What is the difference between bruschetta and crostini?

Both are toasted bread with something on it, both turn up at the start of a meal, and Italians themselves use the words loosely. But at their most typical they are different things, made differently, and knowing which you are making helps you get it right.

Bruschetta: the bread is the point

The Treccani dictionary defines bruschetta, in Roman usage, as toasted bread seasoned with oil and salt and rubbed with garlic. The name is generally traced to the Roman dialect verb bruscare, to toast or roast over coals (Wikipedia: Bruschetta). In Tuscany the same idea goes by fettunta, often served bare in the olive-harvest season so you can taste the new oil.

So the essentials are:

• Thick slices of open, chewy country bread, a day or two old if you have it.
• Toasted over strong, direct heat: a grill pan, a barbecue, under the grill or over a gas flame. You want char marks and a crisp outside with some give in the middle.
• Garlic rubbed on the hot, rough surface, which acts like a grater.
• Generous olive oil and salt. Not a polite drizzle. The bread should drink it.

Toppings are optional and often seasonal: chopped ripe tomatoes with basil, white beans with rosemary, sautéed greens, roasted peppers. In Campania the tomato version is the favourite, but, as Wikipedia notes, only when tomatoes are in season.

Getting the tomato version right

Chop ripe tomatoes, salt them and let them sit for a few minutes so they release juice. Drain off most of the liquid (or drink it), then add olive oil and torn basil. Top the bread at the last moment so it stays crisp under the tomatoes, and eat it straight away.

Crostini: small, crisp and spread

Treccani describes a crostino as a slice of bread, toasted or fried, usually spread with butter or savoury toppings and served as an appetiser. (In the plural it also means the little fried bread cubes that go into soups.) In practice crostini are:

• Smaller and thinner, often cut from a narrower loaf or a baguette.
• Crisp right through, toasted in the oven or fried in a little oil until golden and crunchy.
• Spread rather than heaped: a pâté-style mixture, whipped ricotta, a mushroom or olive paste, a smear of something with a single garnish on top.

They hold up better than bruschetta, which makes them practical for parties. You can toast them ahead of time and top them shortly before serving. Toppings vary endlessly; vegetarian versions with mushrooms, beans, cavolo nero or olive paste are as much a part of the tradition as anything.

Making crostini

Slice the bread thinly, brush both sides lightly with olive oil, and bake on a tray in a hot oven, turning once, until golden and crisp. Cool them on a rack so they stay crunchy. Rub with garlic if you like while they are still warm.

Where the words blur

Regional usage is untidy. Wikipedia notes that bruschetta is sometimes used interchangeably with crostini and with fettunta. Menus outside Italy often call anything with chopped tomato "bruschetta". None of this is worth arguing about at dinner. The practical distinction is the one above: thick, grilled and oily, or small, crisp and spread.

Bread choice

• For bruschetta: a sturdy, open-crumbed country loaf, Tuscan-style unsalted bread, or a good sourdough. Soft sandwich bread will not survive the oil.
• For crostini: a narrower loaf with a tighter crumb, so the toppings sit on top.

Stale bread is ideal for both. More on that in using stale bread.