Rustic Bakery

Sourdough flatbreads started it all for Rustic Bakery in 2005, baked as a cracker for cheese. The Northern California bakery still makes everything by hand.

About Rustic Bakery

Based in
Sonoma County and Marin County, California
Founded
2005
Known for
sourdough flatbread crackers

Rustic Bakery began on a whim in 2005 with a single sourdough flatbread cracker, made to go with cheese. Cheesemakers who tasted a sample placed an order for 50 cases, and the first batches came out of a commercial bakery space behind a wine bar, which later became a café.

Today the company runs four cafés in Marin County and bakes its retail line by hand at a larger bakery in Sonoma County, using local and organic ingredients whenever it can.

Rustic Bakery questions

What makes a bread or cracker sourdough?

Sourdough is a leaven made of flour, water and wild yeasts by fermentation, and that fermentation gives the sour flavor in its name. Bakers set aside a portion as a starter culture for the next batch, and a well-kept starter can last indefinitely. Rustic Bakery's original flatbread cracker was made this way.

Who started Rustic Bakery?

Carol LeValley and her husband, Josh Harris, started Rustic Bakery, and LeValley did most of the baking. She learned from her grandmother, developed her own sourdough starter and baked as a hobby while working in the apparel industry. The flatbread came from a visit to a local cheesemaker, when she decided she could make a cracker to go with its cheeses.

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