The scientific reason toast is so much more than bread

June 28th, 2016 by Liliane Baines

Bread is great – flavoursome, heady and great company for cheese . But toast, well toast is just better. The smell, the texture, the taste. It is so much more than a dried out charred bread. It is culinary heaven. And the reason why can be explained by science. Let us introduce the Maillard reaction. When the bread, or any food with sugars and amino acids are influenced by direct heat (think roasted veg, toasted marshmallows) the amino acids and sugars within start a chemical reaction which, ultimately, create hundreds of new flavour compounds; and the more toasted the food becomes the more of these caramel-like flavour compounds are created. And the more our taste buds love them.