The Bread

The first building block of a great sandwich is the bread. Don’t miss the opportunity to amaze customers with the perfect base.

TREND 2

The Bread

A STURDY FOUNDATION WILL HOLD EVEN THE BIGGEST SANDWICHES TOGETHER

Every sandwich needs a great bread; it’s the first ingredient that catches the eye, and the component that holds everything together. Bread is often the essential element that determines which sandwich is ordered on a menu. The right bread offers a perfect handheld meal while the wrong bread can make or break an otherwise great sandwich.

HOW TO CHOOSE THE PROPER SANDWICH BREAD IN THREE STEPS:

1. Will the sandwich be simple and/or healthy with few ingredients? Go for a thin, minimalistic loaf that will let the ingredients shine (white, wheat, rye, pumpernickel, etc).

2. Planning to include a lot of sauce? Choose a bread with a hearty crust and dense crumb structure that can do double-duty holding things together and sopping up the sauce (French baguette, ciabatta, boule).

3. Creating soft fillings? Sandwich salads such as chicken, tuna, and egg can’t hold up to the pressure of a hard bread. Choose a soft option (soft roll, croissant, white, wheat, etc).

When creating a sandwich, the best bread isn’t always obvious, although we’re usually able to match popular sandwiches with typical breads (tuna on croissant or chicken Parmesan on hoagie). There are dozens of bread options that can make a sandwich better. While whole wheat/multigrain bread may be the most popular bread inside American homes, according to Statista, many consumers appreciate the opportunity to try new bread varieties when they purchase food away from the home.

Sturdy, dense breads like ciabatta, focaccia, boule, and baguette can hold hearty, meaty sandwiches that need a firm foundation. More delicate breads such as croissants, potato, white, and wheat are perfect for lighter, more delicate ingredients (think turkey, tuna salad, veggies).

Embracing International Sandwich Breads

These five sandwiches wouldn’t be the same without the breads that support them.

Mexican Torta: Telera, an oval or round Mexican wheat-flour bread, is a strong and popular base for the oft-wet ingredients of a torta—refried beans, mayonnaise, avocado, tomato, white onion, any meat and cheese, and pickled veggies.

Asian Banh Mi: Ubiquitous to a banh mi, a thin baguette is topped with the chef’s choice of protein and a few key banh mi toppings that include pickled carrots and daikon, mayo, cucumber, cilantro, and jalapeño slices.

Japanese Katsu Sando: Often defined by its soft, pillowy Shokupan milk bread, the Katsu Sando is stacked with panko-fried pork cutlet, shaved cabbage, and ketchup/Tonkatsu sauce.

Indian Vada Pav: The vegetarian Vada Pav sandwich features a spiced potato and onion fritter with chutney inside a small, fluffy, Indian-style bun.

Middle Eastern Falafel: A soft, fresh pita is the universal bread of choice for the popular handheld street food favorite—falafel—stuffed with fried chickpea balls, pickled vegetables, and tahini.

For those trying to minimize carbohydrate consumption, there are tortillas for creating wraps and a wide array of low-carb keto breads available. Sticking with the growing trend in heathier ingredients, some of the trends rising in the bread aisle include the addition of protein, oats, and seeds, and a reduction in sugar, according to Glanbia Nutritionals. A growing number of consumers are checking gluten-free labels as well. At the end of the day, whether a sandwich is built on low-carb keto bread or a footlong French baguette, a sandwich isn’t really a sandwich without the bread.

_{^{Sources: Statista, U.S. Population: Most Eaten Types of Bread From 2011 to 2020, June 2022; Glanbia, Trends in Bakery for 2022, December 2021.}}