Toast…
Toast. I absolutely love the stuff. Which makes my job as a baker probably the most wonderful career imaginable.
For me, the perfect piece of toast has to first of all be the right thickness – not too thick, not too thin. I’ve always thought that our in-house bread slicer is great for sandwiches, but at 11mm thickness, it has never been right for toast. (Unless you’re making cheese toasties, in which case 11mm is perfect) And this is why I’m quite excited about the new 13mm slicer that will hopefully be arriving any day soon.
13mm, now that’s the perfect thickness for toast in my book.
So once the thickness is right, the perfect piece of toast has to be crispy and chewy at the same time. While I think our light rye is a great toaster with just the right crisp / chewy balance, my personal all time favourite toasting loaf is our Bondgate Bakery sourdough. It has a wonderfully crispy crust that makes loads of noise when you bite into it and has a satisfyingly chewy texture, not to mention a fantastic punchy flavour. Delicious.
And, then of course there’s the question of what goes on top. I like different spreads with different breads, but most of all I really like Marmite on mine. Love the stuff, and I think it goes perfectly with all kinds of toast. Although certain breads absolutely ask for apricot jam.
A few weeks ago one of my customers brought me in some home made plum jam. I’m always too busy at the bakery to make jam so it was a much appreciated gift. Plum jam has such a big fruity flavour I think it goes perfectly with croissants, but like I say I’m more of a toast person and I’ve been enjoying it on white and oat toast. Perfect.
