TOAST YOUR BREAD

In Kenya we don't have such a bread culture traditionally. The closest we come to traditional bread is chapati which arrived via the Indian ocean. This can be attributed to the fact that wheat, rye and other bread making cereals are exotic species in Sub-Saharan Africa. Europeans on the other hand have a deep culture when it comes to bread. Breads include croissants, brioche (French) etc.

Still in Kenya, the bread we have is mass produced loaves of bread. Depending on the region, the local names differ. In Nakuru where I grew up we had toasti. Other local breads include Elliots, Broadways, Festive bread and my all time favorite is Supa Loaf among others. Again depends on the region.

I made a grilled cheese-egg sandwich for lunch and I remembered why it's essential to toast your bread. Many a times special equipment may be an impediment to making something as easy as this. One would think that i need a high class grill or toaster to do this but not necessarily. The chapati pan works so well and I cannot imagine a Kenyan household without one (unless your a bachelor that cant cook).

Bread contains a lot of starch (carbohydrates). Starch is a complex polymer of D-glucose molecules (connected by alpha 1-4 linkage). Because of this, digestion of starch requires a lot of enzyme production which means more use of energy.

Toasting your bread reduces this long polymer into a shorter polymer called dextrin. This carbohydrate as compared to starch is easier to digest so that means that less energy is required. For this reason toast bread is good for you as compared to normal bread and if you don't like it then at least I recommended it for convalescents (individuals recovering from illness)