Rustic Olive Oil & Sel Gris Bites

Carol LeValley & Josh Harris started Rustic Bakery, Inc. on a whim in 2005. LeValley was born in upstate New York, but grew up in Danville and Huntington Beach, and Harris was born and raised in Walnut Creek. They both attribute their preparedness for the pace of Rustic’s growth to their previous vocational incarnations as buyers and designers in the fashion world. The couple found their passion for baking in a simple sourdough flatbread cracker that Carol would whip up for friends. They stopped at the San Francisco Ferry Building outlet of Cowgirl Creamery, and mentioned to owners Sue Conley and Peggy Smith that the cheeses deserved artisan crackers. The Cowgirls bit, literally, into a sourdough flatbread and immediately placed an order for 50 cases. So, the bakers scrambled to find commercial kitchen space in their hometown of Novato, which they outgrew in the first week, struggling to keep up with more orders while working with a rolling pin and standard convection oven. It was an around-the-clock effort. Josh would mix all of the dough, and Carol would shape and bake the flatbreads. In January 2006, Rustic Bakery Inc. showed their wares at the annual Fancy Food Show in San Francisco, where industry buyers discovered the crackers and suddenly every cheese place in America wanted them. A cracker is simply flour, water, and salt. But ours have leaven, and rise slowly and ferment like bread.