by Gail Kavanagh

Created on: November 19, 2008

Two things make a great sandwich - great bread and a great filling. A great filling slapped between the doughy sheets of Wettex that passes for supermarket variety white bread these days is an insult to the filling - and two slices of delicious fresh sourdough wrapped around plastic processed cheese is an insult to the sourdough. It's all about balance.

For a great sandwich, pass over the spongy pap in the supermarket bread aisle and look at the speciality bread. There is a huge amount to choose from. Check out the dark aromatic rye and caraway seed, the grainy honey and oatmeal or the chunky, mouth watering sourdough loaves. Better yet, bypass the supermarket altogether and head for the independent bakery, where even the plain white bread is crusty and succulent.

Choosing your bread will influence your filling. If it's rye, you may already be thinking pastrami - but a good sharp cheese, or melting honey smoked ham will also go well with those dark, grainy slices.

Crusty French bread will beg for Camembert or Brie, or cold sliced hard boiled egg, crisp lettuce and mayonnaise. But a good garlicky salami will also taste fabulous with this bread, as will a chunk of plain matured Cheddar.

Whole grain cottage bread should be accompanied with matured cheese that has a strong bite, some roast beef and pickles. This is the traditional Ploughman's Lunch still ordered in English pubs. But try it with tinned salmon or tuna as well, or cold roast pork.

Sourdough is a truly great bread, which tastes even better when wrapped around cold turkey slices and cranberry sauce - or cold chicken and mayonnaise - or honey and walnuts - or smoked salmon and sliced hard boiled egg - the list goes on and on.

To prepare a perfect sandwich, make sure your chosen bread is evenly sliced. You can buy sliced in the packet, or get your bakery to slice it for you, if you are not confident about your bread knife skills. If you do prefer to slice your own, get a good quality bread knife with a serrated edge for fine, even slices. Place the bread on a wooden bread board for ease of cutting.

Make sure all your ingredients are at hand - you want to be able to assemble your sandwiches quickly while everything is fresh. Anything that needs to be sliced, should be sliced before you start assembling your sandwiches.

If you are going to use a base spread, such a mayo, cottage cheese, margarine or butter, cover each slice evenly with a broad bladed knife or spatula. With margarine and butter, make sure it is

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