[paul.fr]

Brown bread appears to get nice and toasted about twice as fast as white bread, why?

[Alandriel]

LOL I think you've got a very strange toaster Paul  []

[lyner]

Brown bread is not so disgustingly damp and 'pappy' as white bread so the lower water content means it  takes less time to heat up to a temperature at which it can start to burn a bit. Being brown, it may even absorb a bit more infra red than (disgustingly pappy )  white bread - and heat up a bit quicker.
Brown bread rules!!
What is the point of white bread, anyway?

[JimBob]

To make people fat. That is All it is good for - except for a fresh out of the oven French baguette.

[kdlynn]

and garlic bread

[techmind]

brown bread gets nice and toasted about twice as fast as white, why?

I'm sure it mostly depends on the water content. I'm sure you can get examples of soggy brown as well as dry white, so the colour of bread -in general- is not necessarily the primary reason.

Now, if only they made a toaster with a built-in smoke-detector that automatically switched off when it had gone too far...

[Karen W.]

whole wheat is dryer and takes more water as it breaks up the gluten in the other flour more. I believe the same holds true for oat flour.

Whole wheat when mixed into other flour mixture, weakens the glucose structure of the dough, and in so doing makes the mix less tolerant to mixing and fermentation time. The wheat is rougher and works like a cutting blade in the gluten structure, so when you mix it into the flour mix, it weakens it and the bread ends up being much denser unless you make adjustments for the wheat. By adding extra water and a touch of sugar to make it less dense and bitter.

Whole wheat has a slower hydration rate and when you add a whole wheat to a recipe you should always increase those things a tad, to balance out the taste so it is not to dry and bitter! It also needs to be baked longer at a lower temperature.

So when you toast it it takes less to dry it out and therefore it toasts quicker!  White bread has much more moisture and a gluten structure that has not been broken down so it remains better in holding in moisture.
Where as the whole wheat has broken down and cut up the glucose making it unable to hold  the moisture as well as before.

[lyner]

a built-in smoke-detector

or a built in light meter -get it just the brownness you like.

[Bored chemist]

I don't know how significant the effect is but dark coloured stuff will absorb more light than white stuff. It's possible the same is true for absorbing IR and so the brown bread heats quicker.

[paul.fr]

Now, if only they made a toaster with a built-in smoke-detector that automatically switched off when it had gone too far...

Does that mean I'm not the only one that regularly burns toast?

[Alandriel]

Most definitley paul - you're *never* the only one  []

LOVE your ideas people: built in smoke detector, light-meter detecor. [] []
You should get some ideas on paper and approach the many toaster manufacturers. Toasters have still massive room for improvement!

...except for a fresh out of the oven French baguette

Mais oui! Mes sentiments précicement

[JimBob]

un grand merci de la part de Alandriel - mon cher

[Andrew K Fletcher]

I have to go along with this one as it makes a lot more sense.

I don't know how significant the effect is but dark coloured stuff will absorb more light than white stuff. It's possible the same is true for absorbing IR and so the brown bread heats quicker.

[Karen W.]

Anytime you have something with less moisture ie wheat bread verses white it is going to burn quicker because it doesn't require as much time to burn it as it has less moisture in it to evaporate before it toasts!

[kdlynn]

yes why is it that everything else on the planet is constantly upgrading but basic toaster technology is not updated?

[Karen W.]

Who knows perhaps it is  good to go..LOL

[SquarishTriangle]

Now, if only they made a toaster with a built-in smoke-detector that automatically switched off when it had gone too far...

Doesn't your toaster have some sort of knob to let you set the darkness of your toast?
My toaster has 5 settings: 1 (Light), 2, 3, 4 (Dad Setting 1) and 5 (Dad Setting 2). I'm adamant 4 and 5 are only there to make dads happy...noone else in their right mind would POSSIBLY want toast that dark!!!

[paul.fr]

Doesn't your toaster have some sort of knob to let you set the darkness of your toast?

i put mine under the grill, no knob just constant looking, ofcourse when you forget to look the damn smoke alarm soon reminds you!

[Karen W.]

Mine has setting and ones that allow you to put frozen bread in also and it defrosts it before it toasts it! Making sure its just so. I have a funny little one that can set over your gas burner and it has a rack that holds it up like a camping toaster for open fire. Haven't used it in a long time! They have come a long long ways really!

I have never used my rack! Have toasted in oven on cookie sheet but this requires looking and turning also!

[techmind]

or a built in light meter -get it just the brownness you like.

My colleague has just pointed out that Philips' HD2580 toaster has just this function.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Philips-HD2580-Essence-Toaster/dp/B00008BFTN

*Declaration of interest: I do work for Philips
*Disclaimer: I have no personal experience of this product. I've no idea how well (or whether) it works in practice. Other toasters with brownness monitors may be available.

Also (via the magic of Search) I've just found this:
http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/content/news/news/372/
which relates to a toaster using an ionisation smoke-detector.