Hobz tal-Malti (Maltese Bread)

Yes, you can make this at home using a regular oven!

Step 1 - Preparing the starter

This is what the starter dough should look like

100g Plain Flour*
12g Gluten *
Pinch of Yeast
100ml tepid water

Mix flour and gluten together, add pinch of dried yeast, add water and work into a very sticky dough with a spoon. Cover with cling film and let rise for 6+ hours. No salt at this stage.

Step 2 - Feeding the starter

Starter dough after 6+hrs 

100ml tepid water, 

100g of flour 

12g of gluten.

 Mix flour and gluten together. In the same bowl that has the starter, add the 100ml water and dissolve lightly but not completely. Add the flour and mix everything together into a a very sticky dough. No salt at this stage! Cover and let rise again for 6+ hours.

Step 3 - Making the bread

Step 2 Starter after 6+hrs 

400g plain flour

48g gluten

7g instant yeast

300ml tepid water

1-2 tsp salt 

Take 1/2 of the dough from step two and put it in a large mixing bowl. Wrap the other 1/2 in cling film or an air tight plastic bag and store in the fridge for your next baking session! This will eliminate steps 1 and 2 next time you want to bake this bread again.

Mix the instant yeast in the 300ml tepid water and let it foam for a good 5-10 minutes. Add the flour (mixed with the gluten, very important to mix the flours beforehand) and salt to the mixing bowl with the 1/2 step 2 dough and add the water with yeast. Work into a dough, knead on a surface for a good 10 minutes until you have a nice elastic dough. Cover the bowl and let rise for about 3 hours.

During these 3 hours, you need to fold the dough twice. Fold the dough after the first hour (you should fold it 4-5 times each fold, if that makes sense :-P) and then again after the second hour. You can view this youtube video a instructions of how to fold the dough. It is important to just fold the dough and not knead the dough.

In the meantime, preheat your oven to 450 Fahrenheit. If you have a pizza stone, the result will be much better. If not you can bake the bread on a floured baking sheet, but I cannot stress enough the importance of investing in a pizza stone if you intend to bake this bread! 

After 3 hours and 2 folds, the dough should have doubled in sized. Place on a floured surface and gently shape into a ball, pressing the sides with the palm of your hands. Again, do not knead the dough as you would destroy the air bubbles that have been created with the folding process.

If you are looking to make Ftira, please click here.

Initially dough should be very sticky

Covered in cling film and wet kitchen paper

Final proof

Dust well with flour. Cover and let it prove for another 45 minutes. Before popping in the oven, add more flour to the surface or just flip the dough upside down (as the bottom will be uneven therefore more flour sticks to it), dust with more flour on top and pop on the pizza stone. Bake for a good 50 minutes if making one loaf. If you are splitting the dough to make two loaves, bake them together for 35 minutes.

Enjoy the bread! 

*High Gluten Flour - Bread flour in the US has only 4% of protein which is not enough for this kind of bread. I usually buy Bob's Red Mill Gluten Flour and add 12grms of this to a 100grms of plain flour. If you manage to find bread flour with at least 12% of gluten content then you don't need this. Do not add more than 12grms per 100g of flour otherwise the bread will turn out into a rubbery spongy texture.