Sausage Roll with Puff Pastry

A sausage roll is a British savoury pastry snack. It is basically a sausage meat stuffed inside a tube made from a sheet of puff pastry and glazed with egg before being baked.

Instructions

1. Use the puff paste and roll out lightly until it is about 1/2 an inch thick, cut into squares of the desired size, place a little sausage meat on one half of each square. The edges of the paste should be slightly wetted with an egg wash (beaten egg), and then neatly folded over. Trim the edges with a knife. After they have been pressed slightly together with the hand, brush over with the yolk of an egg, and bake for 25 minutes at 204° C (400° F).
2. Making Puff Paste Traditional Way. A very useful puff paste can be made by using 8 ozs. of butter and 4 ozs. of fresh lard to each lb. of flour. The flour should be finely sifted, and must be perfectly dry before using. Work the flour well up into a perfectly smooth paste using sufficient water to bring it to the desired texture. It should then be rolled out until about 1 inch in thickness. Break 4 ozs. of the butter into small pieces and lay over the paste, dredge the butter with a little flour and a small quantity of baking powder, fold the paste over, and roll out, then add the 4 ozs. of lard, and repeat as above. Then add the remainder of the butter, and roll out once more. The paste must always be handled as lightly as possible, and the rolling pin used with the very lightest pressure.
3. Making Puff Pastry. General purpose flour 225 g (8 oz); butter, unsalted, cold 250 g (9 oz); water, cold 150 ml (5 oz fl); salt 3.0 g (1/2 tsp); flour for rolling out, as needed.
4. Sift the flour and salt into a cold mixing bowl. Cut the butter into small cubes. Using a round pastry blender knife, stir the butter into the bowl until each piece is well coated with flour. Pour in the water, then, bring everything together to a rough dough. Press the dough into a fat, flat sheet, without kneading. Wrap in cling film and place in refrigerator for 10 minutes.
5. Lightly flour the work board and roll out the pastry until it’s about 1/2 (1 cm) thick. Make the sheet three times as long as it is wide. Fold the bottom third of the pastry up, then the top third down, trying to make the corners square. It is like folding a letter to fit into the envelope. Press the edges of the pastry together with the rolling pin. Roll the pastry lightly and place in refrigerator for 10 minutes. Repeat this procedure 6 times, then chill the finished pastry for an hour.
6. Sausage Roll. Roll out the puff pastry 1/8” (3 mm) thick. Cut into desired size squares, for example 4” (10 cm) wide. Place the sausage meat onto the pastry. Moisten the edges with egg wash (beaten egg), then fold over the pastry and seal together. Paint top with egg wash. Place onto a baking sheet and bake in an oven at 204°C (400° F) for 20 minutes.

Notes