stringier consistency than golden syrup? My counter was covered in lines of malt extract like I'd waxed something.

Aside from the difficulties handling the malt extract, the cooking process was one of the easiest so far - although warming the milk with the syrup and malt ended with a weird consistency.

The mixture was unusually puffy too, so the malt clearly has an effect on the flour and it created a bizarre rise in the oven that made the loaf bulbous.

It's just a shame that the end result tasted so bland! I did have a cold at the time, so maybe my taste buds were inhibited, but the overall flavour was so dull with only a hint of malt at the end that I was really unimpressed by this bake. Pretty annoying considering the lengths I went to to even buy malt extract.

Malt Bread

400g self-raising flour

2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

100g sultanas or raisins

250ml milk

4 tbsp golden syrup

4 tbsp malt extract

2 eggs

Grease a 23 x 13 x 7.5cm loaf tin. Set the oven at 190C / gas 5. Sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl. Add the dried fruit.

Warm the milk, syrup and malt extract in a saucepan. Beat in the eggs.

Stir the mixture into the flour. Put into the prepared loaf tin.

Bake for 40-50 minutes, until a skewer pushed into the bread comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.