Inquiring reader: Jean at The Delightful Repast is a freelance writer who writes mostly about food, weddings, etiquette and entertaining for numerous publications. Her blog reflects her culinary heritage–an English grandmother, a Southern grandmother and a mother who could do it all. Jean’s love of reading and cooking (often done simultaneously) is definitely in her genes. She has (delightfully) offered to share her thoughts about tea in Jane Austen’s day and her recipe for Sally Lunn buns!
It came as quite a disappointment to me that day long ago when I, an avid afternoon tea aficionado, realized that afternoon tea was not part of Jane Austen’s life. (I am still taken aback by the thought as I write those words!) Tea drinking, popular at Court since the 1660’s, had by the Regency Period long since trickled down through all strata of society. Jane and her family no doubt enjoyed a nice cup of tea at least twice a day, at breakfast and in the evening after dinner.
Tea, being the magical all-purpose beverage that it is, was surely drunk at other times as well. I drink tea a minimum of four times a day. My grandmother Elizabeth (from the Lake District) drank tea several times a day, including once in the middle of the night. Her mother Mary Ann was constantly putting the kettle on. And it was Mary Ann’s grandmother Mary who was a contemporary of Jane Austen’s, though at the other end of the country.
There are a number of things Jane might have had with her tea, including hot, buttered Sally Lunn buns, good with both sweet and savory toppings. Those made today in Bath are very large, perhaps six inches across and four inches high. My own version, which I’m sure Sally Lunn’s in Bath would scorn as an inadequate imitation, is much smaller. I’ve made them as large as a hamburger bun but, preferring them smaller yet, usually make them in a muffin tin.
Sally Lunn Buns
(Makes 18 )
4 packed cups (20 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons (1 package) instant yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
4 large eggs
1 cup milk
In medium bowl (I use a 2-quart glass measure), whisk together flour, sugar, yeast and salt. In small saucepan, melt butter.
With electric mixer, beat the eggs until fluffy and pale lemon yellow, about 5 minutes. Add the milk and beat until smooth, about 1 minute. By hand with a dough whisk or wooden spoon, add the flour mixture to the egg mixture in three additions, alternating with the melted butter and beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Cover with lid or plastic wrap. Place in refrigerator for at least 24 hours and up to three days.
About 2 1/4 hours before serving time, remove dough from refrigerator. Stir down the dough, just a few strokes, with a wooden spoon. With a 1/4-cup measure or scoop sprayed with cooking spray, scoop dough into well-greased or cooking-sprayed standard muffin tins. Lightly butter a sheet of plastic wrap and place, buttered side down, over the buns. Let rise until puffy but likely not doubled in volume, about 1 3/4 hours. During last 15 minutes, preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Uncover buns. Bake at 375 degrees about 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Transfer tins to wire racks and let cool for 5 minutes. Turn the buns out of the tins onto the racks and serve warm or continue to cool before storing.
By Jean at The Delightful Repast at http://delightfulrepast.com/
Jane Austen's World 
[…] Here is the original: Sally Lunn Buns Recipe: Food and Drink from Jane Austen's Era … […]
Thank you for this delightful recipe! I am going to try it out on my fellow Inklings at our next meeting, on Thursday!
Thank you, Camilla. I’m so glad you’re going to try it out. Do let me know how you like it. If you have leftovers, be sure to reheat them before serving for the best flavor and texture.
Hi, nice post! I really like your post about Sally Lunn Buns Recipe.
Love the picture!
Your post prompted me to get out my Kentucky grandmother’s Sally Lunn recipe. She was known for wonderful Sally Lunn bread, which she made in loaf pans, with the leftover batter in the kinds of little aluminum pie pans that old-fashioned frozen pot pies used to come in, and I suppose you could call those buns. They were less than 6″ across and very much less than 4″ tall!
But I find the proportions in her recipe so different from what you’ve published–only 3 eggs, twice as much milk, etc.–that I wonder whether my mother, who wrote the recipe down for her own mother, perhaps got them wrong.
The only way to tell is to make a batch. Oh, dear, there’s nothing for it; I shall just have to make (and eat) a whole lot of Sally Lunn…
Thank you, hary P. I really appreciate the compliment and hope you’ll visit my blog, The Delightful Repast.
I wouldn’t say, mefoley, that your mother “got them wrong.” I think there are just two different types of Sally Lunns. Whilst the English make buns, Southerners (US) make more of a cake, I believe. I’m sure I would love that version too–how can you go wrong with flour and yeast!
No, no, no! I didn’t say my grandmother got her Sally Lunn wrong, only that my mother, who wrote down the recipe, might have garbled it a bit and not written down exactly what my grandmother said (or did)!
It’s like yours except, as I said 3 eggs (not 4) and 2c milk (not 1c). The only other difference is 1t salt rather than 1.5t salt.
Happy baking!
Right, I did say “your mother.” It happens all the time, someone writing down her mother’s recipe and not getting it quite right. But, as I said, I don’t think this was necessarily an error on your mother’s part–it’s just that your grandmother made the other kind of Sally Lunn, the kind that is popular in the South.
Oh, so you did! SO sorry, Jean (and sorry to the site for all this verbiage from me on cluttering up the comments).
Clearly I need to slow down and be more careful — apologies!
(My Sally Lunn is rising–I hope–in the kitchen as we speak.)
I beg your pardon!
This is a delightful blog!
Thank you! And may I say that I adore the color of red hair.
I love your blog, it´s perfect!!! , and this recipe… i think i´ll try to do Sally Lunn Buns to celebrate the end of the exams!!!
Thanks, Lorraine. Try out the other recipes on The Delightful Repast as well. They look scrumptious!
Perfect! , i ´ll have a lot of time this summer to prepare some delicious recipes *_*. Thanks!!
Thank you, Lorraine. And do let me know how the recipe turned out for you and what you put on the buns. And, as Vic said, try out more of my recipes at The Delightful Repast, and tell me about it. I never tire of hearing about FOOD!
These sound wonderful! I’m definitely going to try them. What kind of toppings would have been eaten with these? Jams, fruit curds, cheese spreads, savory sauces or gravy?
Cheese, along with bread, was a popular breakfast food. And, of course, jams. (I’ll be posting a strawberry jam recipe on Friday at The Delightful Repast.) Though they contain sugar, the buns are not sweet. They could accompany any meal. At Sally Lunn’s in Bath they are used in hot dishes as well as cold sandwiches. Do let me know how you like them.
Those sound delicious! Maybe when my baby is older and lets me have a few seconds to myself, I’ll give this recipe a try :)
Thekla, reall,y of all breads, this is the bread you can make now with a baby in the house. Just stir it up, put it in the fridge, scoop it into a muffin tea, bake and eat. That said, I don’t know how mothers manage anything at all!