Bread and Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes

by Shauna Niequist

Sullivan Street Bread Ingredients and instructions by Jim Lahey, owner of Sullivan Street Bakery. I’ve been hearing about this recipe for years, but my fear of yeast has kept me away. And then all at once, on a cool fall day, I plunged in, and I have to tell you, this is incredible bread, and incredibly easy. A few notes: I use my beloved, battered, scratched Le Creuset dutch oven, and it works perfectly. Also, every time I make it, I hope that this time it’s going to rise into a huge, puffy, impressive sphere, and really, it never does. Mine never doubles the way the recipe says it will. This is nerve-racking every time, and then the bread is delicious every time. Like life, right? We freak out, generally, for nothing. That’s how this bread is. It makes me nervous and makes me certain I’ve failed, and then it delights me with that crusty, crackling, gorgeous loaf. Bread baking is an emotional roller coaster. Hold on tight. Also, I use cornmeal to dust it because I like the gritty yellowness, and I’m pretty generous with it, especially on the tea towel so it doesn’t get all sticky. A few more things: the recipe instructs you to let the dough rest for 12 hours—feel free to leave it longer than that, but not shorter. At our house, I bake it at 450 degrees for 45 minutes, and that’s perfect. You might find that 500 works better for you, or that in your oven you need the whole hour, but my recommendation is that you start with 450 and 45 minutes. And then call me and yell and ...