Submitted by: Lillian, FL
Source: "The Williamsburg Cookbook", Letha Booth,
The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1984
 

According to tradition, Sally Lunn is named after a young girl who in the eighteenth century "cried" the sweet yeast bread that bears her name in the streets of England's fashionable spa, Bath. Some now doubt whether Sally Lunn really existed and suggest other sources for the name. Who knonws? But Sally Lunn does have a place in the Oxford English Dictionary, and hers was a household name in the southern colonies as it was in England.

(Note from Lillian: No matter the source of this bread, it is delicious and a wonderful addition to a meal. It is festive, especially when baked in a Bundt pan or a large mold.)

1 cup milk
1/2 cup shortening ( I always used part Crisco and part butter)
4 cups sifted all-purpose flour, divided
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp. salt
2 packages active dry yeast
3 eggs

Preheat oven to 350ºF. 10 minutes before the Sally Lunn is ready to be baked. Grease a 10" tube pan or a Bundt pan. 

Heat the milk, shortening, and 1/4 cup of water until very warm---about 120ºF. The shortening does not need to melt.

Blend 1 1/3 cups flour with the sugar, salt and dry yeast in a large mixing bowl.

Blend the warm liquids into the flour mixture. Beat with an electric mixer at medium speed for about 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally.

Gradually add 2/3 cup of the remaining flour and the eggs and beat at high speed for 2 minutes.

Add the remaining flour and mix well. The batter will be thick but not stiff.

Cover and let the dough rise in a warm, draft-free place (about 85º F.) until it doubles in bulk, about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Beat the dough down with a spatula or at the lowest speed on a mixer and turn into the prepared pan.

Cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until it has increased in bulk 1/3 to 1/2, about 30 minutes.

Bake for 40 to 50 minutes at 350º.

Run a knife around the center and outer edges of the bread and turn it onto a plate to cool.