It’s been over a month since I’ve done a standalone Consumed about something consuming my mind, or something I’m consuming quite often. I blame the dreary weather for my lack of inspiration. Anyway, I’m excited to talk about one of the more underrated dishes of all time: toast.
Toast and sandwiches aren’t competitors, not everything that makes a great toast will make a great sandwich, and vice versa. They fulfill separate needs, and unpacking what actually makes a ‘sandwich’ or a good sandwich is the stuff of novels, not email newsletters. My affinity for an open-faced toast started at a young age: I’d eat feta and cucumbers on one massive open face lavash square for breakfast while my mom mocked me (Ed Note: she still does) for not folding it in half or rolling it up for the perfect loqmeh (morsel/bite/roll-up). She’d tell me folding the bread would be easier, tastier, less messy and more convenient but it didn’t matter. Something about eating this massive open-faced treat like a slice of pizza tasted better than squishing it into sandwich form.
I mostly kept my love for toast to myself (it’s a humble food!) until I visited Singapore in 2014. I was there for work but did a bunch of research on all of the food I should eat in advance, which is how I learned about kaya toast. Kaya toast is a Singaporean breakfast staple, consisting of toasted bread slathered with thick butter and kaya (coconut pandan jam) served alongside soft boiled eggs. You can dip the toast into the eggs for an otherworldly sweet-savory combination.
I was amazed by the sheer quantity of places to get toasts — not just kaya, but thick toasts slathered with peanut butter and nuts, milo toast, butter and sugar toasts, pork floss toasts! I came back from the trip compelled to open a toast café in Brooklyn but instead found myself making toast with anything and everything I could find. Years later, I’ve come back around to toast-making for comfort and for convenience: what’s easier and more satisfying than good toast?
Here are a few of my go-to recipes:
Butter + Honey. This is an indulgent Iranian snack that I love. Slather a thick layer of cold butter on warm toast and drizzle it with honey, and perhaps a sprinkle of flaky salt. Simple, yet rich and comforting (all things I aspire to be).
Peanut Butter + Honey: Swap the regular butter for peanut butter and absolutely add the flaky salt here. This stands on its own quite nicely, but is also is great topped with smashed berries, sliced bananas, or really any fruit.
Labneh + Zaatar: Grab bread, lavash, a pita, really anything, and smother it with a generous but not overwhelming layer of labneh. Dust it with a healthy coating of zaatar, and lightly drizzle olive oil on top. Top with fresh cracked salt and pepper. This is a super versatile base you can build on in any way. Labneh + chili crisp! Labneh and strawberry jam! Labneh and avocado! the possibilities are endless.
A selection of quarantine labneh toasts from L-R: with hummus, zaatar and avocado, with fresh herbs and eggs, with avo, aleppo pepper, and an over-easy egg, and with summer tomatoes, lime, and herbs. Cream Cheese + Jam: The sweetness of jam paired with the tanginess of cream cheese is a match made in heaven. Any flavor of jam will pair beautifully but I swoon the most over a berry jam paired with cream cheese. And for something extremely sublime, if you ever have leftover french toast, warm it up, and smear it with cream cheese and jam, maybe a tiny glug of maple syrup if you’re feeling wild. That’s my kryptonite.
Fancy Cheese + Jam: If you’re feeling fancy or think you’re too good for cream cheese and jam, take a fruity jam (fig is my favorite but apricot also shines here), smear it on warm toast and then smash a chunk of stinky cheese on top. It tastes like a more satisfying version of cheese and grapes. This was my lunch twice last week and it didn’t disappoint.
Begging this salmon to drop her skincare routine
Open-Faced Bagels: If a tree falls in the forest and no one’s there to hear it, did it fall? Is an open-faced bagel a toast? These are the hard-hitting existential questions of our time. My answer to that question is a resounding yes, as I enjoyed mini-everything bagels with spiced smoked salmon for breakfast this past weekend. Bagels are wonderful in sandwich form but having them open faced feels like there’s more to savor. You can go sweet or savory here with any of the above toppings (a cinnamon raisin with butter and honey!!) and you won’t go wrong. For those in New York, Frankel’s makes the most stunning open-faced heirloom tomato bagel covered in a generous blanket of chives.
I’d love to know your favorite toasts and flavor combinations. And if you want to try out a bread recipe, this shokupan is my absolute favorite, beautifully fluffy, super versatile, and quite easy to make. 🍞
Let’s get this bread,
Roya