Sausage plait from scratch, step by step with photos. £0.54p per portion

Home made sausage plait is delicious and filling and frugal too.  If there is any leftover it's lovely cold with salad for lunch the next day or to take for a picnic.

At Frugally Well it's known as Regatta Pie when boiled eggs are placed down the centre and encased in the sausage meat.  This is my favourite version.

We had baked beans (Asda Sava) which are surprising tasty even for a former Brand Junkie such as myself.  Give basics ranges a try, they have improved so much recently.  Why pay more?

You will need a shallow baking sheet or tin to cook the plait on.  Preheat your oven to 200 degrees C.

This recipe makes around 8 thick slices or 4 - 6 portions depending on appetite.  We have some hot for supper and the rest goes into the fridge for further suppers and lunches for a few days.

Ingredients and method.

Makes 5-6 portions depending on appetite

For the shortcrust pastry

• 175g of Plain flour (I've run out so used SR flour, don't worry, the Earth's still spinning)
• 88g Hard fat, butter, lard or suet, personal choice (Asda Best for Baking in this case): Well chilled and chopped into small bits 
• Salt and Pepper
• Some milk for glazing (around 3 tablespoons)

For the filling I used

• Sausage meat or sausages (any type, you choose), I had 8 large pork and tomato sausages
• Herbs (again, personal choice, I've used thyme and sage from my patio pots)
• S&P
• 5 Hard boiled eggs - I boiled mine for around 4 1/2 minutes so when baked they are still creamy centered.
• Optional:   bacon, apple slices, herbs, chopped mushrooms or onions, black pudding, tomato, chili, garlic, paprika... anything you fancy really.

My cost analysis

Flour = £0.15p

Eggs £0.13p per egg = £0.65p

S&P = £0.01

Milk to glaze = £0.01

Sausages = £1.41

Herbs = £0.00 free from garden

Cooking fat = £0.50p

Total cost = £2.73p (or around £0.54p per portion based on 5 servings)

This is a large pie and will make several meals.  It's easy to halve or quarter it to suit your needs.

Method

First make your pastry, either by hand or in a food processor. Those who know pastry making may wish to skip to the filling.  If you've never made pastry before do have a go.  Basically it's a ratio of half the amount of fat to the flour used followed by as much water as it needs.

Put your flour and salt into a bowl (or processor) add the cubed fat (or suet) and either pulse until it looks like breadcrumbs or rub between your fingers quickly to achieve the same result, see photo on the right (you can omit this stage if using suet but you'll need to knead the dough a bit longer to distribute it).

The breadcrumb stage, it doesn't have to be perfect.

Just coming together.

Pastry done.

Now, add a teeny bit of cooled water at a time until you can squeeze it together gently to form a dough.  When it looks like the photo on the left add the water a teaspoon at a time to the dry bits at the bottom and test by squeezing after each addition.

Then form it into a tidy ball of the dough without kneading it and wrap in cling film or a freezer bag and chill for at least half an hour.  




For my filling I've used sausages as that's what I had in the freezer.  You can use sausage meat or mince from any kind of meat but you may need to add an egg if using mince to help bind it.

I peeled my sausages and put the sausage meat into a mixing bowl then added my herbs and salt and pepper.  Then mixed with a fork to thoroughly combine things together.  

Time to roll out your pastry on a lightly floured surface.  Roll to the depth of a 20p coin and try to get it as rectangular as possible.  Don't worry about making it neat, we're not going for best in show here!

If you're using boiled eggs you need to put only half of the sausage mix down the centre of the rectangle, then line the eggs on top, point to point.  If you flour the eggs the meat mix sticks better.  then put the remaining sausage mix over and encase the eggs.  Don't worry about neatness just get it all covered over.

If you're not using eggs just dollop your sausage mix down the middle and round it off slightly.

Now the fun begins.  To make the plait cut diagonal lines on each side of the sausage all the way across each side as per the photo slanting slightly in the same direction.  Don't worry about uniformity, they can be different sizes, mine always seem to be.  See photos below.

To plait the pastry simply wet the inside pastry strips and starting at one end fold the slices of pastry over and around the sausage filling alternating from left to right side all the way along until you get to the other end.  The end pieces can be tucked in.

Using two spatulas or fish slices carefully transfer the plait to your baking sheet or tray.  Brush with a little milk, or egg wash if you've one to use up.

Bake at 200 degrees C for 25 minutes then check, it may need another 5-10 minutes depending on your own oven, they're all different.


Slice thickly and serve with baked beans or potatoes and veg, or pickles and chutney, or salad, this is so versatile!