Your favorite bread for toast

[Jaymes]

I like a nutty wheat bread best. My personal favorite is Orowheat Health Nut. http://www.oroweat.com/products/sliced-breads/whole-grains/health-nut%C2%AE

I like this toast so much that, while it's really great with butter and honey or jams or marmalade, it's also tasty enough to eat all by itself, with absolutely nothing else added.

[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!

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

To know it is to love it. When I was a kid, I used to do a number on it not unlike the licking the frosting out of an Oreo thing...rip out the center and eat it in compressed bread balls, then eat the crust separately! I am not proud of it, but I did it. Repeatedly. Into young adulthood. Back in the day in the greater Philadelphia area, you used to be able to find a lunch meat called lunch roll, which came in domestic and imported versions. The best imported version was a high-end precursor of today's ubiquitous honey ham. Nothing, NOTHING, not even the hoagies and cheesesteaks of my youth, compared to a couple of slices (or better, a jagged chunk ripped from the loaf) of that bread filled with lunch roll. Nothing else. Jambon beurre without the beurre. Ah, the good old days!

[Bill Klapp]

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

Reminds me of a old burger that went by various names, the best-known being the "patty melt", I believe...two slices of rye grilled in butter and a burger with melted Swiss and sauteed onions. Your onion rye sounds much healthier!

[andiesenji]

My absolute favorite "toasting" bread is a homemade salt-rising bread that has a slightly "cheesy" flavor that can't be duplicated by simply adding grated cheese to bread dough, although a nice, sharp Asiago does come close.

The tricky part is getting the starter right - I have an electric yogurt maker that has a high dome which holds a 2-quart container and ferment the starter in that.

When Van De Kamp's bakery was still operational, they sold a salt rising bread that was excellent and one had to get to the markets early on Tuesdays and Thursdays, (delivery days) because it always sold out early.

The King Arthur Flour web site has a treatise and recipe for the bread - KA used to sell a starter mix but it was discontinued a couple of years ago, I think.

[lindag]

King Arthur Flour has loads of great recipes. My personal favorite for toast is their 'Oatmeal Toasting Bread', it's a keeper.

[SylviaLovegren]

My absolute favorite "toasting" bread is a homemade salt-rising bread that has a slightly "cheesy" flavor that can't be duplicated by simply adding grated cheese to bread dough, although a nice, sharp Asiago does come close.

The tricky part is getting the starter right - I have an electric yogurt maker that has a high dome which holds a 2-quart container and ferment the starter in that.

When Van De Kamp's bakery was still operational, they sold a salt rising bread that was excellent and one had to get to the markets early on Tuesdays and Thursdays, (delivery days) because it always sold out early.

The King Arthur Flour web site has a treatise and recipe for the bread - KA used to sell a starter mix but it was discontinued a couple of years ago, I think.

Forgot salt-rising bread. Yes, outstanding toast. Unduplicatable.

[kayb]

Back before I had to go gluten-free, I made a soft, white loaf that made just sublime toast. With butter and jam...or apple butter....yum.

Gluten-free breads I've found are generally pretty worthless. However, I've found a brand call Rudi's, which at least bears a slight resemblance to ... real bread. The multi-grain is slightly sweet, and good for breakfast. The "Ezekiel" loaf is more savory, and makes great sandwiches. One with Broadbent country ham and Fontina is on my menu today.

[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!

Reminds me of a old burger that went by various names, the best-known being the "patty melt", I believe...two slices of rye grilled in butter and a burger with melted Swiss and sauteed onions. Your onion rye sounds much healthier!

Bill, that's one of my all-time favorite sandwiches!

[teapot]

So many of us have responded to the "best bread for toast" query without having actually identified what the qualities of good toast are. Is it taste, texture, nutrition, versatility ...???

For me, texture is as important as taste: I want a slice of naturally leavened hearth-bread thick enough so that the outside can get dark (with the crust taking on a bit of char) while the open-crumb inside stays chewy and pliant. The sourdough and rye gives it a little tang to balance the butter. And unless it's a special occasion, I prefer a lean rather than enriched bread (challah, pannetone) so I can enjoy a second piece.

So what are the qualities you're looking for in a good piece of toast?

[janeer]

In addition to rye and English muffins, I love any fruited bread artisan bread toasted. I make a bread with glaceed red and green cherries and walnuts that I first had in a tea room in Victoria. BC in the 1970s that I just love. I just call it "Fruit Toast" and make it for Xmas.

[quantumcloud509]

I like to make beet bread for toast. Simply wonderful. Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. Absorbs the butter well. Colors are intriguing.

Edited January 7, 2014 by quantumcloud509 (log)

[janeer]

I like to make beet bread for toast. Simply wonderful. Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. Absorbs the butter well. Colors are intriguing.

How?