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TOASTING ADVICE
AN EXCERPT FROM AN ARTICLE PUBLISHED BY ROBAND AUSTRALIA
Regardless of the brand, any radiant heat toaster will run into problems when faced
with the nasty prospect of fresh bread. The reason for this is simple; the high
moisture content in fresh bread acts to counter the toasting effect. The moisture in
each slice is driven down through the body of the bread (ie the top dries out faster)
resulting in the top of the bread toasting before the bottom.
It is annoying for several reasons…. Primarily commercial restaurants and cafes
want their toast done as fast as possible, but high moisture content slows this
toasting down, and the uneven toast produced can be quite frustrating.
The solution to this is very simple and widely known; the bread needs to be a day
old before toasting. By using day old bread you effectively bypass the problem of
moisture content, as most breads will have lost a significant portion after a single
day. Some breads have particularly high moisture contents and these may retain a
higher level of moisture than your standard Sunblest or Tip Top.
Toasting can be further improved by ensuring that the bread is not stored in a fridge
or cool-room prior to toasting. Refrigerated bread will not only start the bread cold
and extend the toasting time further; it will also serve to retain within the bread the
very moisture we are trying to get rid of.
Day old bread will prevent most of the problems, but there is one complaint that
cannot be solved quite so easily. If the toasting is uneven front to back (this is in a
grill toaster) then you do not have an easily rectifiable dilemma. As with the Grill
you all use at home, the toast in these machines will always toast faster at the back
than the front.
The reasons for this are obvious when you think about it; the rear of the grill is
closed, the front is open, so you lose a lot more heat out of the front than out of the
back. In designing larger units the rear elements are installed closer to the food
product, but with differences in the expansion/contraction of the elements in each
unit, coupled with varying environmental factors (such as air-conditioning), it is
impossible to build a unit that will perform identically in all surroundings. Once
these units are in situ however, and have had a chance to “burn in”, it is possible to
bend the
steel
elements (when they are COLD!) slightly toward or away from the
toasting rack to fine tune performance. In the majority of cases the differences in
the degree of toasting are so small as to not warrant the effort, but it is an option
worth considering nonetheless.
If you have a need to fine-tune the toasting of any steel element toaster (if the
elements are glass you will not be able to achieve this fine-tuning) please contact
our engineering department for a little advice before bending anything.
