Toast and Water
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the toast
Toast the bread thoroughly at a distance from a clear fire until evenly browned.
Place the toasted bread in a jug.
Steep
Pour enough cold spring water over the bread while still hot.
Cover the jug and let it stand for twelve hours.
For best results, prepare it overnight.
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
- Toasting browns the bread, adding roasted flavor that passes into the water as it steeps.
- Cold spring water
- Slowly draws flavor and color out of the toasted bread during the long steep.
The step that matters
Toast the bread thoroughly until evenly browned. Browning comes from the Maillard reaction and caramelization, which create the roasted flavor. Underdone bread tastes flat, while scorched patches add bitter 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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