Great British Bake Off: Malt loaf too tricky for millennials who 'may never have heard of it'

The Great British Bake Off has flummoxed its contestants with many obscure recipes over the years, from the Spanische Windtorte to Dampfnudel, Kouign-amann, and of course the Sussex pond pudding.

This year, the bakers faced their most perplexing technical challenge of all: the humble malt loaf.

It may have been a teatime staple for generations, but most of the younger contestants had no idea how to make one. Prue Leith, the show’s judge, said: “This is a really old-fashioned recipe and those of you who are under 35 may never have heard of it.”

In their first technical challenge of the new series, the 12 bakers had to follow the recipe, expressing their bafflement along the way.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen malt extract before,” said Freya, the youngest contestant at 19.

Malt loaf was also unknown to some of the bakers who were raised outside the UK.

Giuseppe, an Italian engineer now resident in Bristol, said: “I’m over 35, well over 35, so in theory I should know what this looks like. In reality, I don’t have a clue.”

Freya did a creditable job in the challenge by following the instructions to the letter, and managed to be placed second.

Perhaps it was no surprise, however, that the winner of the challenge was this year’s oldest contestant: Maggie, 70, a retired midwife from Poole in Dorset.

“As Prue said the under-35s won’t know what it is, of course all the under-35s said, ‘Do you know what it is, Maggie?’ And, of course, yes I do!”

Rush for ingredients

The inclusion of malt loaf in the programme may lead to a rush on supermarkets for the key ingredients: malt extract, black treacle and sultanas or raisins. Leith’s recipe also included prunes.

Other cooks who have produced malt loaf recipes include Nigel Slater, who said that he had re-discovered it after many years.

“I have no idea when I stopped eating malt loaf; I only know that I did. Perhaps it was its resolutely unfashionable character that sent me looking elsewhere,” he wrote in the Observer Food Monthly.

Millennial bemusement

Malt loaf is not the only traditional recipe to bemuse millennials.

Last week, a survey of 24-35-year-olds, carried out by Aldi, found that 46 per cent of respondents thought that spotted dick was a made-up dish and 16 per cent believed toad in the hole was cooked with toad and potatoes.

One in five had never tried a Scotch egg, and 18 per cent did not believe that it was a real foodstuff.

This is the 12th series of Bake Off, which has become Channel 4’s most-watched programme.

Two years ago, the show was criticised for its youthful line-up of contestants, and this year the age range is broader. Maggie was encouraged by the producers to set up Instagram and Facebook pages to deal with the public interest.

She joked BBC Radio Solent, her local station: “The technical stuff is so much more complicated than baking anything at all. Any amount of French patisserie is not as complicated as trying to work social media.”

In one of her first Instagram posts, she modelled a T-shirt given to her by a friend, which bore the slogan: “Assuming I’m just an old lady was your first mistake.”