This traditional British tealoaf has a gooey, squid-like taste with the perfect malty flavour. I love to eat it warm with a little (or a lot) of salted butter.
nicky’s memo
I feel like I ate more of this malt bread than regular bread last month!
I made a lot of malt bread using two whole boxes of bran cereal. That’s why we all love malt bread.
Even my teenage son, who at first called it “old man’s cake” (teens love it), eats it as an after-school or pre-football snack.
Usually malt loaf is made with raisins, but this version uses half raisins and half chopped medjool dates.
I made this to replenish the dates in my cupboard after I ran low on raisins, and I’ve never changed it since. It adds extra stickiness and a gorgeous caramel molasses flavor.
We hope you like this piece as much as we do.
📋 Malt loaf ingredients
***Full recipe with detailed measurements is provided in the recipe card below***
All-bran – I said all-bran here, but I recommend using the supermarket own brand version. Because the branded version has something added that prevents the bran from becoming soggy (and the bran needs to become soggy in order to properly mix into the rest of the ingredients). Molasses – Adds an extra sweet, sticky molasses flavor. If you don’t have molasses, you can replace it with molasses. Dates – I use Medjool dates, de-stoned and chopped. It’s well worth the extra effort. However, you can omit the dates and double the raisins if you prefer.
🧑🍳 Shortened recipe
***Full recipe with detailed instructions is in the recipe card below***
Soak bran sticks in black tea to make them sticky. Add flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, raisins, dates, molasses, and eggs and mix. Transfer to a loaf pan and bake (see recipe card below for ingredient amounts and timing).
I like to slice and eat it while it’s still warm.
recipe tips
For easier cleanup, use loaf pan liners (I use these liners (<– aff link) for my 2 pound loaf pans). You can enjoy the sliced bread as is, but spreading it with salted butter will really bring out the bread's sweet malt flavor.
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🍰 Even more fruity pancakes
Make-ahead and leftover guide
This malt bread can be stored at room temperature for 5-7 days. Wrap in a layer of parchment and foil. It also cools down well. Slice the malt bread (place parchment paper between the slices if you want to remove the slices individually), wrap in a layer of parchment paper and foil, and freeze in an airtight container. Thaw on parchment paper and foil at room temperature.
📺 See how to make
Heat the oven to 180C/360F (fan) and line a 2lb loaf tin with a loaf liner.
Add the bran sticks and tea (remove the tea bags!) to a large bowl, mix and let stand for 5 minutes until softened.
100 g (1+3/4 cup, loosely packed) Branstick cereal, 240ml (1 cup) of freshly brewed strong black tea
After 5 minutes, mix (it should be soft and quite smooth) and add flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, raisins, chopped dates, molasses and eggs.
190g (1.5 cups + 1 tablespoon) soft flour (all-purpose flour), 3 teaspoons baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt, Light brown sugar 200g (1 pack), 100g (1/2 cup) raisins, 6 Medjool dates (chopped) 1 tablespoon molasses, 1 medium egg, lightly beaten
Mix together with a wooden spoon or spatula and transfer to the prepared loaf pan.
Place in the oven for 45-50 minutes, until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and let cool in the mold for 10 minutes. Place on a cooling rack to cool for another 10-15 minutes before slicing.
I like to eat it warm with a little salted butter.
You can serve it cold, or you can warm it up in the microwave for 10 seconds after each slice.
Nutritional information is approximate per slice based on 12 slices of this bread.
calorie: 212kcal | carbohydrates: 52g | protein: 4g | fat: 1g | Saturated fat: 0.2g | Polyunsaturated fats: 0.3g | Monounsaturated fats: 0.2g | Trans fat: 0.002g | cholesterol: 14mg | sodium: 83mg | fiber: 4g | sugar: 27g
Nutritional information is automatically calculated and should only be used as a rough guide.
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