Cheese. Toast bread. Two fantastic groceries that fall in love with each other. Follow these recipes to avoid making tough cheese or burnt bread and make the perfect cheese-bread dish. If you're feeling brave, serve this dish to a few friends and make yourself a pot of welsh rarebit.
Ingredients
Basic Cheese Toast
- Bread
- Butter or butter
- Good melted cheese (e.g. cheddar, gruyere, red leicester, grated parmesan)
Welsh Rarebit
- 4 slices of bread
- 200 grams of cooked cheddar cheese
- 30 grams (2 tbsp) butter
- 15 grams (2 tbsp) all-purpose flour
- 120 ml beer (porter or stout type)
- 80 ml whole milk or heavy cream
- 1 egg yolk
- 5 ml (1 tsp) dry mustard
- 5 ml (1 tsp) soy sauce
- pinch of cayenne pepper
- pinch of paprika
- pinch of salt
Step
Method 1 of 3: Fried Cheese Toast
Step 1. Grease a piece of white bread with butter or butter on both sides
Try sourdough bread for a tangy taste or hollow bread like ciabatta if you want the cheese to run through the holes in the bread and burn in the pan. Brushing both sides of the bread will result in a crisp golden color and a soft inside.
If you're using unsalted butter, add a pinch of salt to the pan for added flavor
Step 2. Fry both sides of the bread (optional)
Frying each side for a minute until brown makes the toast richer and tastier. If you prefer to keep the center of the loaf soft, you can skip all of these pre-cooking steps.
Step 3. Add material of choice
A sprinkling of mustard or a pinch of cayenne pepper will add a spicy sensation. Add a thin slice of ham and you'll have a croque monsieur. If an additive sounds delicious to you, it probably will – but you shouldn't use vegetables that wilt when cooked, such as lettuce or pickled cucumbers.
Step 4. Add the sheet or grated cheese
Some cheeses melt into a delicious melt, others have a strong flavor that goes well with toast. Choose cheeses that have both qualities or combine cheeses from each of these categories. Here is the explanation:
- Good melted cheese: cheddar, red leicester, gruyere, grated parmesan, fontina, emmental, muenster, gouda
- Ugly melted cheese (pair with any of the above): mozzarella, feta, provolone
Step 5. Cook for about three minutes
Cook on the stove over medium-low heat, to give the cheese enough time to melt before the bread burns. When it's browned and the cheese is bubbling, transfer the bread to a plate and serve hot. Just eat it, with chatni seasoning, brown sauce or tomato sauce.
Method 2 of 3: Toast Cheese Toast
Step 1. Set your oven or toaster oven
If your toaster oven has a "broil" setting that radiates heat from above, this setting gives the cheese extra crunch. In a regular oven, the "broil" setting is fine if it's on top of your oven, but high heat can turn your cheese tough. Here are some options for you:
- Oven (normal baking): Preheat oven to 250ºC.
- Oven (baked from above/broil setting): Do not preheat. Move the oven rack to the lowest position to reduce the heat.
- Toaster oven: Do not preheat. If there is a heat control in the oven, set it to 250ºC.
Step 2. Choose thickly sliced white bread
Any bread can be used. Thick slices are meant to prevent scorching, but pre-sliced bread at the store can also be used.
Step 3. Spread butter on one side of the bread
This step is important to make the toast brown and slightly soft.
Step 4. Bake until slightly charred
Cook until the butter has melted and the bread begins to turn brown. This step takes about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from oven.
Step 5. Cover the entire surface of the bread with a thin slice of cheese
Choose a cheese with a strong flavor, such as sharp cheddar cheese. Use a cheese slicer to make several thin slices of cheese. Place the cheese sheet on top of the buttered bread, slightly stacked. Cover the entire surface of the bread for a delicious layer of hot cheese instead of a layer of charcoal.
Grated parmesan cheese is also perfect for this recipe
Step 6. Cook until the cheese starts to bubble and brown
Return the bread to the oven. Watch carefully until the cheese is completely melted and begins to bubble, brown. This step should take about 3 to 5 minutes, but overcooking even one minute will turn the cheese black.
This step may only take 1 to 2 minutes if using a very hot grill
Method 3 of 3: Welsh Rarebit
Step 1. Bake the bread in a low heat oven
Spread butter on one side and place in the cold oven on a minimum setting. This recipe cooks fairly quickly, but you should check the toast every few minutes just in case. Remove the bread when it reaches the color you want.
Step 2. Melt the butter on the stove over low heat
Put the butter in a small saucepan and heat until melted.
Step 3. Add flour
Pour in the flour and beat or stir until combined. Cook this roux mixture for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring constantly. The resulting mixture should be soft and slightly golden brown.
Step 4. Add liquid and spices
Pour in the beer and stir until well combined. Stir in and beat in the milk or heavy cream for a richer version. Add and stir in the dry mustard, soy sauce, cayenne pepper and paprika.
For more color, save the peppers and sprinkle them on a plate after serving
Step 5. Add the cheese little by little
Add a handful of grated cheese each time you melt it. Stir in each handful of cheese added until melted. Lower the heat if the mixture starts to boil or foam.
Step 6. Taste
Stir in a pinch of salt and taste the results. Add more spices if you want, or melt more cheese if the taste is too strong for you.
Step 7. Remove from heat, add and beat one egg yolk
Let the rarebits cool for a few minutes first to reduce the chance of scrambled egg flakes forming. Stir in the egg yolks until the mixture is well combined.
Step 8. Pour over the toast
Serve a sheet of toast covered in lots of welsh rarebit sauce. The mixture will be quite runny, so prepare a knife and fork to eat it.
Tips
- To make the sizzler recipe, grease an extra thick slice of bread with a mixture of margarine (or butter) with parmesan cheese. Bake or grill on one side only, until golden brown. To get a spectrum of crunchy and chewy flavors, freeze the bread first and cook it using cooking spray, not butter or cooking oil.
- You can add a variety of ingredients of your choice, from mustard to leftover mashed potatoes.
- If the cheese is burning, peel the blackened part of the cheese from the toast and eat the extra melted cheese layer underneath.
- If you want to experiment, add a little garlic powder. Or better yet, learn how to make garlic bread.
