Sausage Rolls (Wheat Free)

For the afternoon tea party this month, I tried making something that I've never ever done before: puff pastry! I decided to use the puff pastry to make some delicious sausage rolls.

Now, sausage rolls made with normal shortcrust pastry are also delicious, but I thought I'd challenge myself. The idea of a picnic conjures up sausage rolls and pork pies in my mind (I knew there was Englishness hiding in there somewhere), so I decided to use it as an opportunity to try something new.

Puff pastry, admittedly, is a little time consuming and fussy. Traditionally, you make a shortcrust pastry, saving some of the butter, and then you sandwich the pastry with the butter, folding and re-rolling repeatedly to make thousands of layers of pastry and butter. This makes it puff and go super flaky on cooking in an extremely hot oven. The only challenge is that everything has to be ice cold, meaning that between each step you have to chill the dough, then fold and re-roll, then chill, and so forth. It takes forever.

So, some enterprising soul somewhere in history came up with rough puff pastry, which is a little bit of a cheat. You use a traditional shortcrust pastry recipe but you prepare it differently. You only rub the flour in halfway, and only mix in the water half way, and then tip it all out on the surface to begin your rolling and folding, freezing for 15 minutes after every third turn and roll. Of course, it's very messy to start with because it's crumbly and uneven, but as you progress it sorts itself out.

Now, I'm not going to outline the process in my recipe, I am, however, going to link you to a great video that shows it in good detail. I've linked it so that it starts where the method is explained, because I use slightly different ingredients.

So, let's get started!

INGREDIMENTS

• 4 ounces (115 grammes) white spelt flour
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) very cold butter, cubed
• 2 to 3 fluid ounces (60 to 90 millilitres) cold water
• Generous pinch of salt
• 8 ounces (225 grammes) sausages of your choice
• Milk for glazing and sticking

METHOD

• Make the pastry using the flour, butter, salt, and water following the method in this video. The pastry needs about 90 minutes to 2 hours to make, so give yourself plenty of time.
• Preheat your oven to 220°C (450°F, Gas Mk.7).
• Skin the sausages and place the meat into a bowl. Mix it with about 2 teaspoons of water to make a manageable paste.
• Flour you work surface and roll the pastry into a long oblong about 1/4 inch in thickness, making the short end about 5 inches (12 centimetres) wide. The length of the oblong will depend on a few things, but make sure the width and thickness are right.
• Brush the pastry with milk and then put the sausage meat in an even line, spanning the length of the oblong.
• Fold the pastry over the meat, and crimp with a fork to make a big sausage roll. Cut the sausage roll into 20 little pieces, or 16 larger pieces is you want bigger rolls. 
• Place the rolls on an ungreased baking sheet and brush them with some milk for a nice gold brown finish. Place in the centre of the very hot preheated oven.
• Cook for 10 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown and puffed. Serve rolls straight from the oven, or allow to cool on a wire rack.

Of course, sausage rolls are very, very high in fat, so enjoy sparingly!

THIS TIME IN 2014: No blog due to family difficulties
THIS TIME IN 2013: No blog due to going abroad