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White toast, done properly

The page for the days when nothing more ambitious is possible

Easy5 min hands-on · 10 min totalServes 1
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Two slices of golden buttered toast on a plate, one topped with jam and the other with melted Cheddar.

Makes as many slices as you need. Butter each one individually rather than trying to spread a stack at once.

Toast sounds too small to write a recipe about, and that is exactly why it earns one here. Thick-cut white bread, toasted until properly golden rather than merely warm, buttered right to every edge while it is still hot enough to melt into the crumb. That is the whole method, and getting it right matters more than it looks. Set three things out to choose from, a seedless jam, a spoonful of honey, or a thin scrape of Marmite over a fresh knob of butter, and let the day decide which one you want. On a better morning, lay a slice of Cheddar over a plain slice and grill it until it bubbles, and toast stops being a stopgap and becomes an actual meal.

Suits chemotherapy diarrhoea, during pelvic radiotherapy, after a low anterior resection, a new stoma

Tags Quick · Easily fortified

Ingredients

Contains: Gluten, Milk

  • 2 slicethick-cut white bread
  • 20 gunsalted butter
  • 1 tbspseedless jam — optional
  • 1 tbsphoney — optional
  • ½ tspMarmite, spread thin — optional
  • 1 sliceCheddar, about 30 g, cut thick — optional

Method

  1. Toast the bread until it is deep gold on both sides, well past the pale, barely-warmed stage.

  2. Butter it right out to every edge while it is still hot, so the butter melts in rather than sitting on top in a slick.

  3. Choose your topping. Spread with seedless jam, drizzle with honey, or spread a thin scrape of Marmite over a fresh knob of butter.

  4. For more of a meal, lay a slice of Cheddar over a plain buttered slice and grill for a minute or two until melted and starting to bubble at the edges.

    If the mouth is sore, cut the crusts off before you start rather than after.

Watch-points

  • Choose a seedless jam, honey or lemon curd. Pips and shreds of peel are the bits a narrowed bowel cannot move along.
  • If marmalade appeals more than jam, pick a jelly-type version with no peel in it at all.
  • Keep to a plain white loaf, not a seeded, granary or wholemeal one, however good it looks in the shop.
  • Spread the Marmite thin. A heavy layer can taste bitter and does nothing extra for you.

Stoma note: White bread thickens output, which makes plain toast a reliable choice on a loose day.

Make it more nourishing

  • Butter it twice, once out of the toaster and once again before you eat, taking it to 30 g across two slices for about another 75 kcal.
  • Melt a slice of Cheddar on top under the grill for another 120 kcal and about 7 g of protein.
  • Stir a tablespoon of skimmed milk powder into a mug of hot milk alongside, since toast on its own rarely carries anyone far.

Swaps

Instead of Cheddar, use a thick spread of plain cream cheese
a softer, cooler option if the mouth is sore
Instead of Marmite, use lemon curd
sweet and smooth, and easier going on a morning when savoury is too much
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