Sausage Rolls

Method

1. Squeeze the sausage meat out of its casings into a bowl. Add the breadcrumbs, mustard, sage, salt and pepper. Mix well with your hands until evenly combined.
2. Unroll the puff pastry and cut in half lengthwise into two long strips.
3. Shape half the sausage mixture into a log down the length of each strip, just off-centre.
4. Brush the far edge of the pastry with beaten egg. Roll the pastry over the filling to enclose it, pressing the seam to seal. Turn seam-side down.
5. Cut each log into 6 rolls. Score two or three shallow diagonal cuts across the top of each.
6. Transfer to a lined sheet pan and chill for 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 200°C (fan).
7. Brush the rolls with beaten egg and scatter with sesame seeds if using.
8. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, until puffed and deeply golden brown all over and the centre reaches 71°C.

Notes

• Squeeze the sausages from their casings rather than keeping them whole. Loose sausage meat can be seasoned, bound and shaped into a filling that fills the pastry evenly; whole links leave awkward gaps and don’t take extra seasoning.
• Chill the assembled rolls before they go in the oven. Cold butter layers in the pastry are what puff properly in a hot oven; rolls that go in soft and warm from handling tend to slump rather than rise.
• Score the tops before baking. The shallow cuts let steam escape in a controlled way and keep the pastry from splitting randomly.
• They freeze well unbaked. Freeze on a tray until solid, then bag; bake from frozen, adding about 8 minutes.

Ingredient substitutions

• Good-quality butcher’s sausages make a real difference here since the meat is the whole point; avoid very lean or heavily processed ones.
• A pinch of chilli flakes or nutmeg in the filling is a common variation.
• Serve with tomato sauce or English mustard for dipping.