Are bread slices always an even number?

Factual Questions
1

I am normally the only bread eater in my house. The other day, though, my wife took sliced bread with her lunch (there wasn’t any carb leftover from the night before) and, to my dismay (I am that kind of OCD), she insisted in taking 3 slices. Today,I went to make myself a sandwich and, lo and behold, three slices were left in the package.

Chewing on my misery and my open faced mayo and alfalfa sandwich I came to think that I just don’t remember this ever happening to me before.

I always use 2 slices at a time and nobody else uses bread in the house. That means that all the packages I have used have had an even number of slices. I am not loyal to any brand or type. I just buy whatever is on sale. That means this should be true of all brands.

Is this so by design? Just a coincidence?

I can imagine many people not always using slices by the pair so it is not like this is some kind of universal concern. Do they really bother?

2

Nope. The kind of bread that I get typically has 17 40-gram (on average) slices.

3

On a not-very-closely-related note, I “noticed” that 6-packs could be split evenly amongst 1, 2, 3, or 6 people; 12-packs can be split evenly amongst 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, or 12 people.

No, the two of us weren’t on the first 6-pack, why do you ask?

4

Every loaf of bread I’ve bought over, oh, the last 15 years or so has had an even number of slices – and I brownbag a sandwich lunch every day, so that’s a lot of bread.

5

Sometimes the end slice is REALLY thin (1mm), or even a partial slice (that is, not the full height / width of the loaf), are we counting these as slices or not?

Brian

6

Depends.

I shop at a Safeway supermarket and they cut my bread for me. Sometimes I squinch my eyes a little tighter when I ask and I end up with two extra slices.

Isn’t a bread slicer variable-width?

7

the brands I buy end on those caps/soles/heels whatever it is you call that slice that is all crust (and I love). There are two of those, so I guess it would make no difference.

I do remember the sliced bread at Publix (I think) having those weird partial slices. I guess those wouldn’t count as you can’t really make a sandwich with them.

8

hmmm… I was thinking of those commercial breads (Holsum et al). I guess if there is a human with a variable tool cutting it, all bets are off

9

Is that printed on the bag or did you counted and weighed them?

The portions on the Nutrition Facts label are kinda iffy IMPE

10

OK, I have to admit public school education. With that handicap in mind, I determined it thus:

Total weight / # slices = [sup]1[/sup]weight per slice
([sup]2[/sup]24 oz * 28.35 grams/oz) / [sup]3[/sup]17 slices = 40.02 grams/slice

[sup]1[/sup]OK, for this exercise grams are a unit of weight, not mass.
[sup]2[/sup]The weight of the loaf as listed on the package (Earth Grains Honey Wheat Berry)
[sup]3[/sup]The number of slices that I typically count.

11

Commercial loaves of bread are basically all the same length (because they are baked in pans the same length). And sliced by automatic slicers. So it would be fairly easy for the bakery company to set this so that each loaf ends up with an even number of slices, if they think that is something that buyers want. (The slicers are adjustable; bread labeled as ‘sandwich’ bread has thinner slices than regular bread.)

So it’s quite possible for manufacturers to make bread with an even number of slices in each loaf.

12

There is one brand sold in my area that always has odd number of slices. For those interested, the area is Portland OR and the brand is Franz 100% Whole Wheat. Don’t know about the other Franz products.