Why do toasters have a temperature setting that literally burns your toasts?

some people like burnt toast

Not everything that goes into a toaster is the same thickness. The extra heat is to get a good toast on something sliced very thin. Or you might just want some burnt toast.

I use a super mild setting for things like bagels, which are very thick and would quickly burn with a normal setting. A normal setting for things like toast. And a higher setting for poptarts because they are thinner than toast.

Apart from just thickness, things cook at different speeds. A wheat toast is going to toast at a different temp/time combo than, say, a super dense beer bread. A high temperature could be used for something that was really moist but you wanted toasted. Like zucchini bread.

Yep, toast burns exceptionally easy, but other things don’t. With my old toaster, the darkest setting would burn toast to a complete carcinogenic crisp, but I’d still have to toast on the darkest setting to get my bagels the way I like them.

@fireinthepriory: That is so weird. My toaster works the exact opposite way. Bagels toast waaaaay faster for me.

@EmpressPixie Huh… Mine also likes to take forever on english muffins or poptarts, but anything past medium makes bread a crispity crisp. Mine is a temperamental toaster… But it cost me only $7 so the fact that it doesn’t create balls of flame on a regular basis is rather exciting! :)

My grandmother loved burnt toast. She used to say it was good for her gout. That never made any sense to me, but she purposely burned her toast every morning.

I love burnt toast. With butter. Mmmmmmm

Some breads cook faster than others.

Toast thickness, different breads / toaster products need different heats/times to cook . Same with an oven or grill really .
I LOVE melted toast , its toast that is just before turning golden then buttered

So really its warmed loaf buttered…......

If toast is going to be burned it has to be left to go cold and then smothered in Lurpak butter Mmmmm!

If you burn toast and then scape it, the taste and textures are awesome!

I love burnt toast. I usually have to run my toast through the toaster twice.

I frequently put bread straight from the freezer in the toaster. In this case, you need a high setting to first defrost and then toast the bread.

@janbb You beat me to it, my freezer to toaster bread takes a higher setting.

I don’t have an explanation, but listen to Eddie Izzard’s very funny bit about Machines that Lie including toasters.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmkDmn_OETk

The toast isn’t meant to to be burnt, but simply toasted very quickly. (However, the time settings do not change, leading to burning.)

It’s just a rheostat that adjusts the resistance in the timer circuit from 0 ohms (burnt, long time toasting) to infinite ohms (not toasted at all, short time toasting.)
At 0 ohms the rheostat does not produce much, if any, heat, and the timer runs long, and the toast gets burnt. At infinite ohms, the rheostat heats very quickly, limiting the toasting time to very little.
The manufacturer doesn’t want you to burn your toast, but your get that choice by chance due to the nature of the rheostat. (Works great for practical jokes, if you have a mind…)