Sally Lunn Bread: No-Knead Light and Airy Brioche

Welcome to The Storied Recipe Podcast, a podcast about food, culture, and love. 

This recipe for Sally Lunn Bread came from my podcast guest, Judith Birkey. Make sure you listen to her episode The Unflappable Farmer's Wife and Her Daily Bread while you make her Sally Lunn Bread!

This Sally Lunn Bread is a bit misleading because it is a bread but more cake-like than a bread. It is a cross between a brioche and a pound cake and has soft, pillow-y texture. It is delicious and wonderful with a bit of butter and jam for an afternoon snack with coffee or tea.

P.S. Looking for more bundt pan recipes? Try out this Old-Fashioned Kentucky Butter Cake or this Brazilian Carrot Cake with Chocolate Cake!

Judith's Memories of Making Sally Lunn Bread

My mom first tasted Sally Lunn Bread at her sister's in the early 1970s. It soon became my mom's signature dish, making an appearance at Sunday dinner, potlucks, and the homes of the sick and the grieving for the next 40 years. Mom always made it in a Bundt pan and preferred to serve it still warm with butter and jam.

-Judith Birkey, The Storied Recipe podcast guest

A Modernized Sally Lunn Bread Recipe

This recipe has been modernized in two ways because the original handwritten recipe that Judith shared called for "Oleo" and cakes of yeast-two ingredients you don't see much anymore. So let's take those one at a time.

1. Oleo: Some of you may already know what that is, but I had to look it up! Oleo was simply a brand name for margarine, which became a generic term in many American kitchens during the 20th century. These days, Judith's sister uses butter-and almost every modern version of this recipe does, too.
   • Substitutes:
     • Butter - more flavorful
     • Margarine - can be more economical
     • From a baking science perspective, butter and margarine do behave differently. Margarine is usually less than 80% fat, with the rest being water. Butter, on the other hand, is over 80% fat. So in a very finicky recipe-like a laminated dough or a delicate cake-the difference would really matter. But in this case? This bread is carried by three things: plenty of fat, a dose of sugar, and rich eggs. In other words, it's quite forgiving.
2. Yeast:
   • Ever wonder why a packet of yeast contains exactly 2¼ teaspoons? Turns out that one cake of fresh yeast-what older recipes often called for-was about 0.6 to 0.7 ounces, was equivalent to 2 ¼ teaspoon of yeast. So rather than changing the proportions of every single recipe to match a round measurement of yeast, manufacturers decided to sell yeast in these 2 ¼ teaspoon packets so all the recipes could stay the same. 
   • For this bread, you can use either active dry yeast or instant yeast. Just be sure the milk mixture you're adding it to is under 110°F, or you risk killing the yeast.

FAQ

Why Scald The Milk?

Scalding-heating it to around 180°F, just below boiling-denatures whey proteins that can inhibit gluten development and yeast activity. This helps the dough rise better and creates a softer crumb.

It also helps sugar dissolve and butter melt more evenly if added while the milk is still warm.

Why Not Boil The Milk?

• Boiling can scorch the milk which can lead to bitter or unpleasant flavors
• Milk can form up and boil over quickly
• The fat and proteins can separate harshly, altering the texture of your dough.

So when Ree says "don't let it boil," she means: heat it just enough to deactivate those proteins-but not so much that you scorch or curdle the milk.

How Do You Know When The Milk Is Ready?

Look for these signs:

• You'll see steam rising
• Bubbles will form around the edge
• You may see a thin skin form on top of the milk
• Most reliable method: use a thermometer and you'll know it's done when it reaches 180°F / 82°C.

After scalding, let the milk cool to lukewarm-around 110°F-before adding the yeast. That way, you activate the yeast without killing it.

Sally Lunn Buns and Jane Austen

The name of the buns is a mystery, however, there is a famous tearoom in Bath, England-Sally Lunn's-that's built quite a legend around it.

According to their story, a French Huguenot refugee arrived in Bath in 1680 and began baking this style of enriched bread as a reminder of her homeland.

Over a century later, Jane Austen wrote a letter raving about these buns-so much so that she said they gave her indigestion! That's a strong endorsement, in a way.

source: DelightfulRepast

Making Buns Instead of a Loaf

The batter is loose and loose and batter-like. This mixture could absolutely not be formed into buns. If you really want to try those, you can either pour it into muffin tins, which several recipes online call for, or you can try a quite different recipe (Paul Hollywoold happens to have one; in fact, it was used on The Great British Baking Show!) that is much more doughy. So if you try this recipe and love it and start to go down the Sally Lunn bread variations, maybe take a peek at his recipe. 

Equipment List

• Standmixer OR handmixer
• Saucepan
• Bundt pan
• Candy thermometer (Optional)

Storage

• Store at room temperature in an airtight container or plastic bag for up to a week
• Freeze in freezer bags and can be kept frozen for a couple of months

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