Lady Arundel's Manchet

Lady Arundel's Manchet is a traditional version of a manchet, a traditional English yeast bread from Sussex.

The recipe for Lady Arundel's Manchet was first published in 1653 according to Elizabeth David. It was a luxurious bread eaten by the medieval aristocracy and remained popular into the Restoration period. A recipe appears in A True Gentlewoman's Delight (1653) printed for the Countess of Kent.

Lady Arundel's Manchets crossed the Atlantic to Virginia with the early colonists according to Katherine E Harbury.

Florence White also references Lady Arundel's Manchet's in her 1932 English Cookery book Good Things in England, publishing a description of a 1676 recipe and updating it for a contemporary readership.

Manchets were often used as part of other dishes. For example, a recipe for a baked pudding that incorporates manchet is included in "Things Not Generally Known, Familiarly Explained," citing The Queene's Royal Cookbook of 1713. This is a rich pudding that includes double cream, the addition of beef suet and added aromatics such as nutmeg, cinnamon and rose water.

Lady Arundel's Manchets are rarely made today. Manchets generally ceased to appear in English cookery books after 1800. The closest similar yeast bread is probably a Bath bun or a Sally Lunn bun.

In series 3 of UK television series The Great British Bake-off a participant from Sussex made Lady Arundel's manchets serving them with an inner layer of cream and jam.