# Brown bread toasting faster than white bread? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 20, 2002, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brown-bread-toasting-faster-than-white-bread/99198 "2002-03-20T12:30:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Francesca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@Francesca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francesca)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2002, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brown-bread-toasting-faster-than-white-bread/99198/1 "2002-03-20T12:30:13Z")
I have recently switched from white bread to brown bread. Being very fond of toast, I have noticed that it takes a lot less time to toast the brown bread than it does white bread. A difference of about a minute, which is a long time in the world of toasted products. I haven’t changed the settings on my toaster and I’m wondering if I am just imagining it or whether there’s a scientific explanation. Something in the make-up of brown bread that makes it more susceptable to toasting? It’s clearly a question of earth-shattering importance. ---
**Author:** ![ticker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@ticker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ticker)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2002, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brown-bread-toasting-faster-than-white-bread/99198/2 "2002-03-20T12:42:25Z")
Toasters use radiant heat to do their thing. Brown bread will reflect less and absorb more of the radiant heat so should toast faseter. Also, different breads have different moisture contents which can affect toasting time. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2002, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brown-bread-toasting-faster-than-white-bread/99198/3 "2002-03-20T12:42:45Z")
Light colors reflect heat. Dark colors absorb heat. ---
**Author:** ![Nishroch\_Order](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Nishroch\_Order](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nishroch_Order)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2002, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brown-bread-toasting-faster-than-white-bread/99198/4 "2002-03-20T12:43:41Z")
Well, the first thing i thought of abt this is that dark colored things gain/lose heat faster then light colored things. But mayby this isn’t the end of the story… ---
**Author:** ![Francesca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@Francesca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francesca)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2002, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brown-bread-toasting-faster-than-white-bread/99198/5 "2002-03-20T14:10:29Z")
Well fine! If you’re just going to come up with a rational solution that I should’ve thought of myself then I’ll just have to say… [sub]Doh! Thanks.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Algernon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2002, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brown-bread-toasting-faster-than-white-bread/99198/6 "2002-03-20T14:38:44Z")
As **Nishroch Order** says, I don’t think it’s the end of the story… If it is just a heat absorbing phenomenon, then why does it take longer to toast bagels and English muffins than it does to toast white bread? They all have similar, if not identical, reflective qualities. **ticker** suggests moisture. Anyone else have a theory? ---
**Author:** ![Popup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@Popup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Popup)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2002, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brown-bread-toasting-faster-than-white-bread/99198/7 "2002-03-20T14:51:49Z")
Not so fast everybody… Listen to **Algernon** and **Niobium**. There might be more to the issue than that. Toasters work mainly in the infrared, and before I have seen pictures of light and dark bread in the IR part of the spectrum I’m sceptical. In the meantime I propose another mechanism: Brown bread is firmer, and can be sliced thinner. Thinner slices mean less bread to heat up, ergo faster toasting. Do, **Francesca** , have you measured the slice thickness? Moisture content id also important, as already noted. This shows clearly as fresh bread toasts slower than yesterdays loaf. ---
**Author:** ![Francesca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@Francesca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francesca)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2002, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brown-bread-toasting-faster-than-white-bread/99198/8 "2002-03-20T15:03:48Z")
Good point about the bagels and muffins I haven’t measured the thickness of the slice, but I always buy the pre-sliced “thick sliced” bread, white or brown. They look pretty much the same size to me. One notable difference between the breads is that the brown bread is actually, contrary to **Popup’s** theory (sorry), notably softer than the white bread - could this be a factor? Perhaps there is more moisture in the softer brown bread… but wouldn’t this mean it would toast slower than a bread with less moisture? ---
**Author:** ![Algernon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2002, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brown-bread-toasting-faster-than-white-bread/99198/9 "2002-03-20T15:24:50Z")
[This site (Hamilton Beach)](http://205.245.133.31/HBPS_HTML/840083000_HB/tips.html) says toasting time is a factor of bread temperature (before putting it into the toaster), moisture content, and surface regularity. [This site (NewScientist.com)](http://www.newscientist.com/lastword/answers/658home.jsp?tp=home2) says the variables are reflectivity, sugar content, and moisture. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2002, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brown-bread-toasting-faster-than-white-bread/99198/10 "2002-03-20T15:25:23Z")
Wouldn’t sugar content also affect the toasting rate? What is it that actually turns brown when the bread toasts? Starches? Sugars? ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2002, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brown-bread-toasting-faster-than-white-bread/99198/11 "2002-03-20T15:27:45Z")
Garf! Scooped! Nice link, **Algernon.** ---
**Author:** ![Threadkiller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aca169/32.png) [@Threadkiller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Threadkiller)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2002, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brown-bread-toasting-faster-than-white-bread/99198/12 "2002-03-20T15:50:05Z")
Density is a huge factor. White bread is nearly always less dense than wheat or whole grain bread. All other things being equal (which they never are), the surface of white bread is better insulated from the bulk of the slice allowing less heat transfer away form the surface resulting in faster toasting. There is also the _mass_ of the slice that needs to be heated where, again, given an equally thick slice each of wheat and white bread the higher mass of the wheat bread will take more energy (and a longer time) to toast. I see this as a (if not _the_) main reason why (usually very dense) bagels take so long to get nicely browned.