Why does toasting bread make it hard?

Question

Why does toasting bread make it hard?

In: 5

Answer 1

When you toast bread, you are dehydrating the exterior, and by removing moisture you hard the bred harder (just like when it goes stale). Unlike when it goes stale, the heat is causing something called the maillard reaction to happen, which is the chemical reaction in food that makes crust of bread, the hard exterior bits on steak, etc. During the maillard reaction, sugars and proteins both caramalize and produce complex molecules that weren’t in the food in the first place, and give the depth of flavor we love about the exteriors of cooked foods!