Bruschetta Bread Hardness

I've recently started trying bruschetta, a dish I've avoided for years for little reason. We stopped by one of our local restaurants and had what was, at least taste-wise, an excellent dish, but the bread was so hard that is was almost impossible to eat -- it was not even possible to cut it with a butter knife. I considered sending it back considering it made my jaw hurt, and I couldn't change the shape of the bread by squeezing as hard as I could with my hand, but know so little about what "proper" bruschetta should be like that I didn't want to do so. I've had some "low end bruschetta" that was more of a light grilling on the bread, is this normal for a small bruschetta app in the $12-$20 range? Am I just eating it wrong?

/Bruschetta ignorance?

[Robin Garr]

Adam, I'm not sure there is a standard, but I can testify that my wife doesn't care for bruschetta because, well-made, it starts with a chewy rustic Euro-bread and then grills (or toasts) it so as to make a firm base for the tomatoes and other topping. Depending on one's taste, this can be either "interesting" or "really hard to chew."

Good question, though! Since Mary doesn't like it, we don't order it too often, so I'll be interested to hear other opinions as well.

Two thoughts . . .

First, I make it at home sometimes, when we have leftover bread of the right type. When I toast it, the difference between 'too hard to bite' and 'just right' is about two seconds! I think they may have gone too far, and for that price point I'd feel free to tell them.

Second, you can wait a few minutes before saying something, as the reason for toasting is so that the juices from the tomatoes don't turn the bread to mush. Sometimes in that few minutes the juices will soften the bread just enough to bite, and then you'll get the contrast between the hard, chewy bread and the soft, juicy tomatoes!

I'm not a fan of bruschetta or biscotti, for the same reason.

Thanks, everybody!

My approach to Bruschetta is make your tomato mix ahead of time with plenty of balsamic and olive oil and let the tomatoes marinate for maybe 20 minutes. I have had better results with cherry and grape tomatoes. I tried salting them first but it just turned into salty mush. Brush your bread with olive oil and grill it just until you see some brown grill marks. Then take your bread off and cover it with foil for about 5 minutes until it cools a little and spread your tomato mix on top. Shave some parm or asiago on top and enjoy!