Döhler debuts gluten-free barley malt for bakery

The German company already has a gluten-free extract for use in beer but spent time re-working the malt so it could be incorporated into breads, breakfast cereals, bars and cookies.

Ingo Schlüter, head of sales Europe at Döhler, said the liquid extract held all the appeal of regular malt, without the gluten.

“It has a sweetness effect - this great roasted note that a regular malt extract has,”​ he told BakeryandSnacks.com at ISM/ProSweets 2015 in Cologne this week, where Döhler launched the ingredient.

He said the extract also enhanced the color and texture of gluten-free baked goods, adding a brown hue to baked goods and replacing the lost structure in the gluten-free products.

These factors were important, he said, because “there was still a lot of improvement for quality” ​in the category.

Patented gluten removal​

Döhler produces the barley malt in a very similar way to regular malt production but with an added, patented step to remove the gluten. 

Schlüter said the product was not the same as its gluten-free barley for beer and was made using a “completely different process”. ​Made in Germany, using European barley, the extract is available globally.

“We see interest from everywhere, particularly in the UK; I don’t have to tell you that gluten-free or health-related products are very popular there. We also see interest from everywhere in Europe but there are also global customers showing a very high interest, like Latin America.”​

Asked how the cost compared to other malt extracts, Schlüter said it was higher but the benefits outweighed this increase.