Then there’s the futuristic inside-out sandwich from the movie Lightyear.
The bread should be durable, requiring a determined ripping movement with the teeth to pull it apart, the diametric opposite of weak bread that gets soaked through from pickle juice, mayo, leaking pepperoncini, mustard, horseradish, etc and turns to mush.
It should be good bread, hearty, with a crust.
And yes it should be dwarfed by what gets put between the bread layers, kinda like…
I generally prefer non cornered bread for sandwiches, except grilled cheese. But if you are willing to make the even coverage effort, then fine.
I like the filling thickness to at least equal the total bread thickness. But if it is a combination of vegetable matter and meat, then less vegetable to keep the bread to filling ratio.
Toasting can often enhance the texture and mechanical stability.
A good Reuben is bliss.
Making a sandwich is an art and a science. Good quality bread is essential to constructing a good sandwich.
Thankfully, Publix bakery bakes very good hoagie rolls which rival Philadelphia’s famed Amoroso rolls, which are essential for making authentic Philly cheesesteaks (as well as hoagies/subs). I no longer live in Philly, so Publix has been a godsend.
Rather than simply slicing the rolls, I remove a bread wedge, which reduces the bread-to-innard ratio considerably.
Lately, I’ve been pressing my hoagies in a panini press set on high temperature (a George Foreman grill or something similar will suffice). This reduces the air pockets in the sub, making for a thinner sandwich, further reducing the bread-to-innard ratio (especially if you lean hard on the press during grilling). It also melts the cheese nicely and toasts the bread.
A panini-pressed Philly cheesesteak may not be authentic, but it tastes great, so screw authenticity says I!
Hint: sprinkle Texas Pete hot sauce liberally on your Philly cheesesteak to kick it up a notch. For a hoity-toity cheesesteak, use high-quality smoked provolone cheese, or Cooper American. But, for the tastiest, gooiest sandwich, use Cheez Whiz or Velveeta! (yes, you heard me right). Also, incorporate a shit-ton of grilled, well-caramelized onions (order “cheese wit”, in Philly-speak).
I was going to mention Jason’s Deli. I’ve had their Reuben a few times and the bread can barely hold the sandwich together. The amount of meat is just ridiculous.
Sometimes bread complements the filling, but other times you just want a vehicle to transport the filling to your mouth. You wouldn’t use rye bread for a burger or a PBJ and would likely not use a brioche for a pastrami sandwich. Wonder bread (or something similar) has its place, IMO.
In that picture the meat looks dry, so it doesn’t appeal to me. I couldn’t eat it as a sandwich in any case.
My ideal deli style sandwich is Langer’s #19. I’d never had pastrami that succulent before, and their bread is perfect. The cole slaw adds just enough additonal moisture and flavor. Re: the bread. I hate when you can’t bite through the crust on the bread (and this is common with lesser rye breads), so you end up pulling half the crust in one “bite,” and the whole sandwich falls apart. Langer’s rye has a crisp crust that you can easily bite through, and the bread inside is soft and flavorful without being too soft and making the sandwich soggy.
If you ever go to Langer’s, though, one order of fries is usually enough for a table of three or four people.
Sure you would, if what you want is a patty melt.
There’s one in every crowd. 
Diabetic here. The best sandwiches have zero bread, but are still able to be picked up & eaten sandwich style.
I wish that were not so because I love(d) a good sourdough or dark rye. But it is so, at least for me.
If I were you, I wouldn’t deny myself sourdough bread entirely. Even severe diabetics may ingest up to ~26% of their diet as carbohydrates with no ill effects. Of course, discuss with your PCP first, but even a couple slices of razor-thin slices of sourdough are better than none.
Make that two! I was gonna say, rye is among my favorite for a burger. Sometimes you can find rye buns, too. But yesterday I was at a restaurant in the mood for a patty melt, and thankfully I read the menu. Sourdough was their default bread! WTF? I asked for rye and got a lovely, melt-appropriate marble rye. They mucked up the onions, though, only barely cooking them. No color on them whatsoever. But it was good enough to scratch an itch.
Maybe I should have said “PB&J” for rye, but there’s probably someone here who loves that. But for most ‘normal’ people, that wouldn’t be an option.
Certainly not my first choice for that sandwich.
Coincidentally, I just ate a panini-pressed sourdough grilled cheese sandwich for lunch. It kicked ass.
A sandwich wrapped in big pieces of lettuce, or even the modern wraps made just out of cheese or egg are not as good as bread, but do the job of transporting its stuffing; especially if diabetic or avoiding carbs.
The best grilled cheese has been covered elsewhere, but again bread should be minimized.
In Montreal, European styles of serving food are often more popular than elsewhere in Canada. People eat fries with mayonnaise. And sandwich bread is often topped with butter, or dipped in egg and fried. Can you even get a buttered bun at any major sub shop?
I first read this as “avoiding crabs,” and I was really confused.
This. Fresh-that-morning sourdough is so good you can eat it by itself, or at least merely with some butter or peanut butter. Zero-quality shelf bread exists merely to hold the other ingredients together.
I don’t know why you would want to avoid any crabs that taste good with butter. I have never asked for butter at Subway or similar, but I can’t think of a single sandwich of theirs that would not be improved by it. Do they even have it?
I don’t personally avoid crabs, but it has nothing to do with diabetes.