Toast Water, or Crust Coffee
Ingredients
Directions
Make the brew
Toast stale bread crusts until dark brown, being careful not to burn them.
Place the toasted crusts in a large pitcher and cover with boiling water.
Cover the pitcher and let steep until cold.
Finish and serve
Strain the mixture and sweeten to taste.
Serve with a piece of ice in each glass.
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 crusts
- Toasting browns the crusts, adding roasted, toasty flavour to the brew.
- Boiling water
- Hot water extracts the toasted flavour from the crusts as they steep.
The step that matters
Toast the crusts until dark brown without burning. Toasting develops the roasted, coffee-like flavour through browning reactions. Pale crusts give a weak brew, while burnt crusts add bitter, acrid notes that carry into the whole 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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