When he wrote about Jim Lahey s bread in the New York Times, Mark Bittman s excitement was palpable: The loaf is incredible, a fine-bakery quality, European-style boule that is produced more easily than by any other technique I ve used, and it will blow your mind. Here, thanks to Jim Lahey, New York s premier baker, is a way to make bread at home that doesn t rely on a fancy bread machine or complicated kneading techniques.

The secret to Jim Lahey s bread is slow-rise fermentation. As Jim shows in My Bread, with step-by-step instructions followed by step-by-step pictures, the amount of labor you put in amounts to 5 minutes: mix water, flour, yeast, and salt, and then let time work its magic no kneading necessary. The process couldn t be more simple, or the results more inspiring. Here finally Jim Lahey gives us a cookbook that enables us to fit quality bread into our lives at home."

Ten years ago, Jim Lahey's My Bread (ISBN 978 0 393 06630 2) caused a home-baking renaissance. Now this sequel introduces home bakers to sourdough versions of the pugliese, brioche and multigrani for which the Sullivan Street Bakery is known-including a step-by-step guide to making sourdough starter from the bloom that appears on fresh organic produce. In addition, The Sullivan Street Bakery Cookbook provides recipes for easy and elegant Italian-inspired food. This includes Lahey's irresistible egg dishes, innovative sandwiches, salads and pizzas, simple Italian cookies, cornetti and crostatas, as well as his coveted recipe for panettone. An essential book for home bakers and lovers of Italian food.