Why is my bread so tough when I toast it. It is hard to cut. Also, the edges brown and toast but the middle does not. I set it to the darkest "toast" I am using Peter Reinhart's recipe for "San Francisco Sourdough" bread from "artisan breads every day."
Also the recipe for soft sandwich bread and rolls from the same book are the best I have ever made, tasted and enjoyed.
I make my own spelt sourdough using the sourdough starter recipe in Richard Bertinet's book Crust and with a mixture of wholemeal and white organic spelt flour. I usually toast the bread on the boiling plate of our Aga. I find the crusts become very crunchy by the time the crumb has the colour I want. The problem can be worse when I use our electric toaster - but that is probably because I never get enough practice with it - I hate it when we have to turn the Aga off for any reason (eg servicing, summer heat, deep cleaning etc).
I think that the issue lies with the fact that the sourdough method of producing bread naturally develops a "better" crust than other methods and the toasting process dries the chewiness from the crust and turns it crunchy. Personally, so long as it is not burnt, I quite like the crunchy crust.