Do not let the bread soak in the water. Endeavor to keep a suggestion of crispness in it, for sloppy, sodden toast is not nice. Serve it very hot, with apple sauce, sweet baked apples, or tart jelly. Water toast is really delicious if care is taken to have it hot. It will be eaten with relish much longer than that made with milk.
MILK TOAST
Put a cup of rich milk into a saucepan, and place it on the stove. While it is heating, toast three slices of bread a delicate brown. Put them one at a time into a covered dish, and when the milk is boiling hot season it with a saltspoon of salt and pour it over the bread. A little butter may be spread upon each slice before the milk is poured over, but it is a more delicate dish without it.
CREAM TOAST
1 Pint of milk.
1 Tablespoon of flour.
1 Tablespoon of butter.
1 Saltspoon of salt.
4 Large or 6 small slices of bread.
Make a white sauce with the milk, flour, and butter according to the following directions. Pour the milk into a saucepan, and set it on the fire to heat. Put the butter and flour together in another saucepan, place it on the fire, and stir gently until the butter melts; let them bubble together two or three minutes. The high temperature which the butter quickly attains will thoroughly cook the flour in a short time. Then pour in a little of the milk, and stir until the two are mixed; add a little more milk, and stir again until it bubbles; if at this point the mixture does not seem smooth, lift it from the fire, and beat it until it is waxy and perfectly free from lumps. Then add more milk, stir again, and so continue until all the milk is in. Let it simmer slowly until the toast is ready, which should be made according to the rule for dry toast. Then soak the slices in boiling salted milk (four if from a large, and six if from a small loaf of bread), arrange them in a covered dish, and pour the cream, salted, between and over them. Irregular pieces and odds and ends of bread may be used instead of whole slices, and are very nice toasted in a tin pan in the oven.
One precaution is necessary in making this dish; that is, to soak the bread thoroughly in the boiling milk, for the sauce or cream is too thick to soften it. On account of the high temperature to which the butter rises, the starch is more perfectly cooked in it than if the flour were mixed with cold water and poured into the boiling milk, as is sometimes done.
FRENCH OR EGG TOAST
1 Egg.
1 Cup of milk or cream.
1 Saltspoon of salt.
3 Slices of bread.