Sally Lunn bread is one of my family’s favorite breads. This crumbly, sweet bread is delicious with a light spread of softened butter with your supper or right by itself.

Whenever I taste Sally Lunn bread, one bite takes me back to visits to Virginia’s Colonial Williamsburg and it’s marvelous taverns, gardens, and homes. Thankfully, this Sally Lunn recipe is fairly simple to make at home. With basic ingredients and a little bit of time, I can create a bread that has has been enjoyed for centuries.

Here’s how I make it.

Here are the cast of characters – milk, shortening, flour, sugar, salt, dry yeast, and eggs.

Heat milk, water, and shortening over low heat until it reaches 120º Fahrenheit.

Whisk together 1 1/2 cups of flour, sugar, salt and yeast in a large bowl.

Pour warm liquid ingredients into bowl of dry ingredients. Beat all together until well combined.

Add in remainder of the flour and eggs.

Mix until well combined and dough pulls away from sides of the bowl.

Cover loosely with a clean cloth and place in a warm, draft-free area.

Allow to rise until the dough nearly doubles in bulk, about 1 hour.

Pour dough into buttered tube or Bundt pan. Press down with rubber scraper or wooden spoon, cover and let rise again – about 30 minutes.

Bake for about 40 minutes at 350º Fahrenheit. Remove from pan and allow to cool. Slice and serve with softened butter.

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Sally Lunn Bread

Robyn Stone
5 from 1 vote
Sally Lunn bread is a favorite sweet, delicious bread. Sally Lunn is perfect with a light spread of softened butter or right by itself!
Prep Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours 10 minutes
Servings: 12

Ingredients 

  • 1 cup (227 g) milk
  • 1/2 cup (92 g) shortening
  • 1/4 cup (57 g) water
  • 4 cups (480 g) flour
  • 1/3 cup (66 g) sugar
  • 2 teaspoons (5 g) kosher salt
  • 2 1/4 teaspoons (7 g) active dry yeast, 1 package
  • 3 (150 g) eggs

Instructions 

  • Combine milk, shortening, and water in saucepan. Warm to 120º Fahrenheit.
  • Blend 1 1/2 cups of flour, sugar, salt and yeast.
  • Mix warm liquid with flour mixture. Beat with electric mixture for about 2 minutes.
  • Add remainder of flour and eggs.
  • Cover dough with a clean cloth and allow to rise til doubled in bulk, about one hour.
  • Grease tube or Bundt pan well.
  • Press down dough and pour into pan. Let rise again for about 30 minutes.
  • Bake at 350º Fahrenheit about 40 minutes or until golden brown.
  • Turn bread onto bread board or plate to cool. Slice and serve with softened butter.

Notes

from The Taste of Williamsburg

Nutrition

Calories: 284kcal | Carbohydrates: 39g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 43mg | Sodium: 415mg | Potassium: 108mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 92IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 37mg | Iron: 2mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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Enjoy!
Robyn xo

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Robyn Stone is a cookbook author, wife, mom, and passionate home cook. Her tested and trusted recipes give readers the confidence to cook recipes the whole family will love. Robyn has been featured on Food Network, People, Southern Living, and more.

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Recipe Review




24 Comments

  1. Hi
    i was wondering about the texture of the dough.. you stated to pour tbe dough into the he dough looks pretty smooth. Is it pourable or can i pick it up and place the dough in the pan or roll into a log and place it in the pan?
    Also, can i use butter instead of shortening? I really like the idea of using the bundt pan, i am going to make french toast with this recipe. Thanks for responding! Shandre

    Reply

  2. I think your measurements on the yeast are wrong. There is 21/4 teaspoons in one package of yeast is tells right on the package. I yeast in the bulk and it tells me to use 21/4 teaspoons to = one package.

    Thank You

    Reply

  5. I have never heard of this bread…but I am a carb freak, so this is calling my name!

    Reply

  6. I only recently conquered my fear of yeast and started making homemade breads. I always considered it to be time consuming and labor intensive. This recipe proves me wrong. And it looks delicious!

    Reply

  7. I’ve never heard of this! It looks fabulous. I like that it contains yeast, but is so simple. And just that bit of sugar sounds perfect.

    Reply

  9. This recipe looks delicious! I have a question though. In your photo, you have rapid rise yeast, but in the recipe it says to use active dry yeast. Which one should we use?

    Reply

    1. Hey Monica,

      Great eyes! I’m so glad you pointed that out!

      While the directions for this recipe are written for active dry yeast, you can easily use rapid rise yeast if you prefer or if it is what you have on hand. I think there must have been a run on active dry yeast at my grocery store this past week and all they had in stock was rapid rise! If you do use rapid rise yeast, you’ll notice that the time it takes for your dough to double in bulk is greatly reduced (up to half the time). However, you’ll also sacrifice a little bit in the flavor in my opinion. Active dry yeast is still my preferred yeast!

      Hope you enjoy it!