Toast and Water
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the bread
Cut the bread into very thin slices.
Toast the slices on both sides until completely brown, but not burnt.
Make the toast water
Place the toasted bread in a deep stone or china jug.
Pour enough boiling water over the bread to make the desired amount of drink.
Cover the jug with a saucer or plate and let it cool until cold.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Stale bread
- Toasted bread gives the water its color, toasty aroma and mild flavor.
- Boiling water
- Hot water extracts flavor and color from the toasted bread surface.
The step that matters
Toast until brown, not burnt. Toasting builds browning flavor through the Maillard reaction and caramelization. Burnt bread adds bitter, acrid notes that carry into the water.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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