Sally Lunn

Sliced Sally Lunn bread on white plate with whole loaf in background on red cloth

It’s hard to know where to begin with Sally Lunn. As Wikipedia points out, “the origins of the Sally Lunn are shrouded in myth,” and I am not exactly the caliber of historian capable of cracking the Da Vinci Code of bread. That might be a good movie to someone though*.

Sally Lunn is a delicious brioche that takes the form of a bun in England, where it originates, but tends to be made in a tube pan in the U.S. Although the first recorded mention of the bread was in 1780 in the town of Bath, England, there isn’t really any historical remnant of Sally Lunn’s supposed namesake.

One legend is that she was a Huguenot refugee named Solange Luyon. Another theory is that the bread’s name is a mutation of the French phrase “Sol et lune” – sun and moon – referring to the golden crust and white interior.

Williamsburg Sally Lunn bread with jam, butter, and tea - traditional Southern yeast bread recipe

1964, Daily Capital News, Jefferson City Missouri

One thing we know for certain is that Sally Lunn has been a Southern mainstay for over two centuries. Although Mary Randolph did not call the bread “Sally Lunn” in her book “The Virginia Housewife,” the basic recipe appears there as French Rolls. A recipe for “Sallie Lund” appeared in the classic 1881 African-American authored “What Mrs. Fisher Knows about Old Southern Cooking,” one of the definitive collections of Southern recipes.

I have about 30 Sally Lunn recipes in my Maryland database, starting with several hand-written manuscripts from around 1850. When the spate of published Maryland cookbooks came out in the late 1800s**, each had at least one recipe for Sally Lunn. The recipes are all essentially the same. Even the frugal Elizabeth Ellicott Lea includes a staggering quarter pound of butter in the Sally Lunn recipe appearing in her 1859 cookbook. Later recipes start to substitute baking powder as leavening. This is such a quick bread to make that I usually stick with the yeast versions.

The Southern Heritage cookbook library includes many recipes that are sourced from “Maryland’s Way,” updated for clarity. Sally Lunn is one such recipe. It is included in the “Breakfast and Brunch” volume as a part of a Thanksgiving Breakfast. The menu includes:

Hot Apple Toddy
Buttery Fried Oysters
Old Maryland Baked Ham
Fresh Broccoli Salad in Lettuce Cups
Tomato Pie
Beaten Biscuits
Sally Lunn
Baked Ginger Apples
Maryland Rocks

The mystery that interests me is why this bread came to be known as so particularly “Southern.” I suppose it is possible that British foods like tea, pudding and Sally Lunn may have remained popular in the South on the eve of the Revolution, which was originally seen as a New England-centric cause. Anti-British sentiment may have been stronger in the northern colonies. Or maybe I’m reading too much into this.

It is a really convenient bread when your time is better spent dedicating 45 minutes to beating the hell out of some biscuits then getting *&@#!ed up on that toddy.

Recipe:

1 package yeast
.5 Cup lukewarm (105°-115°) water
1 Cup lukewarm (105°-115°) milk
.5 Cup melted butter
.5 Cup sugar
2 Teaspoon salt
3 well beaten egg
5.5 Cup divided flour

Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water in a large mixing bowl. Let stand five minutes or until bubbly. Stir in milk, butter, sugar, salt, eggs, and 3 cups flour. Beat at medium speed of an electric mixer 1 minute or until well blended. Stir in remaining flour to make a soft dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, 1 hour or until doubled in bulk.

Stir dough down; spoon into a well-greased and floured 10-inch Bundt pan. Cover and repeat rising procedure 45 minutes or until doubled in bulk. Bake at 400° for 25 minutes or until bread sounds hollow when tapped. Let cool 10 minutes in pan. Remove from pan; place on a wire rack to cool. Serve warm or cold.

Note: Cold bread may be sliced, buttered, and toasted, if desired.