Toast and Water
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut a slice of stale loaf bread very thin.
Toast the bread on both sides until browned, but not burned.
Make the drink
Place the toast in a deep jug.
Pour enough boiling water over the toast to make a drink.
Cover the jug with a saucer or plate and let it cool completely before serving.
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 loaf bread
- Toasted bread provides the browned, roasted flavour that gives the drink its character.
- Boiling water
- Hot water extracts flavour and colour from the toasted bread as it steeps.
The step that matters
Toasting the bread until browned but not burned. Browning drives the Maillard reaction and caramelisation, which create the toasty flavour. Burnt bread turns bitter and carbonised, spoiling the drink.
“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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