Your favorite bread for toast

[weinoo]

What with all the talk about toaster ovens, it got me thinking. About bread, that is. And toast.

What is the best bread for toast? Is it home made? White? Wheat? Rye?

Please, tell us your experiences.

And - thanks.

[Lisa Shock]

I like sourdough, a good one will have a springy texture.

[Porthos]

Milton's Healthy Whole Grain - toasted and buttered, nothing else on it. This bread brings so much flavor to the party it's amazing.

Edited December 26, 2013 by Porthos (log)

[robirdstx]

Rye, of any kind, is my favorite bread for toast. Lightly toasted and buttered. But I also love plain bagels and English muffins, toasted to medium, and slathered with butter and cream cheese.

Edited December 27, 2013 by robirdstx (log)

[lesliec]

Any of the Artisan 5 Minute breads I've made is good, although the stuff is so moist it often needs extra time in the toaster. I think I prefer the rye or other wholemeal if I'm having something like cheese and tomato, and the white for marmalade. There is no good reason for this preference, and in practice I put whatever I want on whatever type of bread I've got at the time.

[teapot]

My favorite is a homemade sourdough with a bit of rye added.

[gfweb]

Toast is for people older than I.

[Martin Fisher]

Rye is my favorite toast.

[Bill Klapp]

Pane di Altamura from Puglia, which you must be able to find in NYC somewhere. Uses semolina in the mix to create something that stays moist and fresh for days. Much lighter than the typical artisanal sourdough loaf one finds these days, which gets really tiresome to eat after a while. Altamura has a slight spongy quality, which makes it a bit like English muffin bread, but with a lot more flavor (and fewer nooks and crannies). Also makes terrific sandwiches...

Edited December 30, 2013 by Bill Klapp (log)

[Shel_B]

Lately I've been on an English muffin kick, and have found the commercial EMs pretty bland and lacking any nice crunchiness. However, the Cheeseboard bakery in Berkeley makes fresh EMs daily, and I like those pretty much. I've been studying EM recipes, and plan to make my own after the holiday season slows down, but I want to make an EM type loaf in a standard loaf pan.

[rotuts]

AmTest Kitchen via Cook's Country made an EM loaf:

http://www.cookscountry.com/recipes/6922-english-muffin-bread

you need to be a subscriber but you get the idea

its on my list to do. it certainly looked good on the show they made it.

better yet look here:

http://avidinkling.com/2013/01/27/english-muffin-bread/

Edited December 30, 2013 by rotuts (log)

[weinoo]

Isn't an English muffin by definition a muffin, not a bread?

[rotuts]

EM's have a certain texture and flavor. that can translate to a loaf.

my on current fav. is the one I make from scratch in my Bread Machine. you go it.

the Rx comes from KAF and has roughly 1/3 white whole wheat, the rest bread white flour.

no sugar, no fat. take me a minute to the point I push the button on the machine

excellent toast cut thick then Breville'd

for some reason the crust must be thinly cut off: it turns to concrete in the BV

the only way this loaf could be improved ( substantially ) in my taste would be for it to be

'sour-dough-ed'

[gfweb]

Isn't an English muffin by definition a muffin, not a bread?

I say no. It is bread-like in consistency and made with yeast. It is a roll and rolls are bread.

[Bill Klapp]

A dark and murky inquiry, that, weinoo. First of all, to keep peace in the family, I could concede that, yes, indeed, an English muffin is a muffin, at least in UK parlance. It does not resemble at all the poppyseed or blueberry style of muffin, which, I suppose, would have to be called an "American muffin" in the UK, and in the U.S., I assume that it is called "English" to distinguish it from the homegrown variety (which is really a type of cake rather than a muffin or a bread at all in most incarnations, but that is another story for another time!). However, something that is made from yeast-leavened flour that is not sweet, and even many things that ARE sweet, should all properly fall within the definition of "bread". A Cinnabon, for all of those gooey carbohydrates, is still bread at heart, and if a Cinnabon is bread, surely an English muffin is, too. It is permissible to give breads all manner of non-bread names, but that does not mitigate their breadiness.

But I digress, since the most recent posts discuss "English muffin bread", which is absolutely a bread made in the style of an English muffin, and, I suspect, also an American creation, although I cannot confirm that.

[SylviaLovegren]

There's a type of "Italian bread" in northern New Jersey that comes pre-sliced and sold in plastic bags that makes the very best toast. It is mildly chewy and just very faintly sour but not enough to notice unless you're looking for it. I've tried to find this kind of bread elsewhere but no success. Next time I'm in Jersey I'm going to look up the place that makes it and see if I can get more info on what it is.

There is some artisanal bread in Toronto that makes delicious toast, too -- but we're comparing $10 loaves to $2 loaves of Jersey bread. Budget plays a role in toast decisions.

[Bill Klapp]

There's a type of "Italian bread" in northern New Jersey that comes pre-sliced and sold in plastic bags that makes the very best toast. It is mildly chewy and just very faintly sour but not enough to notice unless you're looking for it. I've tried to find this kind of bread elsewhere but no success. Next time I'm in Jersey I'm going to look up the place that makes it and see if I can get more info on what it is.

There is some artisanal bread in Toronto that makes delicious toast, too -- but we're comparing $10 loaves to $2 loaves of Jersey bread. Budget plays a role in toast decisions.

And that would be my second choice! Found in south Jersey, too. It is the legendary style of bread that makes hoagies and cheesesteaks what they are, but in its own right, the bread has a lot of pure, yeasty flavor and aroma without the teeth-breaking, gum-raking consistency of more "serious" breads. After years of searching, I found the identical (more or less) bread in a local bakery here, traveling under the name "monaca" (which means "nun"...go figure). Crisp crust, light, airy but doughy and yeasty interior, with an aroma that will fill a large car. I am told that it differs from the rather dismal "pane commune" here only in that it is given extra time to rise. I am not sure why it never occurred to anybody to make all white "Italian" bread in that style, but the answer appears to be that some Italians in this neck of the woods like to wipe up sauces with bread that is stale before you get it home!

[Bill Klapp]

Toast is for people older than I.

You may be right about that. I almost never ate breakfast before my retirement, unless for dinner. Now it is not only the most important meal of the day (as we were always urged growing up), but with seven dogs waiting for handouts, it is the most important social event of the day, too. It consists of but coffee (moka), orange juice in season, yogurt and toast buttered with doux or demi-sel butter from Normandy or Brittany, and if doux, sometimes with a slice or two of world-beating prosciutto on the toast. (For a change of pace, I might eat a couple of the cookies that I buy for the dogs, or, this time of year, a slice of panettone or pandolce in lieu of toast.) However, the quality of all of the ingredients is absolutely transcendent, and really not available (or readily available, anyway) outside of this country. Every country and every people have their own breakfast rituals, and frankly, mine is not even particularly Italian, but it is particularly exquisite. And the hot, buttered toast, so good that I rarely use any jams or preserves, is the centerpiece...

[Emily_R]

I second the English Muffin as sublime when toasted with and slathered with butter, but I am partial to only Thomases, and no other brand... I would love to try the EM's at the Berkeley bowl, but I will say that I tried to make my own English Muffins several times, and had them turn out terribly -- none of the craggy texture the recipes promised. I have also made several versions of English Muffin Bread, and find it to be pretty lack-luster -- it doesn't have much depth of flavor, because it typically has such a quick rise. But something about Thomases English Muffins, toasted dark, taste just perfect to me.

That said, I love a good hunk of sourdough toast as well, as well as toasted pumpernickel...

[Shel_B]

AmTest Kitchen via Cook's Country made an EM loaf:

http://www.cookscountry.com/recipes/6922-english-muffin-bread

you need to be a subscriber but you get the idea

its on my list to do. it certainly looked good on the show they made it.

better yet look here:

http://avidinkling.com/2013/01/27/english-muffin-bread/

Thanks for the links. I had the http://avidinkling.com/2013/01/27/english-muffin-bread/ link, and one of the reasons I'm interested in making EM bread is because of the CI / ATK shows on the subject. Another reason is that I received my new loaf pan recently, and I'm anxious to put it to work.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Day old challah, for me. Buttered and toasted until it's gold.

[rotuts]

we ( i ) hope to see some pics eventually and your review of the New Loaf Pan.

[Katie Meadow]

Wow, I'm surprised at how many people can actually answer the op's query. For as long as I can remember toast has been my main breakfast. I grew up on rye toast and english muffins, but just about any kind of bread I buy now is a good candidate for toast. They are all different. No favorites, I love them all: brioche, plain white, sour or half sour white, bagel, baguette, batarde, challah, corn bread, seedy whole wheat, whatever was eaten the day before when it was fresh. Most all slices I prefer with butter and marmalade. A plain white toast is a good vehicle for Nutella. I don't like breads with nuts or olives or fruits in them, fresh or toasted. Luckily I have a sandwich loving man around, so leftover bread is easy to come by. Mmmm....toast!

[judiu]

Onion rye bread, the more onions the better, with real butter. Hey, if it's gonna kill me, I'll go fat and happy!

[SylviaLovegren]

There's a type of "Italian bread" in northern New Jersey that comes pre-sliced and sold in plastic bags that makes the very best toast. It is mildly chewy and just very faintly sour but not enough to notice unless you're looking for it. I've tried to find this kind of bread elsewhere but no success. Next time I'm in Jersey I'm going to look up the place that makes it and see if I can get more info on what it is.

There is some artisanal bread in Toronto that makes delicious toast, too -- but we're comparing $10 loaves to $2 loaves of Jersey bread. Budget plays a role in toast decisions.

And that would be my second choice! Found in south Jersey, too. It is the legendary style of bread that makes hoagies and cheesesteaks what they are, but in its own right, the bread has a lot of pure, yeasty flavor and aroma without the teeth-breaking, gum-raking consistency of more "serious" breads. After years of searching, I found the identical (more or less) bread in a local bakery here, traveling under the name "monaca" (which means "nun"...go figure). Crisp crust, light, airy but doughy and yeasty interior, with an aroma that will fill a large car. I am told that it differs from the rather dismal "pane commune" here only in that it is given extra time to rise. I am not sure why it never occurred to anybody to make all white "Italian" bread in that style, but the answer appears to be that some Italians in this neck of the woods like to wipe up sauces with bread that is stale before you get it home!

Seriously?! Someone else knows and loves this bread?! And your description of it is exactly right.