A Brief Family History
Sally Lunn bread is my favorite old fashioned teacake. It’s lightly sweetened and pairs perfectly with your favorite cup of tea! My grandfather was famous in our home for his Sally Lunn bread and this is his recipe (with a few tweaks to make it more nutritious, including swapping for einkorn flour, and using raw milk in place of condensed milk). I’ve discovered that this bread was first recorded in 1780 in England.
The Legend of Sally Lunn
Legend says that Sally Lunn (originally Solange Luyon, a Protestant refugee) fled to Bath, England in 1680. She brought with her a unique talent for baking brioche style breads in the streets of Bath and became known as the famous “Sally Lunn” due to mispronunciation of her French name. Her breads quickly became a delicacy in Georgian England and are still enjoyed today with sweet or savory dishes. In fact, you can even visit her home in Bath today, as it is the oldest house in Bath. At this time, it remains a museum rich in history that dates back to the Roman times.
Sally Lunn Bread Today
There are many different styles and recipes for Sally Lunn bread today. For example, you can make them in a sandwich loaf, a round bread pan, a bundt pan or as individual round teacakes. I prefer to use my bundt pan because it makes a beautiful pattern and looks amazing sprinkled in powdered sugar. But feel free to use any baking dish, your cook times just may need to be adjusted.
Finally, the beauty of this recipe is that I can make it from very simple ingredients that I always have on hand. So this recipe can be made even on my most busy days. These ingredients include;
- Raw milk (or any milk of choice)
- Water
- Active dry yeast
- Grass-fed butter
- Coconut sugar (or regular cane)
- Sea Salt
- Pasture-raised eggs
- All purpose einkorn flour (or regular all purpose, simply increase the amount of liquid by 20%) Get my favorite einkorn flour here
So embrace history and delicacy by baking your very own Sally Lunn bread. I hope you enjoy! Now let’s get baking!
How to Make 1700s Sally Lunn Bread
Sally Lunn Bread is a delicious old fashioned tea cake. It’s lightly sweetened and pairs perfectly with your favorite cup of tea!
Prep Time
2.5 hours
Cook Time
30 min.
Yield
1 standard bundt
Meal
Dessert
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup warm water (~100 F)
- 1 cup warm raw milk (~100 F)
- 2 tsp active dry yeast
- 7 tbsp softened butter
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar
- 1 and 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 3 eggs, room temperature
- 4-5 cups all purpose einkorn flour
Directions:
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, sprinkle the yeast over the water and whisk. Let sit for 5 minutes.
- Add the butter, milk, sugar, salt and 3 cups of flour to the yeast mixture. Mix until well incorporated. Slowly add the remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time until a thick dough is formed. I used 4.5 cups of flour total.
- There is no need to knead this dough. Simply cover with a tea towel and let rise for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
- Oil and flour a 10″ bread tube pan or bundt pan. Spoon the dough into the pan. Cover and let rise for 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 400 F. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden.
- Let cool on a wire rack before serving. Enjoy!
