A SALLY LUNN.
To make a batter-sponge, which may easily be converted into many different kinds of “fancy bread,” as it is called, or into buns or cakes, first mix, very smoothly indeed, a pint of warm new milk with an ounce* of quite fresh German yeast, or with the same quantity which has been put into water for one night†, and make with them one pound of the best flour into a batter entirely free from lumps. A saltspoonful of fine salt should previously be well stirred to it. Throw a cloth over the pan, and place it where the air is warm. When it has risen extremely high, and the surface is covered with large bubbles, take another pound of flour, which in winter it is well to have slightly warmed before it is used; stir and beat smoothly part of it into the sponge, and when it is firm enough knead in the remainder until the whole is perfectly blended. The dough thus made will soon be ready for the oven, and may be moulded into small shapes, placed some inches apart on a flat tin (as they will spread and rise considerably), glazed with beaten egg, and rather quickly baked; or the dough, when first made, may at once be put into tins or pans, and left in them to rise to its full height before it is placed in the oven.
* For bread, half this quantity is really sufficient; but when butter is added in any quantity to the mixture, much more will be required.
† This yeast becomes perfectly smooth by being put into water; and sometimes the surface of it is hardened, so as to render this an advantage.