Why posh toast is the latest artisanal food craze in London

For a classy spread, grill some bread, then add fancy toppings, says Susannah Butter
It’s crunch time: examples of some of the recipes found in new book, Posh Toast (Picture: Louise Hagger)
CREDIT: Louise Hagger

As epoch-defining scenes go, the artisanal toast movement doesn’t initially sound as if it is up there with Studio 54 in the Seventies and Soho in the Nineties. But stay with me — there is much more to this than the three-point plan of slice, toast, spread.

The scene started in San Francisco with whole restaurants devoted to it. London was fast to follow with an original take so no one felt they were missing out on a slice of the action — the Truman Brewery hosted a Toast Festival — and US radio station NPR published spoof articles about toast cooking classes for you to TIY (toast it yourself). Grilled bread’s influence has spread to other food — toast and honey flavoured popcorn is a thing — it is being declared the new cupcake, and there’s a cookbook, Posh Toast, out in August with 70 recipes for the humble loaf.

The book’s authors make a bold claim: “Everybody loves toast. Don’t trust anybody who doesn’t.” They have identified a code of toast with differing options, including lightly browned flatbread and a caramelised pane Pugliese that must be buttered while it is still warm. Toast, they say, “can be reassuringly humble or very very posh”. It works as dinner party fare — impress guests by topping it with gremolata and bone marrow or fried duck egg with haggis and whisky onions. If you want it for breakfast or a snack the next day choose from salt cod crostini, mint and walnut baba ganoush, or courgette, chilli, mint and feta.

At Brickhouse Bakery in East Dulwich the toast itself is posh. Look out for limited-edition flavours including chocolate orange, which is good with marmalade on top.

Fancy: quail eggs and haddock on toast (Picture: Louise Hagger)
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If guests dare cock a snook at being served bread as a main event, cite Heston Blumenthal as a riposte. His £220 tasting menu at The Fat Duck features two toast-based options. Start with truffle toast and follow up with a toast sandwich — a texture-fest of crisp bread between two soft, untoasted pieces which was a delicacy in Victorian times.

Artisan toast reflects a growing fetishisation of food, according to Hannah Goldfield, who writes for The New Yorker. We live in a time, she says, where “every meal is special and important. Every dish should be elevated, revered, and broadcast — even something as pedestrian as toast.” Elevating warm bread is part of an age where every meal should be an Instagrammable event.

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Step forward Gwyneth Paltrow. Her lifestyle blog Goop compares avocado toast to “a favourite pair of jeans”. The green makes it stand out among other pictures but toast implies a friendly, approachable dish that anyone can make if they want to look like Gwyneth.

Restaurants are investing in table-top toasters for all diners (they’ll make their money back fast — most artisanal toast starts at around £2 a slice).

Ordering is complicated — Posh Toast identifies at least 20 types of bread. Which will you go for?

Posh Toast, photography by Louise Hagger, is out in August (Quadrille, £12.99)

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