Toast and Water
Ingredients
Directions
Toast the bread
Toast the bread slowly until very brown but not black.
Steep and cool
Plunge the toasted bread into a little boiling water.
Fill a jug with cold water and add the bread.
Cover the jug and let it cool completely until the water is bright brown.
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
- Bread
- Toasting browns the crust, supplying the colour and roasted flavour of the water.
- Boiling water
- Hot water dissolves colour and flavour compounds from the toasted bread.
- Cold water
- Forms the main liquid that slowly takes on the toast's colour and flavour as it cools.
The step that matters
Toast slowly until very brown but not black. Browning through Maillard reactions builds roasted flavour, while burnt carbon tastes bitter and harsh. Slow toasting gives even colour without scorching.
“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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