Sally Lunn Batter Bread

Week 360. Winter 2023. I am 40 years old and standing in my kitchen — the Bench house kitchen, the one that held cancer and divorce and cinnamon rolls — and the stove is on and something is cooking and the house smells like soup and bread and this is my life. This is the life I built.

The clinic was busy this week — spring puppies and summer emergencies and the constant, comforting cycle of animals who need care and humans who love them enough to bring them in.

Mason is 12 and reading everything he can find and examining the world under a microscope with the intensity of a tenured researcher.

Lily is 10 and riding horses with the fearlessness of someone who has never considered the possibility of falling.

I made minestrone this week. The food continues. The food always continues. It is the thread that connects every week to every other week, every year to every other year, every version of me to every other version — the woman on the kitchen floor, the woman at the chemo recliner, the woman at the grill, the woman at the outdoor table under the string lights. All of them, connected by the food they made with their hands. All of them, me.

The minestrone was already on the stove when I started the bread — those two things belong together the way Tuesdays and leftovers do, the way a 40-year-old woman and a kitchen that has survived everything belong together. Sally Lunn is a batter bread, which means no kneading, no fuss, just trust: you mix it, you wait, you bake it, and the house fills up with exactly the smell it should. That’s what week 360 asked for — not something complicated or impressive, just something warm and real and done with your own hands.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 40 min | Total Time: 1 hr 45 min (includes rise) | Servings: 12

Ingredients

1 package (2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (110°F)
1 cup whole milk, warmed
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3 large eggs, room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
4 cups all-purpose flour

Instructions

Activate the yeast. In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water with a pinch of sugar. Let stand 5–10 minutes until foamy.
Cream butter and sugar. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter and sugar together until light. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Build the batter. Stir the yeast mixture and warm milk into the butter mixture. Add the salt. Gradually stir in the flour, 1 cup at a time, until a sticky, smooth batter forms. Do not knead — this is a batter bread.
First rise. Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and let the batter rise in a warm place for 45–60 minutes, until doubled in size.
Fill the pan. Grease a 10-inch tube pan or a 9x5-inch loaf pan generously. Stir the batter down gently and spread it evenly into the prepared pan.
Second rise. Cover and let rise again for 20–30 minutes, until the batter crowns just above the rim of the pan.
Bake. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake for 35–40 minutes, until the top is deep golden brown and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool and serve. Let the bread rest in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack. Slice and serve warm, ideally alongside a bowl of soup.

Nutrition (per serving)

Sally Lunn Batter Bread — The Bread That Rose While the Soup Simmered