diff --git a/crypto/crypto/src/merkle_tree/backends/field_element_vector.rs b/crypto/crypto/src/merkle_tree/backends/field_element_vector.rs
index a97c0ce37..1023b3a03 100644
--- a/crypto/crypto/src/merkle_tree/backends/field_element_vector.rs
+++ b/crypto/crypto/src/merkle_tree/backends/field_element_vector.rs
@@ -71,6 +71,23 @@ impl<F, D: Digest, const NUM_BYTES: usize> Default for FieldElementVectorBackend
     }
 }
 
+impl<F, D: Digest, const NUM_BYTES: usize> FieldElementVectorBackend<F, D, NUM_BYTES>
+where
+    [u8; NUM_BYTES]: From<Output<D>>,
+{
+    /// Hash raw bytes using the same digest (`D`) as this backend's leaf hashing.
+    /// Enables callers to pre-serialize field elements into a byte buffer and hash
+    /// once, avoiding per-element allocations while staying consistent with the
+    /// backend's hash function.
+    pub fn hash_bytes(data: &[u8]) -> [u8; NUM_BYTES] {
+        let mut hasher = D::new();
+        hasher.update(data);
+        let mut result = [0u8; NUM_BYTES];
+        result.copy_from_slice(&hasher.finalize());
+        result
+    }
+}
+
 impl<F, D: Digest, const NUM_BYTES: usize> IsMerkleTreeBackend
     for FieldElementVectorBackend<F, D, NUM_BYTES>
 where
diff --git a/crypto/stark/src/prover.rs b/crypto/stark/src/prover.rs
index 9a6604d3b..66e76ca1e 100644
--- a/crypto/stark/src/prover.rs
+++ b/crypto/stark/src/prover.rs
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ use crate::proof::stark::{DeepPolynomialOpenings, PolynomialOpenings};
 use crate::table::Table;
 use crate::trace::LDETraceTable;
 
-use super::config::{BatchedMerkleTree, Commitment};
+use super::config::{BatchedMerkleTree, BatchedMerkleTreeBackend, Commitment};
 use super::constraints::evaluator::ConstraintEvaluator;
 use super::domain::Domain;
 use super::fri::fri_decommit::FriDecommitment;
@@ -373,7 +373,6 @@ pub trait IsStarkProver<
         E: IsField,
     {
         use math::traits::WriteBytes;
-        use sha3::Digest;
 
         if columns.is_empty() || columns[0].is_empty() {
             return None;
@@ -383,6 +382,11 @@ pub trait IsStarkProver<
         let num_cols = columns.len();
         let byte_len = <FieldElement<E> as WriteBytes>::BYTE_LEN;
 
+        debug_assert!(
+            num_rows.is_power_of_two(),
+            "num_rows must be a power of two for reverse_index"
+        );
+
         #[cfg(feature = "parallel")]
         let iter = (0..num_rows).into_par_iter();
         #[cfg(not(feature = "parallel"))]
@@ -399,9 +403,7 @@ pub trait IsStarkProver<
                     columns[col_idx][br_idx]
                         .write_bytes_be(&mut buf[col_idx * byte_len..(col_idx + 1) * byte_len]);
                 }
-                let mut hasher = sha3::Keccak256::new();
-                hasher.update(&buf);
-                hasher.finalize().into()
+                BatchedMerkleTreeBackend::<E>::hash_bytes(&buf)
             })
             .collect();
 
@@ -694,7 +696,6 @@ pub trait IsStarkProver<
         FieldElement<FieldExtension>: AsBytes + Sync + Send + math::traits::WriteBytes,
     {
         use math::traits::WriteBytes;
-        use sha3::Digest;
 
         let num_parts = lde_composition_poly_parts_evaluations.len();
         if num_parts == 0 {
@@ -735,9 +736,7 @@ pub trait IsStarkProver<
                     part[br_1].write_bytes_be(&mut buf[offset..offset + byte_len]);
                     offset += byte_len;
                 }
-                let mut hasher = sha3::Keccak256::new();
-                hasher.update(&buf);
-                hasher.finalize().into()
+                BatchedMerkleTreeBackend::<FieldExtension>::hash_bytes(&buf)
             })
             .collect();