Make Toast

Toast is almost as old as civilization itself, made by the early Egyptians to put some spark back in stale bread. It's still one of the most versatile, delicious, and completely perfect snacks for breakfast or as a side at any meal. You can make toast from any kind of bread in the toaster, in the oven, over a fire, and learn to top with a variety of different things to your taste. See Step 1 to learn more about making toast.

Steps

Choosing Bread

  1. Try regular sandwich bread. Whether white, wheat, or rye, traditional soft sandwich bread makes excellent toast. It's always pre-sliced and results in a uniform toast that's perfect for making crunchy sandwiches or as a side to breakfast dishes.
    • Soft white breads and other sandwich loaves tend to toast much more quickly than more hearty breads. Watch these kinds of bread closely to make sure they won't burn.
  2. Try out a denser loaf. If basic old white toast doesn't do it for you, try working with a denser crusty bread that'll yield a chewier toast with a crispy edge. Head to your local bakery and look for round loaves you can slice yourself and toast up to see what's good. Consider:
    • French loaves or baguettes
    • raisin loaves
    • challah
    • nine-grain or multi-grain breads
    • brown bread
  3. Choose pre-sliced bread, if it's available. Because it's difficult to slice bread uniformly, toast is most easily made with pre-sliced bread you can get at the store. Even if you're buying bread at the bakery, you can usually have them machine-slice your loaf before wrapping it up for you.
    • If you can't get bread that's machine-sliced, slice your own bread using a 'bread' knife. Aim for about 3/4 of an inch thick, slices that will be nice and thick but will also fit in the toast slots.
  4. Save old or stale bread for toast. If bread becomes too stale to use for sandwiches, don't throw it out. Toast it up! Throwing old bread in the toaster revitalizes it, and might have even been the catalyst for toast in the first place.
    • Toast was likely invented in ancient Egypt, where pyramid-builders were often paid in bread that would remain left outdoors for long periods of time, becoming stale. To make the bread more palatable, it was livened up a bit over open fires, making the first toasted bread.[1]

Making Toast in a Toaster

  1. Carefully put your slices of bread into the bread slots of the toaster. Trim off excess bread on the ends if the slices are too big to fit in the slots. Make sure the sides of the toast aren't rubbing against the heat coils.
    • If you cram it in, the ends are going to burn and stink up the kitchen. Make sure the slices aren't too thick or too wide.
  2. Choose the setting for the darkness of the toast. Depending on the type and thickness of the bread, and on how brown or crunchy you want it, set the knob higher or lower. If you are unsure, put on a low setting and if necessary after, repeat at a higher setting.
    • Toasters, especially cheap ones, are often unreliable in the "darkness" knob department. Many people complain that even at the highest setting, you need to toast multiple times. It's best to start it light to make sure you don't burn the toast, then increase if you need to toast it a second time.
  3. Push down the button to toast the bread. Keep an eye on the toaster to make sure it doesn't burn, then carefully remove the hot toast from the toaster after it pops up when it completes the cycle.

Making Toast in an Oven

  1. Put the slices of bread flat on the oven rack. The best way to evenly toast bread is in a convection oven or toaster oven. You can place the slices of bread on a baking sheet or pan, or you can place them directly on the rack.
    • Move the oven rack to the highest possible position in the oven to make toast. It's most efficient to use a high heat setting for a quick amount of time, preferably the broiler, which will use less energy by moving the toast closer to the heat source.
  2. Turn on the broiler of the oven, or set the heat on the toaster oven. The broiler, which heats the top of the oven only, is the quickest way to make toast. The only problem is that it can also burn quickly, so once you've set your desired temperature, you need to watch the bread closely so it doesn't burn.
    • If you have a gas stove, you'll likely have a separate broiler, which you can use to make toast. The only difference is that it'll be in a different location, probably below the main oven compartment, or on top of the range.
    • In most toaster ovens, you can set a timer that will turn off the oven at the appropriate time. It's still a good idea to watch it closely if you don't know your oven well.
  3. Use tongs to flip the bread over half-way through the toasting. If you've got your bread on a rack, or you're using a broiler, the side facing up is going to toast, but the side facing down will still be soft. When you see the top start to brown, flip the bread over to toast the other side.
  4. Remove the toast from the oven. Again, the broiler can quickly burn the toast, so remove it as soon as it looks nicely crisp and brown. It'll be black in another minute.

Making Toast in a Skillet

  1. Put bread flat in a skillet. The best, most even toasting that you can do on the skillet comes from a cast-iron skillet, with no butter or oil to grease it. Just put your bread into the pan dry and let the heat toast the bread.[2]
    • Adding the butter before it's even toasted? Why not. You can fry your toast in a little butter or oil to crisp it up and give it a golden crust. This is sometimes called "Texas toast," and it's delicious.
  2. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. When your bread is in, simply heat the skillet and toast it in the pan. The first side will take a bit longer while the pan heats up, so it's a good idea to keep an eye on it so you don't burn the bread.
  3. Flip the bread over periodically. Using tongs or a turner, flip your bread over when the underside is done and start toasting the other side. You might as well turn them regularly to make sure you're getting an even crunch on both sides of the bread.

Grilling Toast Over a Fire

  1. Heat a grill rack over an open flame. One of the most under-appreciated and completely delicious ways to enjoy a slice of toast is by throwing some bread or buns on the grill and letting the heat and smoke crisp them up. Try this after grilling burgers, or bratwursts to pick up any meat juices left on the rack, or liven up your next campfire breakfast with smoky toast.[3]
    • If you're using a campsite grill rack, try to clean it up first by scraping it with a spatula or a knife. They can be kind of rusty and stuck with gunk. Let it heat some in the fire to cleanse it, and then scrape off any carbon bits left on.
  2. Place bread slices or buns directly on the grill rack. You can drizzle a little olive oil onto slices of hearty French bread to get a nice crunch going, or you can just place bread directly onto the rack. Keep a close watch, because it'll toast up very quickly.
    • Leave the lid off the grill. It'll happen too fast to worry about conserving the heat. If you're over a fire-pit, stand close by and watch the toast. It'll be burned by an extra couple of seconds.
  3. Turn the bread over frequently. Toast over the grill can burn or even catch fire very quickly, so it's a good idea to keep it rotating from side to side, as you would a marshmallow. If it gets a little scorched, try not to worry too much.
    • It's difficult to get bread truly "toasted" over the fire, but that smoky scorching is a delicious alternative that's just as good.
  4. Go super-primitive. The early Romans made toast by laying out slices of bread on hot rocks close to the fire. It doesn't get any more simple than that. Lay out some bread on a rock and howl at the moon on your next camping trip.[1]
  5. Try out a "pudgy-pie" maker. The old camp classic is perfect for making toast or grilled sandwiches over an open fire. Basically, a pudgy-pie maker is a metal clamp with long handles that you can use to toast bread over a fire with.
    • Butter or oil both inside surfaces of the metal, then place your slices of bread (plain white bread usually works best) inside the maker and clamp it closed. Hold over the fire for a few minutes on each side and check it periodically to make sure it's not burning. Enjoy hot.
    • Making a grape jelly sandwich in the pudgy-pie maker over an open fire is a camp luxury you owe yourself. Like, now.

Using Toppings and Add-Ons

  1. Slice your toast in half, quarters, or leave whole. Traditionally, at old diners, the cooks would slice dry toast (without butter) in half vertically, and would slice buttered toast on the diagonal, so that the waitresses would could differentiate between them quickly and easily. Plus, everybody knows diagonally-cut toast tastes better, right?
    • The club sandwich is cut diagonally twice, while toast sticks--slice in several vertical strips, are commonly served with a soft-boiled egg, to make for easy dipping. Mix it up. Cut your toast however you most like to eat it.
  2. Spread a single topping on your toast. When you've got a perfectly-crispy slice of toast straight from the toaster, it makes a great vehicle for toppings. While you can obviously put anything on your toast you like, there are some classics. Common toast-topping options include:
    • butter or margarine
    • peanut butter
    • jelly or jam
    • Nutella
    • eggs, fried or scrambled
  3. Make cinnamon-sugar toast. It's hard to think of something more comforting and delicious to eat for a snack than toast with cinnamon and sugar-sweetened butter. To mix up this delicious topping for your toast, thoroughly combine the following ingredients in a small cup or bowl, and spread onto toasted bread:
    • 1/2 tablespoon of butter, soft
    • 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, ground
    • 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
  4. Make a toasted cheese. Great for a side to lunch or a snack in and of itself, a toasted cheese or a cheese toast is a simple slice of bread topped with melted cheese. Made traditionally with cheddar, you can use any cheese you like. To make it, the oven is your best bet.
    • Toast the bread on one side and remove from the oven. Top the untested side with slices of your favorite kind of cheese, or a shredded variety.
    • Return the bread to the oven so the bread continues toasting on the top side, melting the cheese at the same time. Remove from the oven when the cheese is bubbly and the toast is brown.
  5. Try mushrooms, beans, or chipped beef. While it may sound strange to the uninitiated, savory gravies are often used to top beans in English cuisine, for breakfast or snack.
    • Sautéed mushrooms make an excellent side to steaks or chops, especially when topping a slice of grilled toast.
    • Beans on toast is a staple of the full English breakfast, featuring a basic slice of toast with baked beans on top.
    • Creamed chipped beef on toast is Midwestern cooking at its finest, and a Military staple commonly referred to with a crude bathroom epithet (Hint: something on a shingle). Think of it as a poor man's biscuits and gravy.
  6. Take care of business with a Fried Elvis. In his later years, legend has it, the singer favored nothing so much as an enormous white-bread peanut butter, banana, grape jelly, and bacon sandwich, fried up in bacon grease. You think toast is good? Try frying it in bacon grease and topping it with that mess. You're in Fat-Elvis heaven. To make the sandwich:
    • Fry up a few slices of bacon in a skillet, reserving the grease. Remove the bacon and make a peanut butter sandwich on white bread, topping it with the bacon and a generous portion of sliced banana and your favorite jelly.
    • Return the whole sandwich into the skillet with the grease in it, frying it evenly on both sides and heating it throughout. When the bread becomes toasty and golden, it's ready to eat. Be sure to use a napkin.

Tips

  • If you burn the toast, you can still fix it. Take the flat side of a butter knife and scrape off the burned crumbs; be sure to do this over a trash can or sink, as this makes a mess. Always clean the mess. But, if the whole bread is totally burned, throw it in the trash and make a new one. This is why you must practice first on the lower settings of the toaster. Remember, practice makes perfect toast.
  • If you don't have a toaster or toaster oven, you can use a skillet. Try medium to medium-high heat. You'll have to turn the toast halfway through to toast the other side. A simple cast-iron or steel skillet is better than a nonstick one because the high heat without much wet food to absorb it can create hot spots that quickly damage nonstick coatings and melt the plastic utensils needed to not scratch them. A small plug-in electric griddle might work too; you'll probably need a high setting to brown it, or it will just slowly dry it.
  • If you use butter, spread it on the bread as quickly as you can after the bread comes out of the toaster. This way, the butter melts into the bread, and it is easier to spread because the toast is still hot.
  • Be careful with which setting you use. If you do not know what setting to use, refer to your toaster manual for help. If you use too high a setting, you may burn your toast. Always attend to the toast, watching for over-browning, do not walk away.
  • Put your sliced bread in the freezer to keep it freshest, toast slices as needed. Or, keep bread in a bread box on the counter. Storing bread in the refrigerator is commonly not recommended, but toasting fixes any staling the refrigeration may have caused.
  • Always seal the bread bag after use. It helps keep the bread from drying out.

Warnings

  • Don't stick your body parts or metal objects into the toaster. You could get burned or electrically shocked. Nylon tongs without any metal parts is a better choice for jammed bread. Or use wooden or bamboo chopsticks or tongs.
  • Don't walk away, always attend your cooking, watching it closely, as some appliances might stick in the 'on' position, or get too hot, and may cause a fire, as well as burning your toast.
  • Don't get your toaster or its cord anywhere near water. It's dangerous!

Things You'll Need

  • Bread
  • Bread knife (for unsliced bread)
  • Toaster, toaster oven, or stove and skillet
  • Butter (optional)
  • Butter knife (optional)
  • Oven Mitts (optional)
  • Toppings (optional)
  • Plate or a paper towel/napkin (recommended)

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Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/10/history-toast/
  2. ↑ http://www.foodrepublic.com/2013/05/20/how-do-you-toast-bread-without-toaster
  3. ↑ http://www.buffalonews.com/life-arts/recipes/its-time-to-toast-bread-over-fire-20130903
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