Who was Sally Lunn, and what did she contribute to England and Colonial America?

A tasty, cake-like bread popular in the 18th century is still being baked today, with her name attached.


Sally Lunn Bread is easy to make and pretty enough for special occasions, says Mary Turney.
Sally Lunn is thought to have been a young woman who sold this bread in the streets of Bath, a fashionable spa town in England, according to "The Williamsburg Cookbook," which includes a recipe.

People began asking for the bread, and as it grew in popularity, it apparently took on her name.

Later on, colonists in Jamestown and elsewhere probably baked it to give them a taste of their homeland.

Delicious Sally Lunn bread has been making the rounds in Morgan County lately. Whether you like your bread to taste like cake, or your cake to taste like bread, you'll devour this and want more.

Mary Turney of Hartselle prepared one version of this bread — complete with blackberry butter — to serve at a meeting of the Morgan County Herb Society.

She got her recipe from the January issue of Southern Living magazine. It also gives the directions for making blackberry butter to go with the bread, which is made in a Bundt pan or tube cake pan and comes out looking like cake.

Nice for special occasions.

Turney said the bread is fancy enough to serve for special occasions such as Easter and other holidays, while it's also easy to make.

After trying it out, she passed the recipe on to other members of the Herb Society. Later she baked some more for her family.

Her husband, Norris, and her 92-year-old mother, Virginia Woodall, "only got a small taste the first time, so I made it again for them," she said. "I was pleasantly surprised at how well it turned out both times.

"My daughter, Leslie, loves homemade bread, so I expect to make it again around Easter, when she visits from Mobile," said Turney, who typically makes homemade breads for special occasions.

"I think of good homemade breads and rolls for Easter — a time that you think of things you don't commonly make on a regular basis," she said.

"The Sally Lunn Bread turned out really pretty, besides being good. Like many homemade breads, though, I decided that it's best to eat it while it's fresh and warm from the oven. And it's as good as any yeast bread I've ever eaten."

One reason she likes this bread so much is because it doesn't require a starter, as sourdough breads do. "And while it requires rising time, it's more convenient than the ones that have to rise overnight, because it can be made in several hours."

Turney said she had also noticed a version of Sally Lunn in the original "Cotton Country Cooking," a book first published in 1972 by the Junior League of Morgan County. That one, however, doesn't call for yeast, but uses baking powder, and says to make it in a 7x11-inch biscuit pan.

"Eating Sally Lunn is almost as sinful as eating cake for breakfast — but better," the cookbook note says of the light, sweet bread with a crusty brown outside.

The Southern Living article refers to Sally Lunn Bread as "like grits — the flavor complements everything." It suggests the bread is thick enough to be used for making a tomato sandwich or French toast and "sturdy enough to serve with supper and sop up gravy."

The magazine mentions that the name might also have come from the French words "soleil" for sun and "lune" for moon, because the bread "has a top as golden as the sun and a bottom as pale as the moon."

Serve with fruity spreads.

Blackberry butter — made from a mixture of softened butter and seedless blackberry jam — is suggested to go with the bread. Turney said it's easy to make and was popular with everybody who sampled it.

"I think it would be wonderful with any kind of spread," she said. The same type butter spread could be made with strawberry, raspberry or other favorite flavors, instead of blackberry.

Turney thinks the bread also would be good served with honey butter or an herb butter spread, such as one made with chives.

This is the version of the bread made by Turney. This bread requires 10 minutes to prepare, with about 2 hours of rising time, plus 40 minutes of baking time.

Sally Lunn Bread:

Two 1/4-ounce envelopes active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (100 to 110 degrees)
1 1/2 cups milk
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
5 cups all-purpose flour
Blackberry butter (optional)

Combine yeast and 1/2 cup warm water in a 1-cup measuring cup; let stand 5 minutes. Heat milk and next three ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring until butter melts. Cool to 100 to 110 degrees. Beat yeast mixture, milk mixture and eggs at medium speed with an electric mixer until blended. Gradually add flour, beating at lowest speed until blended. (Mixture will be a very sticky, soft dough.) Cover and let rise in a warm place (85 degrees), free from drafts, one hour or until dough is doubled in bulk. Stir dough down; cover and again let rise in a warm place 30 minutes or until dough is doubled in bulk. Stir dough down and spoon into a well-greased, 10-inch Bundt pan or tube pan. Cover and let rise in a warm place 20 to 30 minutes or until dough is doubled in bulk. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes or until golden brown and a wooden pick inserted into center of bread comes out clean. Remove from pan immediately. Makes 12 to 16 servings.

Serve bread with blackberry butter, honey, molasses or jelly, if desired.

To make blackberry butter: Stir 2 to 3 tablespoons seedless blackberry jam into 1/2 cup softened butter.

This version of Sally Lunn's bread comes from "The Williamsburg Cookbook" and was made by several participants in a recent Epicurean supper club, part of Decatur's chapter of American Association of University Women.

This one calls for shortening, more eggs, less sugar and less milk, along with less rising time.

Sally Lunn Cake:

1 cup milk
1/2 cup shortening
4 cups sifted all-purpose flour, divided
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 packages active dry yeast
3 eggs

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees 10 minutes before the Sally Lunn is ready to be baked. Grease a 10-inch tube cake pan or a Bundt pan. Heat the milk, shortening and 1/4 cup water until very warm, about 120 degrees. The shortening does not need to melt. Blend 1-1/3 cups of flour with the sugar, salt and dry yeast in a large mixing bowl. Blend the warm liquids into the flour mixture. Beat with an electric mixer at medium speed for about 2 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally. Gradually add 2/3 cup of the remaining flour and the eggs and beat at high speed for 2 minutes. Add the remaining flour and mix well. The batter will be thick but not stiff. Cover and let the dough rise in a warm, draft-free place (about 85 degrees) until it doubles in bulk — about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Beat the dough down with a spatula or at the lowest speed on an electric mixer and turn into the prepared pan. Cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until it has increased in bulk 1/3 to 1/2 — about 30 minutes. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes at 350 degrees. Run a knife around the center and outer edges of the bread and turn it onto a plate to cool.