Crostini (2024)

A quick recipe for how to make crostini, crispy little pieces of toast ready for you favourite toppings, dunking and scooping!

Crostini use suggestions: canapés with toppings, for dips (especially excellent with Baked Brie), side dish for meals such as Acqua Pazza (Italian Fish in Tomato Sauce), dunking into Soups and stews!

“Crostini” means “little crusts” (ie. “little toasts”) in Italian and that’s exactly what they are: Thin slices of bread, brushed with olive oil, sprinkled with salt then baked until crisp. It’s typically used to pile on toppings though I’m a fan of using crostini for dunking and scooping at every opportunity.

This is just a short and sweet tutorial for how to make crostini which I decided to publish separately because I’ve been using it quite regularly for recipes I’ve been sharing. Saves me writing the same recipe in the notes over and over again!

How to make crostini

To make crostini, just brush thinly sliced bread with olive oil, sprinkle with salt then bake for 10 minutes at 180°C/350°F until crispy.

For optional extra deliciousness, lightly rub the hot crostini with the cut face of a garlic clove. This is an Italian secret that makes bruschetta so delicious!

Best bread for crostini

The best bread to use for crostini is one that’s got a bit of structure and heft to it, such as:

• ciabatta

• pane di casa / pain de campagne

• stone-baked loaf

• sourdough.

If you use the soft white baguettes, the crostini will soak through immediately once sauced and just become soggy. You want it to stay crispy even once sauced so you can pile it up with the fish and vegetables – it’s the best eating experience!

Bread size – I use the thin baguettes, then I slice them differently depending on what I’m using the crostini for.

• Long crostini – slice on an extreme angle for long ones. I typically use long crostini when I’m using crostini as a dunker or serving on the side of a meal.

• Short / small crostini – cut on less of an angle to make smaller pieces when you want to use the crostini for bite size canapés.

What to use crostini for

• Toppings – For hand held, bite size canapés or a light meal. See Toppings for Crostini.

• On the side of meals, to use for scooping and dunking! Soups and stews are ideal. Specifically, crostini was used in the following recipes I’ve recently shared:

  • Italian Crusted Sardines

  • Acqua Pazza – Italian Fish in “Crazy Water”

No video today, because it’s a quick and easy recipe. 🙂

Enjoy! – Nagi x

Life of Dozer

No crostini for Dozer, garlic is bad for dogs! And no cake for you, either.