Same in the UK. "bread" is the spongy toast bread that somehow stays soft for 7 days+. I find even actual bakeries that make "artisinal" bread(and of course it has to be "artisinal", no one can just make a normal loaf of bread anymore without treating it like it's some special thing) must have only seen pictures of good sourdough, because it's almost never properly risen, it's about half height of what a good sourdough should be. And it doesn't even taste like a real thing.

Same with rolls(buns?) - you get these really awful "baps" everywhere, which are again this soft dough without any crust to them.

I've lived here for 12 years now and I yearn for some good bread. I know of one Polish bakery that does the real stuff, but it's 20 miles away so it's a very rare treat whenever I happen to head that way.

I disagree, I have even seen Walmarts with bakery-made bread that's flour, water, yeast, salt, not too much sugar, and has a normal shelf life of 2-3 days. Most grocery stores have it. It certainly won't be the best you've ever had but it's real. Now if you said "there's no bread in the USA's bread aisle" I'd completely agree.

Of course there is. When I go visit family, I can still go to the supermarkets and find several types of freshly baked bread, not just mass produced white bread. Even among the mass produced stuff, there's plenty of decent options if you ignore the plain white bread.

Unpopular opinion: Bread in the US mostly is of low quality. Whole wheat or multi grain bread with a hard crust as it is common in Germany or Switzerland is superior in taste, texture and nutrition.

And here I thought I ate some for breakfast. But perhaps that was just bread, not "bread".