My Cuisinart Toaster has been working great for the past 10 years. Only recently have I wondered if it shows signs of age, perhaps not baking quite as efficiently as it used to. At least for now, nothing is irreparable by baking one more time in a short cycle.
Perhaps Cuisinart’s impending waning of potency has me lingering when I recently came across a “smart toaster” with some amusing bells and whistles: promising faster baking, new heating element design and what the manufacturer calls a “smart baking algorithm. “
I’m particularly interested in how to make toast faster. Toast aficionados tend to love it when the slices are cooked to their preferred degree of doneness on the outside but the inside remains moist and chewy, not an annoying slice that breaks in half when they bite. . Speed can certainly help strike that perfect balance.
Instead of the knobs, levers, and buttons commonly found on most toasters, Revolution Cooking’s The dual-slot toaster is controlled by a touchscreen and — bear with it — comes with a price tag of $350 to $400, which is welcome considering the dual-slot toasters Competitive top rated prices range from $30 to $100.
Baking on the touch screen is an interesting change. In Revolution, that screen is cleverly placed on one of the two narrowest sides of the toaster. This arrangement allows you to set the narrow side of the toaster forward, thus keeping it from taking up too much of the counter’s width. You choose from settings such as bread, bagels, instant waffles, toast (à la Pop-Tarts) or English muffins, and then choose the desired “appetizing” level. Two slots R270 I considered having all these options, the more basic one R180plus bread-specific settings like sourdough, multigrain cinnamon swirls, and gluten-free options.
It sounds fun. Who doesn’t want the best for their toast? Unfortunately, I had a lot of time with the basics… like getting a $400 toaster to bake deliciously. Getting only strong and consistent results from store-bought loaves of white bread and sourdough—meat and potatoes of most toasts, if you will—was beyond the reach of the First Revolution. little.
Check out the toast
Once you choose what you’re toasting and the desired finish, Revolution’s screen displays an image of your toast as it’s done. I’ve got some Franz’s sourdough at home, and whether on bread or sourdough settings, it never really appears like the picture on the screen. Usually it doesn’t work well (especially if using frozen bread and a frozen setting) and unevenly. Worse still, toasters often leave the bottom half inch of a slice of bread unbaked, and it often has trouble making one of the bottom corners. If I re-baked on its shortest cycle to fix any of these problems, my toast usually burns.
