the magic: sullivan street bakery.

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My friend Brendan has worked behind the scenes at several of my favorite bakeries in the city, most recently at Co., where he brought wondrous pizzas into this world and into my belly.  I’ve even been lucky enough to see some of what goes on in the kitchen there.  

Nowadays Brendan’s at Sullivan Street Bakery, the original bakery run by Jim Lahey (who also owns Co., and who is the man behind the no-knead dough recipe that’s all the rage (and it totally works, by the way)).   I stopped by there on Saturday before my Highline/West Village walkabout with Shannon (more on that in a post to come).  Brendan took me to the back, where some pizza bianca dough had been proofing and was just about ready to go into the oven.  There’s a skylight in the back baking area, one that fills the center of the room with gorgeous light, right on top of the main table.  Inadvertently mis-metering, the impromptu photos I took ended up underexposed, but to lovely effect: the dough almost has an aura around it, a wondrous glow, while everything in the background just fades away.  This is kind of what taking a bite of the finished product feels like, too.

The bakery produces my favorite bread in the city — seriously, find a reason to be around 47th between 10th and 11th avenues one of these days, and pick up some pizza bianca or any of the room temperature pizza slices, or maybe a sandwich: they have one called the PMB — pancetta, mango, basil, with a wee sprinkling of cayenne for heat — that is an incredible combination of salty, smoky, spicy, and sweet.   And if you’re there before 3pm on most days, see if Brendan is around, and tell him I sent you. 
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