Malt Extract substitute

Best substitute

Barley malt syrup, malt syrup or non-diastatic malt powder

Use the same amount for the syrup; for powder use about ⅔ the weight of syrup and add a splash of water as the malt extract you are replacing

Best for bagels

Close match

Malt extract in a bread recipe is doing three things: feeding the yeast with easily fermentable sugar, adding a dark toasty flavour, and speeding up crust browning. It is not a structural ingredient, so a loaf will still rise without it. The first thing to check is your own cupboard, because liquid malt extract and barley malt syrup are the same product under two labels, and non-diastatic malt powder is the dried version. If you have none of them, honey works at 1:1 for a mild loaf, molasses at about 3/4 of the amount for a dark rye, and brown sugar at 1:1 by weight for browning without the malt flavour. The one thing no sweetener replaces is diastatic malt, because that version works by live enzyme activity rather than by taste.

Other malt extract substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Honey
Different taste
Use the same amount by volume
A simple sugar syrup the yeast can use immediately, which covers two of malt's three jobs: it feeds fermentation and it browns the crust.
What changes
Best for
bagels, soft sandwich bread and rolls, pizza dough, pretzels, bagel boiling water
The most practical swap for most home bakers. What you lose is the malt flavour itself: honey tastes floral and sweet where malt tastes toasty, slightly bitter and grainy, so a bagel made with honey is a good bagel that does not taste quite like a deli bagel. Honey is a touch sweeter than malt extract, so if the loaf is meant to be savoury, use a scant measure. It browns very readily, so keep an eye on the crust in the last few minutes.
3Molasses, treacle or dark brown sugar
Different taste
¾ the amount for molasses or treacle; 1:1 by weight for dark brown sugar plus a splash of water
Dark, mineral-heavy sugars that come closest to malt's roasted bitterness, which is why they work so well in the breads malt usually appears in.
What changes
Best for
rye and pumpernickel, malt loaf and fruit loaf, dark sourdough, brown soda bread, gingerbread
For a dark loaf this is arguably a better match than honey, because molasses shares malt's bitter edge and its colour. It is much stronger, though, so use three quarters of the quantity or the loaf will taste of treacle rather than malt. It also darkens the crumb noticeably, which is welcome in pumpernickel and odd in a pale bagel. Dark brown sugar is the gentler version of the same idea and gives colour and a little depth without dominating.
4Malted milk powder, such as Horlicks or Ovaltine's malt version
Different texture
1.5 times the weight of malt extract
Malt extract already blended with dried milk and sugar, so the malt flavour is right and simply diluted.
What changes
Best for
malt loaf, soft rolls and sandwich bread, malted milkshakes and desserts, cookies and traybakes
A surprisingly good option that many kitchens already have, and the flavour is unmistakably malt because malt extract is what it is made from. The dried milk in it changes things slightly: milk solids soften a crumb and brown faster, so a crust will colour sooner and the loaf will be a little more tender and less chewy. That is pleasant in a sandwich loaf and works against you in a bagel, where chew is the point. Check the label, since chocolate malt drinks are a different thing entirely.
5Plain sugar, for browning only
Different taste
Use the same amount by weight, plus a splash of water
The bare minimum.
What changes
Sugar feeds the yeast and browns the crust and contributes no malt flavour at all.
Best for
bagels and bagel boiling water, pizza dough, rolls, any recipe using a very small amount of malt
Perfectly adequate when malt is a minor ingredient, which in many bread recipes it is: a tablespoon in a kilo of flour is there mostly to help the crust colour. Where it falls short is any bread whose identity is malt, such as a malt loaf or a proper bagel, and there is no way around that. If you have a teaspoon of instant coffee or a spoonful of dark brown sugar to add alongside it, you will get a little of the roasted depth back.
6Nothing at all
Different taste
Omit, and give the dough a longer, cooler rise
The honest answer for most bread, since malt extract is a flavour and browning ingredient rather than a structural one.
What changes
Best for
sourdough and lean doughs, rustic loaves, pizza dough, focaccia
The loaf will rise and bake perfectly well. Two things will be different: the crust will be paler and matte rather than deep brown and glossy, and the flavour will be plainer. Both are partly recoverable. A long slow ferment in the fridge, twelve hours or more, lets the flour's own enzymes release sugars and develops real flavour and colour with no added ingredient. In a bagel recipe, leaving malt out of the dough is survivable, but leaving it out of the boiling water costs you most of the characteristic shine.

What is Malt Extract?

Malt Extract is the concentrated sugary liquid pressed from sprouted barley, sold either as a thick dark syrup or as a free-flowing dried powder, and used in small amounts in bread, bagels and biscuits for sweetness, deep malty flavour and faster, darker browning in the oven.

Cooking tips

Check whether your recipe wants diastatic or non-diastatic malt before you substitute anything, because the two are not the same job. Non-diastatic malt extract, which is what most recipes and jars mean, is a flavouring and a sugar, and honey, molasses or sugar can stand in for it. Diastatic malt works through live enzymes that break flour starch into sugar during fermentation, and no sweetener replaces that.
Liquid malt extract and barley malt syrup are the same product, and dried malt extract is the same thing dried. If a recipe sends you searching, look again at what is already on your shelf, because the labelling varies more than the contents do.
When you swap a dry malt powder for a liquid extract or the reverse, adjust the dough water. Powder has no moisture, so replacing a tablespoon of syrup with powder means adding roughly a teaspoon of water, and going the other way means holding a teaspoon back. In a stiff bagel dough, that small difference is noticeable.
Malt extract makes crusts brown fast. Any of these substitutes will too, since they are all sugars. If your loaf is colouring before it is baked through, tent it with foil rather than dropping the oven temperature, so the crumb still sets properly.
For bagels, the malt in the boiling water matters as much as the malt in the dough. A tablespoon of malt extract, honey or barley malt syrup in the pot is what gives a bagel its glossy, slightly sweet, chewy skin. Baking soda in the water gives shine too but pushes the flavour towards a pretzel.

Frequently asked questions

What can I substitute for malt extract in bread?

Honey at 1:1 is the easiest, and it feeds the yeast and browns the crust just as well, though it tastes floral rather than toasty. For a dark loaf like rye or pumpernickel, use molasses at about three quarters of the quantity, since it shares malt's bitter edge. Plain sugar at 1:1 by weight handles browning if malt was only a minor ingredient in the recipe.

Is malt extract the same as malt syrup?

Yes, in almost every practical sense. Liquid malt extract, malt syrup and barley malt syrup all describe the same thick dark syrup pressed from sprouted barley, and they swap 1:1. Dried malt extract, also sold as non-diastatic malt powder, is that syrup dried; use about two thirds of the weight and add a splash of water to keep the dough hydration where the recipe intended.

Can I use diastatic malt powder instead of malt extract?

Only in a very small amount, and it is not a like-for-like swap. Diastatic malt contains live enzymes that break down flour starch, so using it in place of a tablespoon of malt extract will over-soften the dough and give you a slack, sticky, gummy loaf. If it is all you have, use around half a teaspoon per 500g of flour for the browning effect and make up the rest of the sweetness with honey or sugar.

Can I just leave malt extract out of a bread recipe?

Yes. It is a flavour and browning ingredient, not a structural one, so the dough will still ferment and rise. The crust will be paler and less glossy and the loaf will taste plainer. Giving the dough a long cold ferment in the fridge, twelve hours or more, recovers much of the colour and flavour for free, because the flour's own enzymes release sugars over time.

What is the best malt extract substitute for bagels?

Honey, at 1:1, both in the dough and in the boiling water, and it is what many bagel recipes call for anyway. The result is excellent but slightly less deli-like, because honey is floral where malt is toasty. Barley malt syrup, if you can find it, is the same thing as malt extract and is the true answer. Do not skip the sweetener in the boiling water, since that step is what gives a bagel its shiny, chewy skin.

Related substitutes

More baking substitutes

Malt Extract substitute

Other malt extract substitutes

2Honey

3Molasses, treacle or dark brown sugar

4Malted milk powder, such as Horlicks or Ovaltine's malt version

5Plain sugar, for browning only

6Nothing at all