Flaky Pastry Sausage Rolls

How to make the perfect Sausage Rolls using my homemade flaky pastry recipe, probably the best pastry you’ll ever make, step by step instructions, from start to finish.

Ingredients

Method

400g / 14oz Sausage meat (Pork or Beef)
255g / 9oz Plain or All-purpose flour
6tbls / 90mls Water (ice-cold)
185g / 6½oz Butter (very cold)
4g / ½tsp Salt
1 Egg beaten with a dash of milk (egg-wash)

Before starting the recipe, make sure everything is as cold as possible. It also helps to keep things cold if you ware disposable nitrite gloves when making this pastry.
Add the flour to a large bowl, then add the salt and mix it in.

Place a box grater in the bowl with the flour, and quickly begin grating in the cold butter, keep dipping the butter in the flour as you go. It helps considerably, if the butter has spent approximately 15 minutes in the freezer prior to starting the recipe.
Now using light hands, gently toss the grated butter in with the flour until everything is combined.
Place the bowl in the fridge or freezer for 10 minutes.
Use this time to prepare the sausage meat.
Divide the meat into 3 pieces, on a lightly floured bench, roll each piece into 30cm / 12in lengths, get then on a tray and into the fridge.
Once chilled add the ice-cold water to the pastry bowl, and using your hands gently but quickly, knead it until you have the pastry formed, try not to overwork the dough. Once your pastry is formed, wrap it in cling film and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
Once chilled, roll out the pastry into a 30cm or 12in square, then cut the square into three 10cm or 4in strips, then get them back into the fridge.
Line a large baking/cookie sheet with parchment paper, and have your egg-wash at the ready.
Get one of the pastry strips from the fridge, brush egg-wash along the front edge of the pastry and place one of your sausage meat strips on.
Gently roll the pastry partially over it, brush egg-wash over the rest of the pastry, then complete the roll.
Using your bench scraper cut the strip into 2 or 3 equal pieces, turn them seam side up, and give this half a good coat of the egg-wash.
Now place them on the lined baking sheet, seam side down this time.
Do the same for the other 2 strips of pastry.
At this point preheat your oven to 170°C / 340°F or gas mark 3.
Once all the sausage rolls are equally spaced out on the baking sheet, give the top half a good coat of the egg-wash too.
Get them into the middle of the preheated oven, and bake for 40 minutes.
Once baked, allow them to cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.
Enjoy.