Different Ways to Toast Bread

If you don't have a toaster, you might feel like toast is a snack that's off the table. But even if you don't have this specific kitchen appliance, did you know you can still make crisp toast in your oven?

Although toasters make it easy to enjoy this snack, they're not as essential as you might think. Let's talk about the other options you have for making delicious toast at home. After that, we'll show you some of our favorite recipes you can make in a flash without a toaster!

The Best Five Methods for Toasting Bread

Toast makes the perfect midnight snack, light breakfast, and midday pick-me-up. It's no wonder this dish has been so popular for so long. When you don't have access to a toaster, you don't have to go without your favorite avocado toast. You can use your oven, broiler, convection oven, stovetop, or air fryer!

Let's take a closer look at each of these methods to find the one that works for your kitchen. Then, we can check out a few drool-worthy toast recipes you'll love.

Toast Bread In The Oven

You can use your oven's usual baking setting to give your toast the perfect texture.

For this method, preheat your oven to 350-400º. A heat of 350º will cause your toast to be more browned, while a heat of 400º will result in a crunchy texture. Remember that the higher the temperature is, the less time it needs on each side. Try leaving your toast in for four to five minutes on each side. 

Use a Convection Oven

Some convection ovens are similar to toasters. If you've got one in your kitchen, making toast is remarkably simple since many convection ovens already have a toast setting. 

Remember that these ovens can toast your bread even faster at the same temperatures. If you'd typically flip your toast at the four-minute mark in the oven, you may want to do so at three minutes in a convection oven. 

Use Your Broiler

Believe it or not, the 'broil' setting on your oven isn't just a decorative button. Who knew? You can use your broiler when you need to make toast for multiple dinner guests or when you need to make toast quickly.

For many ovens, the broil setting is 500º, so when you use it at that setting, it will make your bread extremely crispy on the outer layer while remaining softer on the inside. If you lower the temperature, it will take longer for your bread to toast. 

When using a broiler, remember that it's speed-toasting your bread, especially on the top layer. Unless you prefer burnt edges, you'll probably only want to toast each side for 2-4 minutes. 

Try Toasting on Your Stovetop

Let's say you don't have a toaster and your oven is broken. You might think you have to settle for overpriced toast from the restaurant down the street. Fortunately, that's not the case, and you can still enjoy your favorite inexpensive dish made from home using your stovetop!

The stovetop method can be super valuable if you're only making a couple of pieces of toast. One benefit of this method is that you can keep an eye on your bread to control how browned it gets on each side more directly. 

Here are a few quick steps for toasting bread on your stovetop:

1. Grab a skillet and heat it on a medium or medium-high setting.
2. Drizzle olive oil or spread butter all over the pan. 
3. Add your bread to the skillet once it has heated, then let it cook for one minute.
4. Check on the bottom of your toast with a metal spatula to see how much it is browning. If you like it to be golden brown, you can go ahead and flip it over. If you prefer crisper toast, leave it for another thirty seconds to a minute.
5. Lift your toast and check to see that your pan still has enough butter or olive oil. Add more if you need to!
6. Flip your bread to the other side, repeat the process, and serve!

Pull Out Your Air Fryer

It seems as if air fryers are all the rage right now (and for a good reason!) This small appliance makes it easy to prepare dishes so that they're perfectly crispy in a quick time frame. 

Many air fryers come with a toast setting, which you can use if you don't want to put too much thought into the process. However, if you want a more hands-on approach, you can place your toast inside and set the fryer to 400º. You won't have to preheat the fryer or line it. Just pop in a couple of pieces of bread, and you're good to go!

For thinner slices of bread, you'll probably want to set your fryer to 3 minutes. For thicker pieces of toast, try around 4 minutes!

Grill It

Have a grill at home? You lucky duck! Heat up that grill and throw down a few slices of your favorite thick cut bread. Leave it for about 30 seconds to 1 minute and use heat-safe tongs to flip it over! Those grill marks can't be beat. Once it's crisp to your liking, pull it from the grill and set it on a plate. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle some flakey salt. It doesn't get better!

Tips for Getting the Perfect Toast

You'd think making toast would be hard to mess up. Still, if you're like most people, you've burnt a slice or two in your lifetime. Preparing toast in the oven can be tricky, but making 5-star toast is possible. If you want to avoid toast mishaps, keeping a few key tricks in mind will help! 

Using a Baking Sheet

When you put your bread into the oven to toast, you may want to place it on a flat surface for easy cleanup and even heating. However, if you'd like to heat your toast on the rack, that's an option, too!

If you want to line your baking sheet, you can do so with parchment paper or aluminum foil. If you're buttering your toast, place the butter side up. 

Keep Track of Time

When you use a toaster to heat your bread, the toaster does the thinking for you. It will automatically pop out your freshly crunchy slices, and the heat will start to turn off. 

However, when you use an oven or grill to make toast, it can be easy to forget about monitoring your slices and flipping them halfway through. You might benefit from setting a timer for the amount of time you want to leave a slice in on one side. Then, reset it for the other side. 

Remember To Flip Your Pieces

When you make toast in a toaster, it's heating both sides simultaneously. Making toast in the oven requires an extra step, but it's worth it to get toast that's even and golden brown on both sides. Remember to flip your slice halfway for the best results!

Burnt Toast?

If you're making toast in a toaster or preparing it in the oven, you're bound to burn your toast now and then. If you open the oven and realize you've burnt your toast, not all hope is lost. 

If you want to salvage burnt toast, you have a couple of options! You can first try using a butter knife to scrape the burnt areas into a trash can. While you might be mildly annoyed to have to fix the mistake, you can still enjoy delicious toast this way!

Another option you have when you burn your toast is using a cheese grater. Over a trash can, you can grate the burnt side off and enjoy the toast.

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