This post is about making sausage rolls from scratch.

In theory any style of sausage meat can be used, but I think this English banger sausage mix is most like the rolls I ate growing up. It is made from pork, simple seasonings (pepper, mace, nutmeg), and a good quantity of rusk or toasted breadcrumb. The breadcrumb gives the sausage a distinct texture, slightly less springy than, say, fresh bratwurst or breakfast sausage.

As for the dough, most sources say to use puff pastry. I tend to disagree. High quality puff might be acceptable, but poor quality produces an airy, insipid texture. I prefer my standard pie dough with a touch of baking powder, which gives a more robust texture, still tender but with a bit of crisp and chew.

Meat for Sausage Rolls

• 24 oz English Banger sausage meat (bulk, ie. not in casings)

Dough for Sausage Rolls

Ingredients

• 15 oz all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp white sugar
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 10 oz butter, unsalted
• 6 oz cold water

Procedure

1. Combine flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder in the bowl of a stand mixer. Stir briefly to combine.
2. Using a box grater, grate the cold butter into the dry ingredients. Mix briefly so that all the butter is evenly distributed through the dry ingredients.
3. With the paddle attachment running on low speed, stream in the cold water. Mix until a dough forms.
4. Remove dough from mixer bowl and knead by hand until a relatively uniform dough has formed. Shape the dough into a flat rectangle. Wrap with plastic and refrigerate 1 hour.

Shaping and Baking

1. Preheat a convection oven to 400°F.
2. Divide the dough in half and roll each half into long rectangles, roughly 18″ x 6″.
3. Divide the sausage mix in half and shape each into long, flattened rolls about 18″ x 1.5″.
4. Place a length of sausage along the centre of each piece of dough. Fold the dough up and over the top of the sausage mix and crimp thorough. Flip the rolls over so that the seam where the dough was crimped is facing down.
5. Square the ends of the sausage rolls, then cut each roll into 5 sausage rolls. Score the tops of each roll as shown in the photo above. Line the individual rolls on a bake sheet lined with parchment.
6. Bake in the 400°F convenction oven until meat is fully cooked and pastry is golden brown and crisp, roughly 15 minutes.