penny bun

{{Short description|Small bread loaf historically costing one pence}}

{{hatnote|For the fungus commonly named the penny bun, see Boletus edulis.}}

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| name = Penny bun

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| alternate_name = Penny loaf

| country = England

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| type = Bread

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A penny bun or a penny loaf was a small bread bun or loaf which cost one old penny at the time when there were 240 pence to the pound. A penny loaf was a common size loaf of bread in England regulated by the Assize of Bread and Ale act of 1266. The size of the loaf could vary depending on the prevailing cost of the flour used in the baking.{{cite web|author=Randal W. Oulton |url=http://www.cooksinfo.com/penny-loaf-day |title=Penny Loaf Day |publisher=Cooksinfo.com |date= |accessdate=2016-10-05}} The nursery rhyme London Bridge Is Falling Down has a version which includes the line "Build it up with penny loaves".{{cite web |url=http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/games/songs/childrens/londonbrmp3.htm |title=National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences - Kids Pages - London Bridge |publisher=Kids.niehs.nih.gov |date=2010-12-15 |accessdate=2013-05-26 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130520081839/http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/games/songs/childrens/londonbrmp3.htm |archivedate=2013-05-20 }}

The term appears in the first complete published version of the "To Market, To Market" rhyme in 1805 as "To market, to market, to buy a penny bun, Home again, home again, market is done" in Songs for the Nursery.{{Cite book|last=Opie|first=Iona and Peter|title=The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes New Edition|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1997|isbn=978-0-19-860088-6|pages=352–353}}

The expression "penny bun" is Cockney rhyming slang for one, sun and son.{{cite web |url=http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com/cgi-bin/res.pl?keyword=Penny+Bun&offset=0 |title=Penny Bun |publisher=Probertencyclopaedia.com |date=2007-09-20 |accessdate=2013-05-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130605120311/http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com/cgi-bin/res.pl?keyword=Penny+Bun&offset=0 |archive-date=2013-06-05 |url-status=dead }} "Penny bun" is also the common English name for the cep (French), or Boletus edulis, an edible basidiomycete mushroom. Native to Europe and North America, it is Europe's second most sought-after fungus after truffles.{{cite web|url=http://www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/ancient/wild-food-entry.php?term=Cep |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090305095633/http://www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/ancient/wild-food-entry.php?term=Cep |url-status=usurped |archive-date=March 5, 2009 |title=Wild Food Guide: Cep, (Boletus edulis), Including Recipes |publisher=Celtnet.org.uk |date= |accessdate=2013-05-26}}

"Cockle to a penny bun" is British slang for racing odds of 10 to 1.