The Simple Trick That Will Give You The Best Toast Ever

If you watched the charmingly crude slacker-core cartoon "Ed, Edd, n Eddy" as a kid in the early aughts, the way Ed says the words "buttered toast" might still ring in your head like an earworm. For everyone else, the words will probably just incite a Pavlovian response, followed by a sudden craving. As simple as it is, there's something delectable and comforting about warm, golden-brown bread that's transformed into an almost caramel-like indulgence when met with a dab of salted butter. (You can thank the Maillard Reaction for that, per Science Direct). Buttered toast doesn't pull any punches and is by far the uppermost tip of the toast iceberg — the lower levels of which include more unexpected ingredients – but sometimes nothing can hold a candle to a classic. 

On that note: Put away your cinnamon sugar, your avocados, and your Calabrian chili oil, because we're not here to tell you how to zhuzh up your buttered toast; we're here to share a trick that'll make it the best version of itself. 

If you're breaking the process of toast-making down to its parts and wondering how it could possibly be improved upon, you're probably walking through the following steps in your head: Slice the bread, put it in the toaster, set a timer, remove the bread from said toaster, and slather it with butter. Foolproof, right? Almost, but not quite. According to David Tamakrin of Epicurious, the trick is to butter your bread before you pop it in the toaster. Tamakrin quotes Kelly Jacques of Breads Bakery, who says that this method allows the butter to melt more evenly and soak into every layer of your toast. "This creates a toast that's richer throughout — literally top to bottom," writes Tamakrin. He adds that the method also yields a crispier bite, as you're essentially frying your bread in butter instead of toasting it dry. 

We know we've been singing the praises of unadulterated buttered toast over here, but it's worth noting that, per Tamakrin, this butter-first method creates a "brûlée-like effect" when used with cinnamon sugar. Whichever way you slice your toast, this perfect food just got even more perfect.