Malt Bread

This dark, sticky malt bread is a British teatime classic made surprisingly easy in a bread machine. Cocoa powder and molasses give it that deep, almost black-treacle color and rich malty flavor, while golden raisins add pops of fruity sweetness throughout.

What makes this unusual is the use of self-rising flour instead of bread flour and yeast. The leavening is already in the flour, so the bread rises differently than a typical yeast loaf. The result is denser and more cake-like, closer to a quick bread in texture. That’s traditional for British malt loaf, which is meant to be sliced thin and spread with butter.

Brown sugar, molasses, and cocoa together create a flavor that’s deep, bittersweet, and almost toffee-like. It’s not overtly sweet, just warmly rich.

Kitchen Tips

• Use the quick bread or cake cycle on your bread machine if it has one. The standard yeast bread cycle may overwork a self-rising flour dough.
• Slice thin. Malt bread is dense and rich, so thick slices can be overwhelming. Think half-inch slices at most.
• Spread with salted butter while still slightly warm. The butter melts into the dense crumb and the salt plays beautifully against the sweetness.
• This bread keeps well wrapped in foil for several days. It actually gets stickier and more flavorful as it sits.

Variations

• Treacle version: Replace the molasses with black treacle (if available) for a more authentically British flavor.
• Mixed fruit: Swap golden raisins for a mix of dried currants, raisins, and candied peel for a fruitier loaf.
• Tea-soaked raisins: Soak the golden raisins in strong black tea for 30 minutes before adding for extra depth.