Holiday Cheer - Sally Lunn Bread

By Beth Trissel

Thanks for having me on your blog, Anna Kathryn.

If you enjoy food that connects you with history, Sally Lunn bread is an old Southern Recipe I’ve eaten in the Shenandoah Valley that dates back even farther to England.  From an interesting site called Who Cooked that Up, JJ Wonders says, “Sally Lunn is one of those recipes that’s so old it can be called a "receipt," the name given to instructions in cookery up until several generations ago. The way to prepare and serve it, however, is as varied as the stories about why it is called "Sally Lunn." JJ includes more history and recipes and one of them is from Virginia. Apparently there’s an old house in Bath, England where Sally Lunn may have lived, so check out her site.

From Brooklyn Farmhouse: “Sally Lunn is a sort of white bread, sort of brioche-y, sort of savory, and sort of sweet. It apparently dates from the 1680s. It’s a bit of an oddity, really. Hard to classify. But so delicious. It’s a really easy yeast bread to make and only requires one rise, right in the pan.” More info and recipes are also on this site.

 

As to the wide variation in Sally Lunn recipes, I noted that with the two listed in the 1950’s publication of Charleston Receipts, a cookbook from Charleston, South Carolina.  And it seems the best way to prepare this historic bread is anyone’s guess. In my ghostly Christmas romance novella, Somewhere  is the Bells Ring, set in the old Virginia home place in the valley, the outspoken housekeeper is making her Sally Lunn.  Maybe it was similar to the recipe below, one of the simpler ones I found.

Mother’s Sally Lunn from Charleston Receipts (submitted by Miss Ida Ravenel):

Mix together: 2 cups flour, 3 teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt (set aside)

Add ½ cup sugar to two beaten egg yolks.  Blend dry ingredients alternately with ¾ cup of milk into egg and sugar mixture, then add 2 tablespoons of melted butter.  Beat egg whites until stiff and fold in.  Bake in well greased oblong or square pan, or muffun tins.  For the loaf allow 40 minutes in moderate oven (350).

Now that I’ve learned I’m extremely gluten intolerant, I would substitute Jules gluten free flour, or some other variation of gluten free flour, which adapts well to this sort of recipe.

Blurb for Somewhere the Bells Ring:

Caught with pot in her dorm room, Bailey Randolph is exiled to a relative’s ancestral home in Virginia to straighten herself out. Banishment to Maple Hill is dismal, until a ghost appears requesting her help. Bailey is frightened but intrigued. Then her girlhood crush, Eric Burke, arrives and suddenly Maple Hill isn’t so bad.

To Eric, wounded in Vietnam, his military career shattered, this homecoming feels no less like exile. But when he finds Bailey at Maple Hill, her fairy-like beauty gives him reason to hope—until she tells him about the ghost haunting the house. Then he wonders if her one experiment with pot has made her crazy.

As Bailey and Eric draw closer, he agrees to help her find a long-forgotten Christmas gift the ghost wants. But will the magic of Christmas be enough to make Eric believe—in Bailey and the ghost—before the Christmas bells ring?

For the month of December, Somewhere My Love is available at a bargain basement price in Kindle, Nookbook, and from other online booksellers.

A bit about Beth: Married to my high school sweetheart, I live on a farm in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia surrounded by my children, grandbabies, and assorted animals. An avid gardener, my love of herbs and heirloom plants figures into my work. The rich history of Virginia, the Native Americans and the people who journeyed here from far beyond her borders are at the heart of my inspiration. In addition to American settings, I also write historical and time travel romances set in the British Isles.

For more on me, my blog is the happening place: http://bethtrissel.wordpress.com/

Happy Christmas and God Bless us everyone