January 12, 2007 - 7:11am
rustic? country?
This is a question about terminology. I can't tell after reading several bread books and asking a few bakers just what "rustic" and "country" mean. According to Peter Reinhart, rustic refers to wet dough. According to a baker I asked, "country" means dough with some rye flour, because country people couldn't afford to use only wheat for their bread. I guess rye was cheaper. My understanding of English is that "country" and "rustic" are close conceptual cousins. I will be thankful for any clarification folks can offer.
A country bread is any recipe a famous bread dude finds more than 10 miles outside New York City or San Francisco. A rustic bread is any recipe a famous USian bread dude finds more than 20 kilometers outside Paris (preferably in Brittany).
sPh