Traditional British Baps Recipe

Baps are soft white buns that are excellent for sandwiches, well worth making from scratch.

By
Sydney Oland
Sydney Oland: Contributing Writer at Serious Eats
Sydney Oland
Sydney Oland lives in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, where she develops recipes and owns and operates three businesses: a bean-to-bar chocolate company, an ice cream company, and a collective food production space. Previously, she wrote brunch and British food recipe columns for Serious Eats.
Learn about Serious Eats' Editorial Process
Updated August 30, 2018
Overhead shot of two bap sausage sandwiches on a plate

Serious Eats / Sydney Oland

Why It Works

  • Using plain pork sausage with just a few spices allows a bap to shine in a good breakfast sandwich.
  • The tartness from HP sauce and ketchup complements the elegance of the sausage bap.

A bap is, at its simplest, a bread roll. At its more complicated, it is a tender pillow of dough, often made with milk, lard, and butter. A more humble, Scottish version of the brioche. The bap is the ideal bread for a simple meat sandwich. Whether that meat is leftover boiled beef, mutton, bacon, or sausages, the bap takes a simple meat and elevates it to one of the most steadying sandwiches a person could crave. And it's especially good for those mornings when soaking up all of last night's bad decisions is a top priority.

While the bap makes an ideal bread for many sandwiches, I've found them particularly good for breakfast, especially if used to create a sausage bap, which is simply a sliced sausage stuffed inside a bap. What you should look for is a plain pork sausage, nothing too flashy—just some good quality pork well seasoned with a few spices so that the bap itself can shine. When serving sausage baps you should give your guests the option of topping or dipping their baps into HP sauce as well as ketchup. Both of these tart sauces make an ideal partner to the simple elegance of the sausage bap. Those sauces and a pint or two of some sort of dark ale, and whatever regrets you may be feeling will be replaced with the simple pleasure of an excellent sandwich.

October 2012

Recipe Details

Traditional British Baps Recipe

Active 20 mins
Total 2 hrs
Serves 8 baps
Cook Mode (Keep screen awake)

Ingredients

  • 2/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon milk, divided

  • 2/3 cup water

  • 2 teaspoons active dry yeast

  • 1/2 teaspoon sugar

  • 2 teaspoons salt

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting

  • Vegetable oil

  • 1 1/2 pounds breakfast sausage links

Directions

  1. Place 2/3 cup milk and water in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 30 seconds; the mixture should be lukewarm. Sprinkle yeast and sugar over the warmed milk mixture and let sit until frothy, about 3 minutes.

  2. Sift salt with flour into a large bowl. Gently mix the yeast mixture with a fork, then pour over flour; mix with a wooden spoon until dough forms, then knead the dough lightly with your hands. Form the dough into a ball and place into an oiled bowl. Cover with a tea towel and let dough double in size, about 90 minutes.

  3. Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat to 425°F (220°C). Punch down the dough and divide it into 8 portions. Form these into ovals, and set them on the baking sheet, leaving as much room as possible between them. Cover with plastic wrap, making sure that the wrap is touching the dough to prevent a skin from forming. Let rise for an additional 15 minutes.

  4. Remove plastic wrap, then brush tops and sides of baps with remaining tablespoon milk, and sprinkle with flour. Bake until baps are puffed and golden, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool on a rack. Baps are best the day they are made but can be stored in a plastic bag or covered container at room temperature for up to 2 days. Reheat in a 350°F (180°C) oven for 5 minutes to refresh. Use baps for sandwiches.

Special Equipment

Baking sheet

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
194Calories
2gFat
38gCarbs
6gProtein
×
Nutrition Facts
Servings: 8
Amount per serving
Calories194
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 2g2%
Saturated Fat 0g2%
Cholesterol 2mg1%
Sodium 541mg24%
Total Carbohydrate 38g14%
Dietary Fiber 2g6%
Total Sugars 2g
Protein 6g
Vitamin C 0mg0%
Calcium 35mg3%
Iron 2mg12%
Potassium 92mg2%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

More Serious Eats Recipes