I prefer white bread for sandwiches. As far as I’m concerned, the bread is there to hold together the other sandwich ingredients. I like white bread because it is “neutral” and doesn’t interfere with the flavors of the other ingredients.
Nutty, grainy breads are right out. Aside from so many “whole” grains tasting somewhat bitter to me, they ruin the texture of the sandwich for me.
The only exception I make for sandwiches is that I’ll use rye bread for corned beef or pastrami.
Other fancy, “artisan” breads are for occasions when the bread is eaten for the bread’s sake. Like dinner rolls, garlic bread, or simply any bread that is served as a “side”.
Two years ago I spent a couple of months in The Russias, and the thing I hated most about coming home was the American White Bread, and the readily availab le commercial variantgs on it. I practically lived on Russian bread, the kind in the big round loaves that you have to tear apart with strong hands.
Here at home, I can get loaves of unsliced “French bread” (which is more like Italian bread), which is just barely tolerable for things ike breakfast toast or French toast, or an occasional quickie lunch sandwich, but not for any other uses. Like just plain eating for the love of it.
Unless you can afford to go to a specialty bakery and pay five or ten bucks for what in Russia would be a 30-cent loaf.
White bread makes good toast and grilled cheese. I have a nostalgic fondness for peanut butter on white bread.
Egg bread is tastier, as is poppyseed rye or any number of artisanal breads. But they don’t last as long. And they often don’t contain much more fibre.
I prefer the heavier dark breads, though white bread does do OK toast or grilled cheese.
For the most part though i am not fond of it, just kind of mush with no texture.
I expect white bread with peanut butter sandwiches. It’s also the best bread for grilled sandwiches.
Otherwise I eat whole grain breads. Oroweat Oat Nut is my current favorite.
I remember when Roman Meal bread came out nationwide. I was in elementary school. That was one of the first widely marketed whole grain breads.
I still buy it occasionally.
I wasn’t allowed white bread as a kid, so for me too, it was a special treat. My mother not only baked our bread from whole wheat, she actually ground the wheat herself. My sandwiches for school were natural peanut butter (that she ground from peanuts at The Home Economist, of course) and honey on that whole wheat bread…which I would trade every chance I could for Jif and grape jelly on Wonderbread.
I’ve still got it in my head that whole wheat is somehow healthier than white, which, if you actually read the nutrition labels, is not always the case. Yeah, it has a few more nutrients, but let’s face it, most of us aren’t deficient in the nutrients in the bran. White and wheat have the same Glycemic Index, which, while a crappy method of healthfulness, belies the theory that whole wheat is somehow not turning into glucose the second it hits your intestines (it is, just like white). And the Glycemic Load, which is a slightly more useful number, is nearly the same. Fiber used to be the big difference, but bread isn’t my primary source of fiber anyhow, and these days many white breads have supplementary fiber that brings them up to par with whole wheat breads.
So I’m trying to stop feeling guilty when I linger longingly over the white loaves and put the whole wheat, with a resigned sigh, into my basket. The truth is, they’re both junk food, and I should eat less bread of all types.
Nay, my friend. “Italian” sandwich bread has a slightly different texture and flavor to me. It’s a bit richer and smoother and toothier. It holds up to spreading slightly chilled butter, and is the perfect bread for butter and jelly sammiches. It’s like white bread, al dente.
White and “wheat” have roughly the same glycemic index because “wheat” is a marketing term. White and whole grain do not have the same glycemic index (the latter is much lower).
I get 75 vs 69 on average on this page from Harvard Health. And 70 for white and 59 +or minus 7, 70 + or - 10 and 59 + or - 11 for the three American whole grain breads on the International Table from American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Barely a difference. Certainly not enough of a difference for a non-diabetic to fret over, even if GI were a useful number, which it seems more and more it isn’t.
“Cracked” or “Stone ground” wheat, of course, will get you a much lower number. But even most “whole wheat” and “whole grain” bread use finely milled flours, which lead to a higher glycemic index.
Guy from Rome I found talking about his experiences in America:
“In San Francisco I was disappointed about the bread (the famous “Sour Dough” tasted like baked cardboard to me) and I didn’t know it would take 20+ years before artisanal bread (what we called “bread” in Italy) would be a thing.” (Source)
My mother would make those for a summertime lunch when I was younger. Delicious! I’d almost forgotten about them, but thanks for reminding me–I know what I’ll be having for lunch at least a few times this coming summer.
As for white bread in general; there is nothing better for toast or for PB&J, in my opinion.
Huh. That texture is what I miss the most, and only one brand of gluten free bread has captured it. It tastes a lot like my great aunt’s homemade bread, too.
Schar Artisan Baker White Bread. The only bread that isn’t dry unless you heat it. Everything else is best as toast, or you have to make it soggy in microwave.
Sorry, I should have been more specific: I use wheat or multi-grain “sandwich thins” for calorie reasons. The calorie difference is still not that much – two slices of Wonder bread would only be 40 calories more – but I count calories and so every calorie counts. The sandwich thins taste fine, and I’d rather use those 40 calories elsewhere. You are correct, though, that in many breads the difference is negligible. And other posters are correct about the “wheat” vs “whole wheat” thing.
The sandwich thins taste fine, and I’d rather use those 40 calories elsewhere. You are correct, though, that in many breads the difference is negligible. And other posters are correct about the “wheat” vs “whole wheat” thing.