Homemade sausage rolls
A fantastic simple recipe to try while mastering rough puff pastry. The sausage filling here uses fennel and mustard, but you can get creative and try any extras you fancy – from apple to chutney and cheese.
Ingredients
For the pastry
- 300²µ/10½´Ç³ú plain flour
- ¼ tsp salt
- 225g/8oz butter, cold
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 egg, beaten
For the filling
- 450g/16oz quality sausages
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
Method
Put the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl. Cut the butter into cubes and rub it gently through the flour, making sure that you retain chunks of butter in the mix.
Gradually add 150ml/¼ pint of ice cold water and the lemon juice to the flour mixture. Use your hands to just about bring the ingredients together, ensuring you don’t overwork the dough.
Tip the dough out on to a floured worktop and lightly roll it into a rough, scraggy ball. Wrap it in baking parchment and rest it in a fridge for 15 minutes.
Once rested, on a floured surface, roll the dough into a rectangle that's three times as long as it is wide and about 1cm thick.
Brush any excess flour off and, with the short edges at the top and bottom, mark the dough into thirds. Fold the top third down and bottom third up over the top. Turn the pastry 90 degrees, roll out thinly again and repeat the folding process. Then wrap in baking parchment and chill in the fridge for 15–30 minutes.
Remove it from the fridge and repeat the rolling and folding processes twice more. Wrap in parchment and chill again for 15–30 minutes before using.
Meanwhile, prepare the filling. Using a sharp knife, slit the skin of the sausages and push the meat out into a bowl. Discard the sausage skins. Add the fennel seeds and mustard into the sausagemeat and mix well. Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6 and line a baking tray with baking parchment.
Roll the pastry into a rectangle 4–5mm thick with one of the long edges nearest you. Lay the meat in a long sausage shape across the length of the pastry, roughly in the middle.
Tightly roll the bottom of the pastry over the top of the sausagemeat and continue to roll using the palms of your hand until the meat is totally enclosed and the seam is underneath. If necessary, trim off any excess pastry. (Excess pastry can be chilled and re-rolled or frozen for another use.)
Cut into eight equally sized rolls and place them on the prepared baking tray. Prick each roll with a fork and brush with the egg wash. Bake for 30–35 minutes until golden.
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