Sausage rolls are a truly delicious treat and whilst you can happily make a good one with shop bought pastry, making your own flaky pastry is a great way to make these extra special. When it comes to flavouring you can use whatever strikes your fancy but for this classic recipe I have kept things simple using sage and mustard which adds a great flavour but doesn’t overpower the flavour of the sausage meat.
Method
For the pastry, mix the flour, salt and pepper together in a
large bowl. Add the diced butter and toss to coat in the flour. Use
your fingertips to press the butter into fat flakes. Chill this
mixture in the fridge for 15-20 minutes or until the butter is
firm. Remove the bowl from the fridge and drizzle in the water, a
couple tablespoons at a time, stirring with a round-bladed knife.
When the mixture is starting to hold together, use your hands to
briefly bring together into a uniform dough. Shape into a
rectangle, wrap in clingfilm, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
On a lightly floured work surface roll out into a rectangle
roughly 30x20cm. Fold the dough into thirds like a business letter.
Wrap back up in clingfilm and refrigerate another 30 minutes.
Repeat the rolling and folding a second time and then refrigerate
for a final 30 minutes before using.
To make the filling place the sausage meat into a large bowl
and set aside for the moment. In a frying pan, set over low/medium
heat, add the oil and once hot add the onion and a pinch of salt
and cook for about 10 minutes or until the onions are translucent.
Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds or just until starting to
brown. Add the sage and stir to combine then turn off the heat and
set aside to cool a little. Scrape the onion mixture into the bowl
of sausage meat along with bread crumbs and season very well with
salt and lots of black pepper.
Preheat the oven to 220ºC (200ºC Fan) and line a baking tray
with parchment paper.
On a lightly floured work surface roll out the dough into a
rectangle that is about 3-4mm thick and roughly 20cm x 50cm in
size. Trim the edges to cut into a neat rectangle. Brush the pastry
with the mustard and then lay the sausage meat mixture along the
pastry, in a thick sausage shape. Fold the pastry up and over the
sausage meat pressing together to seal, crimping with a fork. Trim
the excess pastry so there is a 'handle' of about 2 cm. Use a
serrated knife to cut into sausage rolls, you can cut these into
whatever size you like but I prefer to cut into 12 rolls. Place the
sausage rolls on the prepared baking tray and brush with beaten egg
and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Bake in the preheated oven for about 25-30 minutes or until the
pastry is golden brown. Remove and allow to cool slightly before
eating.