Sausage rolls

(My "night" project...roll with cocktail sausage fresh from the oven)

I always wish that I can make some bread and rolls for my family since we eat them for breakfast almost every day. As we say a wish is still a wish if no action is taken. But when I chanced upon Elinluv’s blog, I was so inspired with her success story in making sausage rolls (originated from dailydelicious). What makes me even keener in trying out this recipe is her creativity in baking 3 different types of buns using the same dough for sausage rolls. Then I started daydreaming....how nice if one day I can bake all these buns like her.

At dinnertime, when my son overheard my conversation with my hubby about making these sausage rolls, he was so excited and kept pestering me to make them on that particular night. He even offered to go straight to bed without his daily routine story-telling session. From this, you can imagine how “wai sek” (greedy) my son is! I was so touched with his eagerness and of course, he won the deal! This meant that I had to complete the project on the night itself by hook or by crook!! From mixing, kneading till baking, it took nearly 3 hours (much of the time was spent waiting for the dough to rise)! It was already passed midnight when the finished “products” were done. I was really thrilled to see the freshly baked sausage rolls coming out from my own oven! Overall, the buns tasted great. Just that they are a little bit dry the next day. Probably the problems lied on my poor kneading skills and placing the baking sheet at a lower rack during baking. Despite of this, my hubby and son finished all the buns within 2 days. It’s certainly worth the time and effort that goes into the “project”. I will definitely give this recipe another go….maybe not another night project…. (When? This is a secret to be kept from my son….. Shhhhh!)

Recipe adapted from dailydelicious (here and here)
For step-by-step instructions, please refer to this link.

Ingredients:
300g bread flour
5g instant dried yeast
10g sugar
6 g salt
30g unsalted butter (soft)
220-230g 1 egg plus whole milk (I used fresh milk)
8 pieces normal size sausages (I used 8 cocktail sausages and 4 normal sausages)
Egg wash - 1 egg plus 2 tsp water

Methods:
1) Put ½ portion of the flour and yeast in a bowl, whisk to combine, add sugar and salt and whisk again.
2) Pour the egg and milk mixture into the bowl. Use a large spoon (or pastry scraper) to mix everything together.
3) Put the remaining ½ portion of the flour into the bowl and knead briefly to combine all the ingredients.
4) Take the dough out of the bowl and knead. You will feel the dough become elastic after kneading for about 5 minutes.
5) Add butter and knead by using the heel of your hands to compress and push the dough away from you, then fold it back over itself. Give the dough a little turn and repeat. Put the weight of your body into the motion and get into a rhythm. Keep folding over and compressing the dough. Knead for 5-10 minutes or until the dough is soft, pliable, smooth and slightly shiny, almost satiny. Or you can also try stretching part of the dough, if it can stretch into a thin sheet without breaking, the dough is well-kneaded.
6) Put the dough into a lightly buttered bowl and cover with damp cloth. Let the dough rise in a warm place until its size doubles (1 – 1 ½ hour depending on the room temperature).
7) Take the dough out of the bowl, deflate it by touching lightly.
8) Cut the dough into 8 pieces, roll into a ball and let them rest for 10 minutes (cover with damp cloth).
9) Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into an oval shape, then place the sausage in the center. Cut both sides of the dough into 7 strips. Fold the strips alternating the left and right over the sausage.
10) Place the rolls on the greased baking sheet. Cover the rolls and let it rise until it almost doubles in size. Brush with egg wash. Preheat oven at 200°C. Bake at 200°C for 8 minutes then at 180°C for another 5 minutes or until the rolls turn golden brown.

(Some called these rolls "pig in a blanket". But it reminds me of my son when he was a newborn. Dun they resemble those newborn babies sleeping soundly in the feeding room? Hehehe!)