Apple & Thyme Fat Sausage Rolls

The humble sausage roll in all it’s glory. It’s a staple in our household, especially for my Fiancé. I think he would eat them everyday if he could! I adore a homemade sausage roll, but I mainly made these for him. I like either a mini sausage roll or a massive one, preferably the size of my hand. These are elevated by making a gorgeously buttery rough puff pastry and, although you can use shop-bought puff pastry in a pinch, I think it’s completely worth the extra effort.

The cumberland sausage meat has been pimped up with some cooked onion, apple and fresh thyme. I use a double egg wash to achieve an alluringly shiny top that’s been sprinkled with nutty sesame seeds, crushed coriander seeds and flaky salt.

Ingredients - makes 6 large sausage rolls

Rough Puff: - original recipe from Erin Mcdowell
335g plain flour
3g salt
250g unsalted butter, 1cm cubes
85ml cold water, plus more as needed
1 x beaten egg, for egg wash
white sesame seeds, to top
fresh crushed coriander seeds, to top

Sausage Filling:
1 medium white onion, diced
1 apple, peeled & chopped into 1cm dice (approx. 100g)
1 tbsp olive oil, for frying
650g cumberland sausage meat (approx. 12 sausages removed from their casing)
1 tsp salt
8 sprigs of fresh thyme

Method
Day One:
For the rough puff; place the plain flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Add the cubed butter and toss in the flour to separate the pieces. Press the butter between your fingers to create mostly large, flat pieces and some smaller. Make a well in the middle and add in the cold water. Mix and add more water, a tbsp at a time, until you have a hydrated dough. It shouldn’t be completely smooth as it will continue to hydrate in the fridge. Lightly press it together until you have a ball. Pat it into a rough square, wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Once rested, roll the dough into a 1cm thick rectangle on a lightly floured surface. Dust any excess flour off of the surface and fold in half. Fold the dough in half again so that it is in quarters. Repeat the rolling and folding before wrapping in clingfilm and freezing for 20 minutes. Roll and fold the dough again (twice) as you did before, so that you have rolled it four times total. Wrap the rough puff and refrigerate overnight.

For the sausage filling, you can cook the onion and apple so that it can cool overnight. Heat a frying pan with the olive oil over low heat. Add in the diced onion and cook for 10 minutes, or until the onion is translucent and completely softened. Add in the apple, and more oil if needed, and cook until soft (5-10 minutes.) Break the apples down a little with the back of a spoon, place into a container and refrigerate overnight.

Day Two:
To finish the sausage filling, place the sausage meat along with the cooked onion/apple, thyme and salt. Mix well to combine.

Take the rough puff from the fridge and roll it to a 25x48cm rectangle. Once rolled, trim the top and bottom edge slightly so that it is straight and now measuring 45cm long. Spoon the sausage meat down the middle of the pastry and push into a uniform 45cm log. Brush one side of the pastry, next to the sausage meat, with beaten egg. Fold the pastry over the sausage meat and press it into the other side so you have one long log with an lip of pastry. Using a fork, crimp the excess pastry, before trimming off the edge so that it is straight. Cut the log in half and place onto a lined baking tray. Egg wash the pastry and place into the freezer for 20 minutes to firm up. Pre-heat the oven to 200°C.

Take the sausage rolls from the freezer and cut each log into three so that you have six sausage rolls in total. Separate the rolls so they are approx. an inch away from each other. Egg wash the pastry again before sprinkling the tops with white sesame seeds, crushed fresh coriander seeds and flaky salt.

Bake the sausage rolls for 15 minutes before rotating the tray and turning the oven down to 180°C. Bake the rolls for a further 20-25 minutes until golden and puffed. If you have a meat thermometer, you can also probe the middle of the sausage rolls to ensure the meat has come up to 71°C. Keep an eye on them for the last 5 minutes to ensure the pastry isn’t catching.

These are best eaten on the day they’re made, but they can be kept in the fridge for up to 3 days.