Toast Anp Wateb
Ingredients
Directions
Toast the bread thoroughly at a distance from a clear fire until evenly browned.
Place the toasted bread in a jug.
Pour enough cold spring water over the bread while still hot.
Cover the jug and let it stand for twelve hours.
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 provides browned, toasty flavour and aroma that infuse into the water.
- Cold spring water
- Water slowly extracts flavour and aroma from the toasted bread over the long standing time.
The step that matters
Toast the bread thoroughly until evenly browned. Browning drives the Maillard reaction and caramelisation, creating the toasty flavour compounds that the water will extract. Pale or uneven toasting gives a flat, weak flavour, and scorched patches add bitterness.
“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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