Sausage Roll in the Making

These Sausage Rolls were made by my lovely mum just yesturday. She makes the best English food in town, I'm sure of it! She is fondly known for her baking skills, particularly because long ago she was once a pastry chef. But as time has gone on and the typical demands of life continue, she prefers to take advantage of the ready-to-roll pastry that are on the market. They are massive time savers to say the least. Yet the good thing is that at least there is still that element of 'homemade' in the pies and pastry's she makes.

I decided to document each stage of the making of my mums sausage rolls for those who have never made them. It's an extremely straight forward process, yet they make the best finger food for traveling, taking on picnics and parties.

What you will need for making these scrummy Sausage Rolls.

Makes about 24 bite-sized pieces. 

1 packet of 'ready-to-roll puff pastry (or pastry you prefer)

1 packet of Sausages (we buy the Halal type, either spicy or mild)

Milk (roughly 1/4 cup) for brushing

Little oil for greasing the baking tray.

Flour for dusting rolling out surfaces.

STEP ONE: 

Both sausages and pastry, if frozen, must be defrosted completely.

Lightly flour your surface & roll out pastry into a long rectangle. Roll to the thickness of a £1 coin.

(The dough we rolled out, I would say, measured 10inches by 5inches. However I'm just estimating, I didn't measure..but its to give you a rough idea.)

STEP TWO:

Using a knife, cut the pastry evenly in half length ways. You will have two lengths of pastry to work with.

TAKE NOTE:  The sausage has a thin membrane skin covering them, which needs removing. To do this, hold onto one end of the sausage and carefully push out the meat filling onto the pastry. Don't worry if it gets messy. Once you have enough sausage meat to run along the length of each pastry, you can then gently mold the meat into shape.

STEP THREE:

Now take your milk. For sake of ease, pour a little of the milk into a cup or bowl. Using your fingers or pastry brush (whichever is closer..haha..we use fingers) brush only one edge of the pastry with the milk, keeping the other edge dry. This will help the pastry to seal nicely.

 STEP FOUR:

Fold over the pastry, sandwiching the meat inside the pastry. Press the pasty edges down carefully to seal. Repeat for both rows.

 STEP FIVE:

Take a fork, and press down the folded edges firmly, but not to the point that pastry sticks to the table or surface.

 STEP SIX:

Taking the bowl of milk again, brush the entire surface of the pastry with milk.

(Notice the sheen?)

 STEP SEVEN:

Using either a sharp knife or fork, make small  incisions, or poke holes along the top of the long sausage roll.

STEP EIGHT:

Cut into even size pieces. You can gently mark out your pieces using a knife, to make them equal first, before cutting.

Ours were cut into roughly 2 inch pieces.

 STEP NINE:

 Grease a baking tray.

Arrange your mini sausage rolls along the greased tray leaving about 2cm between each roll. 

(Remember, puff pastry will increase in size a little.)

 

 STEP TEN:

Bake for about 10 to 15 min or until golden brown.

(Don't they look irresistible? They were! I chomped one almost immediately after I took this picture..yum!)

So there you have it! If you don't end up eating them all immediately, they can safely be stored in the fridge or even frozen for a 'sunny' day when you decide on a picnic, or for those unexpected guests. Just  pop in the oven till heated through and crispy, or quicker still, defrost lightly in the microwave first before bunging them in the oven.