Why would anyone make puff pastry from scratch?! Honestly?!
Ok, I can understand it if you want to add a flavour to the pastry, or you’re a pastry chef, or own a bakery, or have arms of steel… but little ol’ me? Nah, I’ll take the store-bought stuff from now on kthnx. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that it’s difficult… just very longwinded! Ain’t nobody got time for that! Though, I am glad to be able to cross ‘puff pastry’ off my baking bucket list. I love crossing things off lists.
Anyways, Pork, Quince & Sage Sausage Rolls!
These seemed to go down pretty well with my colleagues, so I’m quite chuffed with how these babies turned out!
You can most certainly use store-bought puff pastry… in fact, I insist you do… but as I was required to make it homemade, I started with that. I did this by mixing the plain flour and salt in a large bowl, then added enough water to bring it together to a soft dough with my hands.
I then wrapped this up in cling film and chilled in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Whilst the dough was chilling I prepared the butter. I did this by cutting the chilled butter into slices, placing onto a wooden board, then sprinkling 1tbsp of plain flour on top. I then bashed this with my rolling pin until pliable, sprinkling another tbsp of flour in between.
I shaped this into a rough square, and chilled for the remainder of time the dough was chilling (about 10 minutes).
Once both were suitably chilled, I rolled out the dough to a large square, then laid the butter block in the centre but at a diagonal to the dough. I then folded the corners of the dough in towards the centre, then pressed down with my rolling pin to seal.
I then started on my first 2 turns. I rolled out the square of dough to a long rectangle of about 1cm thickness, folded down the top third, then folded the bottom third up over the top. I then rotated this 90° (this is the first turn). Once again, I rolled out the dough to a long rectangle and repeated the folds as before (this is the second turn).
After these 2 turns, I placed the dough in the fridge to re-solidify the butter for 30 minutes.
After 30mins I took out the dough, rolled out and folded for 2 more turns, before chilling once again for 30 minutes.
I did this one more time, rolling and folding for 2 more final turns, before returning to the fridge for 30 minutes (or until ready to use).
For the sausage filling I started by blitzing up the onion, garlic, quince paste and sage leaves till it formed a thick paste. I then blitzed up the pancetta too.
I added this to the sausage meat, along with the Dijon mustard and Worcester sauce and mixed it with my hands till evenly distributed. I then generously seasoned with salt and pepper.
At this stage I actually fried off a bit of the filling in a pan with a bit of olive oil, just so I could taste it to check the flavour/seasoning.
Once I was happy with the taste, I rolled out half of the chilled puff pastry to a large rectangle of ½cm thickness. I spooned the filling into a line along one of the long edges. I then brushed the pastry around the filling with beaten egg before rolling the pastry around the filling. Once the pastry overlapped itself I cut away the extra pastry to use to make another long sausage roll.
I cut each long roll into 6 even sized sausage rolls and place these on a baking tray, brushed with beaten egg, and scored the tops with a knife in an attempt to make them look all fancy.
Repeat this with the other half go puff pastry to make 12 more sausage rolls.
I baked these at 200°C for 40minutes until puffed up, crispy and golden brown.
- For the puff pastry:
- 500g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
- 2tsp salt
- 200-300ml cold water
- 450g unsalted butter, chilled
- 1 egg, beaten
- For the sausage filling:
- 1.2kg pork sausages
- 1 large red onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 6 sage leaves
- 125g quince paste
- 50g pancetta/bacon
- 1tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1tbsp Worcester sauce
- salt and pepper
- Place the flour and salt into a large bowl.
- Gradually pour in the cold water, bringing it together as a dough with your hands. (I used 250ml water.)
- Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for 30mins.
- In the meantime, cut the chilled butter into slices. Place the butter in a pile on a wooden board and sprinkle 1tbsp of flour on top. Using a rolling pin, bash the butter till cold but pliable, sprinkling another tbsp of flour in between. Shape into a square, cover in cling film and chill in the fridge for 10mins to re-harden.
- Take out the chilled pastry and roll out into a large square.
- Place the solid butter square in the centre of the pastry square at a diagonal. Fold the corners of pastry into the centre and seal with a few knocks of the rolling pin.
- Roll out into a long rectangle.
- Fold down the top third of the rectangle towards the middle, then fold the bottom third up to overlap. Turn the pastry 90° and roll into a long rectangle and repeat the folds. This is the first 2 turns.
- Wrap the pastry in cling film and chill for 30minutes.
- Roll out and fold for another 2 turns. Chill for 30minutes.
- Roll out and fold for a final 2 turns. Chill for 30mins, or until needed.
- Remove the sausage meat from the skins and place in a large bowl.
- Blitz up the red onion, garlic, quince paste, sage leaves and pancetta till you get a thick paste.
- Add the paste, along with the mustard and Worcester sauce to the sausage meat and mix together till well combined.
- Season with salt and pepper. (I used about 1tbsp freshly ground pepper and 1tsp salt.) At this point you can fry a little bit of the mixture to taste it and check the seasoning/flavour.
- Set the filling aside in the fridge to chill whilst you prepare the pastry.
- Preheat oven to 200°C.
- Cut your puff pastry into half and roll out to a large rectangle.
- Spoon your sausage filling along the longer edge of the pastry into a line.
- Brush the pastry with the beaten egg before rolling over the filling. Once the pastry just overlaps, cut into a long roll. Use the extra pastry to make another long sausage roll.
- Cut each long roll into 6 sausage rolls.
- Repeat with the second half of pastry.
- Place the sausage rolls on a lined tray and brush with beaten egg. Bake for 30-40 mins until puffed up and golden brown. If you feel they’re browning too quickly, turn the heat down to 180 °C or cover with some foil for the remaining time.
- Serve warm or cold.
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