Ingredients: makes 12-18 sausage rolls
200g plain flour
half teaspoon salt
125g white fat and hard butter mixed
100 ml very cold water
200g sausage meat or skinless sausages
tablespoon thyme or sundried tomatoes or anything else you think would be nice to add to your sausage rolls
A little beaten egg or milk to glaze
- Preheat the oven on to 200c/Gas 7.
- Mix the flour and salt together in a bowl, cut up the white fat and butter into small pieces.
- Stir in the cold water with a knife, DO NOT RUB IT IN, and mix to a stiff paste.
- Roll the dough out onto a floured surface to a narrow rectangle.
- Fold the dough into three, turn one of the open ends towards you and roll out again. Repeat this three times, turning each time. BE CAREFUL to roll away from you and DO NOT break the air bubbles, no matter how tempting it is.
- Cover the pastry and leave to rest in the fridge for about 15 minutes. If it’s hot weather you may need to leave the pastry in the fridge for longer, around 30 minutes.
- Place the sausage meat in the bowl, add thyme or sundried tomatoes or anything else you’re using to flavour the sausagemeat.
- Roll out the dough again into a long rectangle approximately 7.5cm wide (3 inches). Put some flour onto your hands and then roll the sausage meat into a long ‘sausage’ as long as the pastry. Place on the edge of the pastry.
- Roll up the pastry to enclose the sausage, dampen the edge of the pastry with a little water and seal well.
- Cut into lengths, place on a baking tray with the pastry seam underneath, brush with beaten egg or milk and make three cuts on the top of the pastry.
- Bake for 20 minutes until browned and crusty.
VERY IMPORTANT – after handling raw meat you MUST wash your hands thoroughly before you touch anything else. Do NOT use the same utensils for raw and cooked meat without washing them thoroughly.
Italian Sausage Rolls – before rolling up the pastry, add in some strips of sundried tomatoes topped with slices of mozzarella cheese and maybe a little fresh basil. Roll up the pastry in the same way and bake for the same time, the mozzarella will be melted when the rolls come out of the oven. You could try olives or pesto as well.
Another way…
You can use the Rough Puff recipe to cheat even more. Place the fat in a freezer for 1 hour before using it, then grate it into the flour, dipping the fat into a little flour if it sticks to the grater. Continue in the same way.