Best British breads: a history of Bath Buns


Updated on 03 February 2014 | 0 Comments

In the second of a new series on forgotten British breads, baking expert Jane Mason explores the history of Jane Austen’s favourite treat (apparently) – the Bath Bun.

Lunn or Oliver?

Some say the original Bath Bun was developed by a French refugee named Sally Lunn, who fled there in the late 1600s to escape religious persecution in France. Others maintain that the Bath Bun was developed by one Dr Oliver, an eighteenth-century resident of the city. Unfortunately, his patients liked them so much that they began to get fat, at which point he allegedly switched horses and sold them dry ‘slimming’ biscuits. They were known then, as now, as ‘Bath Olivers’

Still others believe the Bath Bun was made popular in the mid-1800s at the Great Exhibition in London, during which nearly one million buns were consumed in a five-month period. They came to be known as ‘London Bath Buns’. 

What’s in a name?

In theory, Sally Lunn's Bath Buns, Dr Oliver's version and London Bath Buns all have the same ingredients: white flour, yeast and salt with butter, milk, eggs, sugar and dried fruit to enrich the dough.  

However, many of the modern Bath Buns that you try are overly sweet and are enriched with margarine rather than butter, and skim milk rather than creamy full fat milk. NO! 

A true Bath Bun is wholesome and delicious, with just enough sugar to sweeten it, delicious butter to make the dough light and airy, and creamy milk to make the dough smooth and rich.   

Easy-peasy

One of the many great things about Bath Buns is they are so easy to make. Once the dough has risen, you simply use spoons to blob the dough onto a baking tray lined with non-stick parchment paper. No fancy shaping, no fussy rolling. Just blobs. 

That way everyone can participate in baking the buns and every bun is unique. The addition of rock sugar on top is a delicious bonus, and you can even buy multi-coloured versions to make festive Bath Buns for parties. If you have a moment to yourself, you can sit and lick the sugar off the top as you sip your cup of tea. Don’t do it in public, though… it’s bad manners! 

Celebrity Bun

The ingredients for the original Sally Lunn bun are top secret. They were passed down along with the deeds for Sally Lunn’s house, and the only place you can get a true Sally Lunn is at Sally Lunn’s historic eating house in Bath, where they are still handmade.  

The Bath Bun was apparently Jane Austen’s favourite bun, or so The Jane Austen Centre says, and it could be yours too!

Bath Bun recipe

Don't fancy journeying all the way to Bath to try a bun? Then make your own! It might even taste better. Here's Jane's Bath bun recipe.

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