Sandwich bread is overwhelmingly commercially baked and pre-sliced, though any similar shaped loaf can be turned into sandwiches by hand. It may be formulated to slice easily,[8] cleanly or uniformly, and may have a fine crumb (texture) and light body.[4] Sandwich bread may be designed to have a balanced proportion of crumb and crust, whereby the bread holds and supports fillings in place and reduces drips and messiness.[3][4] Some may be designed to not become crumbly, hardened, dried or have too compressible a texture.[2][9]
Sandwich bread can refer to cross-sectionally square, sliced white and wheat bread, which has been described as "perfectly designed for holding square luncheon meat".[10] The bread used for preparing finger sandwiches is sometimes referred to as sandwich bread.[10]Pain de mie is a sandwich loaf.[11][12]
In the 1930s in the United States, the term sandwich loaf referred to sliced bread.[10] In contemporary times, U.S. consumers sometimes refer to white bread such as Wonder Bread as sandwich bread and sandwich loaf.[1] American sandwich breads have historically included some fat derived from the use of milk or oil to enrich the bread.[4] Thin-sliced breads, wherein the bread is sliced somewhat thinner than customary, are often labeled as "sandwich bread".
Examples of U.S. bakers that produce sandwich bread are Wonder, Pepperidge Farm, [13][14] and Nature's Pride. Some supermarket chains, such as Texas-based H-E-B, produce their own store brands of sandwich bread.[15]Bonn Group of Industries of Ludhiana Punjab, India, produces a product called Super Sandwich Bread. Tai Pan Bread and Cakes Co. produces sandwich bread in Hong Kong. Mass-produced sandwich breads are sliced before being packaged.[3][16]
Japanese milk bread, a specific style of sandwich bread, is popular in Asia, particularly in Japan, and has artisan status there.[17][18] Bread was not a traditional food in Japan, but it came into culinary use there after the American response to post-World War II Japanese rice shortages included relief shipments of wheat.[19] The style of bread became popular outside Asia in the 2020s.[20][21][22]