Sally Lunn Bread

Sally Lunn bread is soft and pillowy but rich like a brioche bread. You mix the dough like a quick bread batter but it rises like the yeast bread that it is! It kind of blows your mind a bit.

Sally Lunn is airy inside with a thicker crust. It tastes a little bit like white sandwich bread but the eggs add a brioche flavor and a little bit like anadama bread or milk bread, too. It makes ah-maz-ing cinnamon toast, French toast, grilled cheese, bread pudding and on and on! 

It’s no-knead like your favorite no knead Dutch oven bread or this no knead sourdough bread, BUT it only takes about two hours to make! This will soon become one of your favorite homemade bread recipes.

Why is it called Sally Lunn bread? 

According to The American Heritage Cookbook, which was published in 1964 by the editors of American Heritage magazine, there are several oft repeated accounts of the origin of the name “Sally Lunn.” Their favorite is one where an English girl selling the buns in the streets of England would call out “soleil-lune” to advertise the buns. 

Soleil et lune means “sun and moon” in French. By the time the bread reached America, the name had become Sally Lunn and rather than a bun, it was a bread baked in a kugelhopf mold. 

Ingredients & Substitutions

• Whole Milk
• Dry Active Yeast: This recipe calls for active dry yeast, and unlike other bread recipes like oatmeal bread or classic Italian bread, you should not substitute instant yeast in this recipe. The no knead quality also means it needs some of the proofing time for gluten development. You can shortcut it. 
• Unsalted Butter: There is a ½ cup butter in this brioche-like bread and the mixing method really doesn’t allow for too many substitutions or omissions. If you are looking for a healthier sandwich bread option, consider this whole wheat bread or multigrain sandwich bread instead. 
• Sugar: I used granulated sugar but you could use brown sugar or another sugar. 
• Large Eggs
• All-Purpose Flour: All-purpose flour will keep the texture light and airy without compromising the gluten structure. I would not recommend substituting cake flour. Bread flour can be substituted but the texture will be chewier. 
• Kosher Salt

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

How to Make Sally Lunn Bread

Use these instructions to make this easy bread recipe! Further details and measurements can be found in the recipe card below.

Step 1: Heat milk to 100-110°F either in a small bowl in the microwave or in a small saucepan over medium heat. Sprinkle yeast over milk and whisk. Let sit for 10 minutes to bloom.

Step 2: Meanwhile in a large bowl with a wooden spoon or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until soft, then add the sugar gradually, and continue beating until creamy. 

Step 3: Beat in the eggs well. In a separate medium bowl, sift or whisk the flour and salt together. 

Step 4: Alternatively add the flour and the milk mixture to the butter mixture. Cover dough with a tea towel or plastic wrap and let sit in a warm place until the dough doubles in size. 

Step 5: Place the mixing bowl back in the stand mixer and fit with the paddle attachment. Beat very hard and then pour into a buttered or sprayed kugelhopf (Gugelhupf) or 10-cup bundt pan or tube pan. 

Step 6: Cover again and let rise again until double in size. While the dough final proofs, preheat the oven to 350°F conventional (no fan). 

Step 7: Bake in preheated oven for 45-50 minutes or until nicely browned on top. Turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely before slicing. 

Recipe FAQs

Before You Go

I hope you enjoyed this old fashioned bread recipe. Scroll through our other delicious yeast bread recipes for more historical American breads like parker house rolls or take a trip to Europe with my French bread recipe!