When you bake you’re own bread you basically have 2 heels.
When you buy bread you have one heel. What’s the other end named?
I hope it’s not “toe”. Please say it’s not that.
It’s my favorite piece of bread.
If they can make a pan with two heels, why can’t they do it the other way.
I’d pay real money(bread 
)for that.
I don’t understand what you’re describing - where I live, sliced bread has two end slices (one at each end) that are typically thicker than the regular slices and are made from the crust of the bread.
I don’t think we use the term ‘heel’ commonly here, but what I’m saying is that the two end slices are generally similar or identical (sometimes thicker or thinner than each other/other slices, presumably due to the arrangement of the slicer blades).
What does the other end of the bread look like in the type you’re describing?
I also like those end slices - I sometimes reach right down the bag and steal the one off the bottom end of the loaf, if the first one is already gone (I have perfected a technique for doing this without destroying the intermediate slices)
Oh. No…my bread ends look different.
I like the front end by the bread tie. The back end is the heel.
I’ve never noticed a difference between the two end slices of supermarket bread. I’ll look closer in the upcoming months.
Both ends are ‘heels’ in my midwest household. Before life with spouse I’d eat the heel (by the twist tie) because heels were my fave. But the missus insisted the heels kept the rest of the slices fresh, and were not to be eaten till last.
So that’s what I do.
The rye bread I buy has only one heel - I’m assuming it’s actually just a half a very big loaf. All other bread has heels at both ends. I’m guessing it’s baker/brand choice.
That’s all I see. The heel at either end may be a little different, usually it seems to be a matter of slicing.
Are you buying half-loaves? Because my experience matches with that of other responders: there’s typically a heel at both ends, with no significant difference between them.
I’ve never seen a loaf of bread with one heel. And like Baal says, I always keep the first one in the bag to cover the next piece to keep it fresh. I have no idea if that even works, but in my mind it does!
The only variance I’ve found is that the end piece can vary in thickness: Sometimes it’s almost as thick as a normal slice, and sometimes it’s so thin that it’s just a sliver and some of the end-crust ends up on the next slice. I assume that this is just a matter of how the loaf is lined up in the slicing machine, which probably isn’t a very precise process. But either sort of variation can occur equally well at either end of the loaf.
This. And I’ve always made the same assumption.
I recently bought a loaf of sourdough, which I kept in the freezer for longevity with the plan to pull out only the slices I need. This loaf froze uncommonly solid, I couldn’t pry it apart for nothing. So I would defrost a hunk of slices I was able to get off the loaf from somewhere I the middle and just keep it room temp. I finally get to the last remaining hunks of frozen bread and see that the heels are about 2 inches thick each! Once defrosted I got three slices from each heel.
My in-laws threw out the heels of their bread. Which passed down to my spouse whom I had to set straight that no we don’t throw out the heels. Wtf.
I’m also in the two heels camp, and I was also taught to keep them in the bag until the last. And that’s the part of bread I like best for things like cinnamon toast or bread with jam or cheese (not sandwiches, though).
I bake my own, and I prefer that to store-bought bread so much that I went into production mode this spring and made as many extra loaves as I could for the months when it’s too hot to bake. Because I’m the only bread fanatic in the house and homemade loaves mold fast in hot weather, I cut them in half. This means I only get one heel per unit, and it’s at the very end, so it’s getting stale by the time I reach it.
I don’t understand. The front “heel” looks different to me. The top is rounded and fat. The back end is flat no shape.
No half loaf.
Nature’s Own honey wheat.
We get it for the kids PB&Js. But I covet that front “heel”.
Sometimes I get it.
Every loaf of sliced bread I get has two heels. And since I’m the only one in my family that will even touch the heel, I usually end up eating them both (assuming I’m not on a diet that’s avoiding carbs).
They might be ending up different shapes from being smooshed into the bag, either because the bag is shaped differently at the open end, or because one end stays in the bag for longer than the other.
True. The heel at the end is usually pretty mangled by the time I get to it.
It’s like eating the last chips in a bag of chips. They’re not going to be as intact as the first chips you eat.
I’ve found it depends on the bread. Any whole wheat bead or white bread I’ve seen has two heels. The rye bread where I live also has two.
All the rye bread I see when visiting New York has only one heel, and I’ve always assumed it was baked as a loaf twice as long, then cut in half for packaging.
Also, I am relieved to know I’m not the only one who was told (and more or less believed) that keeping the heel in place would keep the rest of the loaf fresher. I can’t say that experience has confirmed this irrefutably, but I think it might work to a small extent…
I’ve found that the loaf will stay fresh longer if you limit the amount of time you have the bag open, and you don’t directly touch the bread inside with your hands when removing a slice. I’m always able to grab the new piece(s) of bread from the loaf from outside of the bag, and use the bag itself like an improvised plastic glove. As long as I’m not touching the bread in the bag, it seems to not get moldy even after sitting in there for quite a while.
I am pretty sure I saw that tip from someone else here on the board and it amazed me how well that actually worked.
You can call them “Fred” and “Ethel”, but if you are asking what the general public calls them, both ends are called the “heel”.
Thanks, Atamasama. I will try that. But with two kids who devour bread like cartoon termites consume wood (voraciously and fast) it may be a while before I notice any results. Generally keeping bread in my house fresh is secondary to just keeping bread in my house.