My lazy effortless way with bread is to use as it comes.
For rivers but lakes as well sliced or whole I take a half slice, tear into small pieces and squeeze it into a hard ball in my hand. When you throw this in the river it will sink but start to break up. Some will stay on the bottom and other bits will break off and flow down the river, bits of crust certainly. Some will float to the top.
I like this because it gives three options, fish to the bait on the bottom, trot down with the flow. Occasionally, not often some floating bits will hook up on a downstream bit of veg and a carp my come slurping round it if seagulls don't get there first. Bream, Tench roach are likely to come to your bottom area, well in fact you can explore the river and find where the fish are preferring to feed and the area, bottom, mid water, downstream static bait or moving. I can add a few sweetcorn or other bait I might be trying which can lay with the bottom bread.
You can vary the bread, small pieces, bigger pieces and how hard you squeeze it together for different effects. If the bread is dry I some times roll it between both hands and it breaks up into a more finer cloudy effect. This will not sink and stay hard on the bottom but it can be of use.
You have to watch your bread as it sinks, work out where its going, depth/flow of water etc, alter the the lumps, how hard you squeeze it together etc. Less squeezing more floating. You have to squeeze it very hard sometimes into a ball in your hand to get it to sink quickly to the bottom.
Anyway, just my lazy man way, not for the ace angler but if you have not the time or cannot be bothered to prepare it, just stop off and buy a loaf and use it. It suits me as I am often off fishing at a whims notice. Its not very finesse or calculated but it works on a river. It can draw fish in, way off downstream who will come up and explore the source, stay and feed, keeps a good scent trail going down etc. gives them and me a choice. Where, how they want it, bottom feeders, mid water etc I will find them. Unless there's no fish or they just are not feeding full stop of course, little sods; I hate them sometimes..more elusive than the Higs-Bosum whatever that is when its at home.
