Toast-and-Water
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut a slice from a stale loaf, preferably a piece of hard crust.
Toast it until golden brown on all sides, avoiding burning.
Steep and serve
Place the toasted bread in a jug and pour boiling water over it.
Cover the jug closely and let it sit until cool.
Strain the mixture 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 bread
- Toasted bread gives the water a golden colour and a mild toasty flavour.
- Boiling water
- Hot water extracts flavour and colour from the toasted crust as it steeps.
The step that matters
Toasting the bread until golden, not burnt. Toasting builds the colour and toasty flavour that the water picks up. Burnt bread turns the drink bitter and acrid, so stop once the bread is evenly golden on all sides.
“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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