Named after the street where it was first located in SoHo, Sullivan Street Bakery was established in 1994 by former sculptor and bread aficionado, Jim Lahey. Meeting him one afternoon, while grabbing a bite of some of the freshly baked flat breads and sandwiches, was a double treat for members of the Manhattan Sideways team. It is always nice to learn the history and hear the passion of a shop directly from its owner.
After spending eight months living in Italy and studying the art of bread making in the early 90's, Jim came back to the States with a talent for baking some of the best loaves around. Though he could only bake in his Williamsburg garage between shifts at other jobs, he continued to experiment with his own recipes and eventually started selling his product at street markets. Auspiciously, the first time he sold his bread was at a market on the corner of Houston and Sullivan Street, close to the site of his future brick-and-mortar.
Jim moved Sullivan Street Bakery to the current location in Hell's Kitchen in 2000 and remains as involved in his business as ever – in fact, he lives right above the shop. He is famous for his revolutionary bread baking technique, often referred to as no-knead baking. In short, instead of pounding bread into a table, Jim lets the dough sit for fourteen to twenty hours, allowing it to ferment, and then puts it in a 450 degree oven for about an hour. The simple technique has encouraged many, including my own husband, to bake bread at home and rave about the results.
In addition to Jim's bakery on 47th, he also opened Co. (short for Company) in 2009, where guests are invited to sit at communal tables to indulge in his variety of pizzas and other scrumptious items on the menu. Having written two books – My Bread (2009) and My Pizza (2012) – Jim has become a figurehead in the movement that is raising the standard for bakers everywhere, especially in Manhattan. It is his ultimate hope that the art of bread making will become as much of a cultural practice here as it is in Italy.
