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Sally Lunn

A sweet yeast bread baked in a greased tin with buttered layers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Sally Lunn

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the dough

  1. Combine warmed milk, butter, sugar, salt, yeast, beaten eggs, and enough flour to form a stiff batter.

  2. Cover and let rise overnight in a warm place.

  3. Add more flour to knead the dough until smooth, about 15 minutes.

  4. Roll the dough to a ½ inch thickness.

Shape and bake

  1. Cut into rounds the size of a jelly‑cake tin.

  2. Place the rounds in a greased tin.

  3. Brush the top with melted butter.

  4. Layer another round on top, also buttered.

  5. Allow to rise until light.

  6. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).

Serve

  1. Just before serving, raise the top layer and butter between the layers.

  2. Cut into triangles to serve.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  5. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Flour
Provides the structure that holds the dough together and gives the bread its crumb.
Yeast
Produces gas as it ferments, making the dough rise and become light.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, helping the bread hold its rise and texture.
Butter
Adds fat for softness and richness, and helps the crust brown.
Milk
Adds moisture and softness to the dough and contributes to browning.
Sugar
Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness and browning to the crust.

The step that matters

Allow to rise until light. The second rise must finish before baking, because yeast gas trapped in the dough gives the bread its lightness. Underproofed dough bakes dense, while overproofed dough may collapse.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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