Dutch Style Sausage Rolls a.k.a. Brabantse Worstenbroodjes

This is a really yummy treat. They go very well with a pint of cold beer and you can eat the rolls warm or cold. For people who like to dip, serve with tomato ketchup or sweet chili sauce. It is really delicious with the Dutch style 'Curry sauce'. (Not available in NZ.) Make the rolls as big as you like. We were having friends over for drinks and nibbles and I decided to go for the bite-size option.

Ingredients:
For the Dough
- 500 gr High Grade (strong) flour
- 25 gr fresh yeast or 1 sachet instant dried yeast (is 7 gr)
  (when using dried yeast, add 1 tsp sugar to activate the yeast)
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- 250 ml lukewarm milk
- 50 gr butter, melted
- 2 eggs
- plain flour
- 1 tsp olive oil

Filling
- 500 gr minced meat
- 70 gr bread crumbs or 2 slices of white bread, cut off crusts and crumble
- 1 egg
- 4-5 tsp Gehaktkruiden*

*In the Netherlands you can buy specific spices for mince, also known as 'gehaktkruiden'. However, it is quite difficult to get your hands on these spices when living on the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore, I made my own mix and will share this highly confidential secret with you guys!

Gehaktkruiden:
- 4 tsp salt
- 3 tsp ground nutmeg
- 2 tsp ground white pepper if available, otherwise black pepper will do just fine
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp mustard powder
- 1 tsp marjoram
- 1½ tsp ground coriander
- 1½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp ground cloves (optional). careful with cloves, it can be overpowering

About 4 tsp is enough for 500 gr of mince. You can store the rest of the spice mix in an airtight container.


Utensils:
- big mixing bowl x3
- measuring spoons
- whisk
- cling film
- cup
- fork
- knife
- pastry brush
- baking paper
- baking tray
- tea towel


Preparation:
Start with the dough. Mix the high grade flour with the salt in one bowl. In another dissolve the yeast in the milk. (When using dried yeast, stir 1 tsp of sugar and the yeast in the milk. Let it sit for 10 minutes or until frothy. That means that the yeast is activated and ready to use.) Whisk in the melted butter and one egg until combined. Add the flour to the milk and yeast mixture and combine. Tip out of the bowl onto a lightly floured bench top and knead for about 10 minutes. The dough must feel smooth and bounce back when pressing with your finger tip. When the dough is too wet to knead, add a little more flour, but be careful because you might end up with a very tough and dry dough. It is better to have a relatively wet dough than a dry and tough dough. If the dough feels a bit dry, wet your hands with water and knead again.
Clean the bowl and rub the inside with 1 tsp olive oil. Put the dough in the bowl and cover with cling film. Leave to rise in a warm place (25ºC) for 1-1,5 hour or until doubled in size.

For the filling, combine the mince, breadcrumbs, egg and gehaktkruiden and mix thoroughly. Take a little bit of the mixture and roll a sausage between the palms of your hands. If you find the meat is too sticky and you can't roll properly, try wetting your hands with cold water. Make the sausages as big as you would like to serve the bread rolls. For a snack I made the sausages about 5 cm long. If you're already finished preparing the sausages, but the dough isn't ready yet, cover the sausages and put back in the fridge. Cover the baking tray with baking paper.

Once the bread is ready, carefully turn it on a lightly floured worktop. Press the dough gently to flatten it. Roll the dough out to 5 mm thick and cut it into rectangles. I always cut the dough as I go to prevent cutting the rectangles too small. Put one sausage at the beginning of your rectangle and gently roll it like a wrap. You can leave the sides open if you want, or you can tuck both sides underneath the roll. Place the bread roll onto the baking tray, seam side down. Repeat the same steps with all the sausages.

Cover with a tea towel and let the rolls rise for another 30-60 minutes, until the rolls have doubled in size. Preheat the oven to 220ºC and beat the second egg in a cup. Brush the rolls with the beaten egg. Bake the sausage rolls on 220ºC for 25-30 minutes or when they're golden brown and a skewer comes out clean when tested. Cool on a wire rack if you can wait that long, or dive in straight away!

If you have any dough left, shape it in any form you like and let is rise as well. Bake together with the sausage rolls. (Same temperature, same time.)