Your Fryer Is Not a Toaster
My family is weird about toasters. My stepmother and I have insisted for a long time that the toaster is an unnecessary and unnecessary appliance – you can toast bread under the broiler – while my father and boyfriend would have preferred access to a dedicated cooking device. However, my parents now have a toaster and I’m not far behind. (The boys win this round.) Although I’ve toasted all my bread in the deep fryer, I recently had to admit to myself that toast is terrible.
A toaster is a simple appliance that toasts a slice of bread on both sides with direct radiant heat. If it’s a decent toaster, this results in even toasting of the bread. The fryer also uses direct radiant heat, but only from top to bottom. This means that only one side of your toast sees that heat at any one time. This is obviously solved by flipping the bread halfway through, which is a slight inconvenience but not my main issue with deep fryer toast. What annoys me the most is those damn whipping winds.
Air fryers are great for getting crispy because they are great for drying. The hot circulating air effectively removes moisture, which is why it is such a good appliance for reheating French fries (or cooking SPAM fries ). This, however, is not good for toast, as those same hot blasts remove moisture from your bread, making it dry and cracker-like instead of tender but toasty.
If you decide to toast your bread in a deep fryer, cut it into thick slices, choose a bread that is moist enough, and keep a close eye on it. You can also pay attention to the texture aspect and make one giant toast . Nobody could get mad at a giant toast. I will, however, be buying a toaster. (What about a broiler, you ask? Well, flipping halfway is really awkward if you’re making something other than toast.)