Jane Austen's Favorite Bath Buns Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What are British Bath Buns? ›

A bath bun is a large fruit bun, made with dough similar to that of a Chelsea bun or hot cross bun. The bread dough is enriched with eggs, sugar and currants. At the bottom of each bun is a lump of sugar and the freshly-baked bun is finished with a sticky wash, extra currants and crushed loaf sugar or sugar nibs.

So-called Bath Buns, on the other hand, are smaller and sweeter than Sally Lunn Buns, with a lump of sugar baked into the bottom, crushed sugar sprinkled over the top and, often, currants or raisins swirled throughout. Like many aspects of Bath's history, this bun, too, comes with a story.

Austen seemed to love a "white soup," which is meat gravy added to hard-boiled eggs, almond, and cream. A cheese toastie, however, is something anyone can get behind, and then enjoy while reading a favorite book in honor of Ms. Austen.

The bun's creation is attributed to William Oliver in the 18th century. Oliver also created the Bath Oliver dry biscuit after the bun proved too fattening for his rheumatic patients. The bun may also have descended from the 18th-century "Bath cake". The buns are still produced in the Bath area of England.

The bun is generally eaten with a knife and fork but there are no fixed rules. Most guests enjoy their bun with a huge smile on their face.

A Sally Lunn is a large bun or teacake, a type of batter bread, made with a yeast dough including cream and eggs, similar to the sweet brioche breads of France. Sometimes served warm and sliced, with butter, it was first recorded in 1780 in the spa town of Bath in southwest England.

Sally Lunn Buns, scented with just a hint of citrus, either lemon or orange, have a light, airy, and tender crumb with a thin and crisp golden brown crust. This recipe makes a delightful and delicious breakfast or tea bread, somewhat like brioche.

Todays Bath Buns are no longer made with caraway seeds or comfits, nor are they decorated with them. They are now baked with a lump of sugar in them, and decorated with sugar nibs and currants. It now looks more like a brioche like the Saly Lunn, light instead of a more dense scone-like bake.

A Boston bun, also known as a Sally Lunn, is a large spiced bun with a thick layer of coconut icing, prevalent in Australia and New Zealand. Traditionally the bun contains sieved mashed potato, and modern versions sometimes contain raisins or sultanas, the inclusion of which dates from the 1930s.

' Jane Austen famously never married, but she did have admirers. The best known of these is Tom Lefroy, a clever young Irishman whom she met in December 1795. He had moved to London to study law and was spending the Christmas holidays with his uncle and aunt who lived in Ashe, near Steventon.

What did Jane Austen eat for breakfast? ›

In the Austen household, it was Jane's job to prepare breakfast for the family around 9 every morning. The Austen's breakfast consisted of pound cake, toast, tea and occasionally, cocoa. Jane often used the hour before breakfast for her own personal time.

First-hand accounts of Jane Austen's hair colour vary too, from light to darkish brown.

Sally Lunn was a legendary figure associated with a type of sweet bun that originated in the English city of Bath. According to popular tradition, Sally Lunn was a French Huguenot refugee who arrived in Bath in the late 17th century and began making and selling the buns from a small bakery in the city.

The Bath Bun is small and sweet and is laced with sugar and fruit. The story goes that Dr William Oliver, who was born in Cornwall in 1695, created the sweet-flavoured Bath Bun for his patients.

Soft sweet dough with vine fruit and cherries topped with glaze. Contains: wheat, eggs, milk. 1467kJ/ 347kcal per portion. Marlborough Bun. Service counter.

the fleshy part of the human body that you sit on. synonyms: ass, backside, behind, bottom, bum, butt, buttocks, can, derriere, fanny, fundament, hind end, hindquarters, keister, nates, posterior, prat, rear, rear end, rump, seat, stern, tail, tail end, tooshie, tush. type of: body part.

The resounding answer: a bap. “We call it a bap,” she explained, “but because of the growth of the burger industry we changed the name of our burger baps to a burger bun. It's just what people ask for. So here we have baps, buns and rolls.”

No one knows for certain when the tradition began, but in 16th century England, bakers were limited by law to occasions when these special doughs could be made. Good Friday was one; 'cross buns' marked this holy day towards the end of the Lenten fast.