# At what point does bread become toast?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-bread-become-toast/564678
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [December 19, 2010, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-bread-become-toast/564678 "2010-12-19T03:38:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 4
### Author:  [@\_AC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_AC)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2010, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-bread-become-toast/564678/61 "2010-12-30T06:59:42Z")
This thread is toast!
---
### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2010, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-bread-become-toast/564678/62 "2010-12-30T07:23:36Z")
> [@\_AC](#):
>
> This thread is toast!
Ok, but when did it happen?
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### Author:  [@briesmith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/briesmith)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2010, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-bread-become-toast/564678/63 "2010-12-30T12:21:45Z")
Late for work one day, I took my battery powered toaster with me and as luck would have it, the toast was done as I was in the lift going up to my 50th floor office.
The toaster pinged as normal, the eject mechanism fired but the toast never appeared.
What happened?
---
### Author:  [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2010, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-bread-become-toast/564678/64 "2010-12-30T12:52:57Z")
You’re a midget and you used your umbrella to push the button. No, that’s not it.
You forgot the toaster outside the elevator?
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### Author:  [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-bread-become-toast/564678/65 "2010-12-30T17:12:53Z")
> [@AnalogSignal](#):
>
> Some people are trying to make light of this question but it is a serious matter. In human history, there have been only three events of consequence so far:
>
> 1. the discovery of fire
> 2. the invention of sliced bread
> 3. the combination of items 1 and 2 – toast
>
> All other inventions and discoveries, no matter how important they seem now, will eventually be forgotten and lumped in with chia pets and mood rings. Please consider this before making a frivolous post.
Nitpick opportunity taken: toast preceeded sliced bread.
Even if you stretch sliced bread to mean sliced by knife (when we all know that the idiom is actually specifying bread pre-sliced at or before purchase), it is possible to tear off a chunk from the loaf and toast it with a toasting fork over a fire.
[Toasting fork.](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kitchen-Craft-Toasting-Fork-Extending/dp/B0001IX05I)
[Traditional toasting fork and chestnut roaster.](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Traditional-Toasting-Fork-Chestnut-Roaster/dp/B001VH1SCA) (2 impliments, not 1)
[For completeness.](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Camping-Stove-Toaster-Attachment-Slice/dp/B003ERUF5G/ref=sr_1_cc_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1293729031&sr=1-3-catcorr) These work well on a stove.
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### Author:  [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)
#### Post date: [December 31, 2010, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-bread-become-toast/564678/66 "2010-12-31T15:15:57Z")
I’m sure it must have something to do with the albedo change from bread to toast; the delta needs to be statistically significant. Of course, that raises the interesting question of whether toast made from white bread is still toast if its albedo is higher than than of brown bread.
But as Calvin says, “A toast to us! Best friends forever! _crunch crunch crunch_”
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### Author:  [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)
#### Post date: [December 31, 2010, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-bread-become-toast/564678/67 "2010-12-31T16:36:45Z")
Bread becomes toast when you can see Jesus or Mary’s image clearly enough on the bread that you can see it in the eBay photograph.
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### Author:  [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2011, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-bread-become-toast/564678/68 "2011-01-05T18:29:43Z")
is it different if it is French?
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### Author:  [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2011, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-bread-become-toast/564678/69 "2011-01-05T18:31:51Z")
If you jump on a toaster while it’s toasting you will smash your shin into a cinder block. DO NOT DO IT.
WHY IS THERE A CINDER BLOCK IN MY KITCHEN?
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### Author:  [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2011, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-bread-become-toast/564678/70 "2011-01-05T18:55:21Z")
We need to call in a Toast Master for this.
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### Author:  [@cognizant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cognizant)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2011, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-bread-become-toast/564678/71 "2011-01-05T20:04:30Z")
When Maillard browning has occurred over \>/= 99% of the surface area of the bread!
When charring has occurred, though, you know it’s not toast anymore.
There is a thin line between benzene rings and perfectly toasted toast.
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### Author:  [@Bewildebeest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bewildebeest)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2011, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-bread-become-toast/564678/72 "2011-01-06T17:54:47Z")
> [@janeslogin](#):
>
> Bread becomes toast sometime between the time I put it in my toaster and the toaster ejects charcoal.
Does your toaster dial go up to 11?
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### Author:  [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2011, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-bread-become-toast/564678/73 "2011-01-06T19:12:49Z")
> [@Yllaria](#):
>
> Nitpick opportunity taken: toast preceeded sliced bread.
>
> Even if you stretch sliced bread to mean sliced by knife (when we all know that the idiom is actually specifying bread pre-sliced at or before purchase), it is possible to tear off a chunk from the loaf and toast it with a toasting fork over a fire.
Great. Not only was my lame joke not funny, it was also conceptually flawed.
---
### Author:  [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2011, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-bread-become-toast/564678/74 "2011-01-06T19:17:34Z")
> [@briesmith](#):
>
> Late for work one day, I took my battery powered toaster with me and as luck would have it, the toast was done as I was in the lift going up to my 50th floor office.
>
> The toaster pinged as normal, the eject mechanism fired but the toast never appeared.
>
> What happened?
There is a simple explanation. A millisecond after the toast was ejected, the elevator suddenly accelerated upwards at a velocity greater than or equal to the velocity of the ejected toast. Because of this, the toast remained in the toaster.
---
### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2011, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-bread-become-toast/564678/75 "2011-01-07T01:50:24Z")
True fact: If you’d been in an airplane when the toast popped out, it would have splatted against the rear wall.
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