Sally Lunn

Sally Lunn is a delicate, fairly rich bread made with yeast, eggs, milk, wheat flour, butter, and a little sugar, much like the French brioche. Sally Lunn is popular in England, Canada, and New Zealand, where it is served hot as a tea cake or fork-split and toasted. In the United States, it has many variations, some made with yeast and others with baking powder. Still other variants include cornmeal, sour cream, or buttermilk. It can be baked in a shallow cake pan, a ring mold, a Turk’s head mold, a bread pan, a bundt or tube pan, or even in muffin tins. One recipe makes a very light corn bread, baked as a dropped batter on a baking sheet. Whatever the form, Sally Lunn is generally cut into wedges, slices, or squares and served hot with butter and jam. It is a favorite Virginia hot bread and is claimed by Colonial Williamsburg, where visitors can dine on Sally Lunn in the museum’s taverns and take home bags of Sally Lunn bread mix.