I found the secret to the ultimate sausage roll

It's what the trendy bakeries don't want you to know.

Sausage roll cream

I have a go-to sausage roll recipe that I’ve been making for 15+ years, but there’s part of me that has always wondered how the trendy bakeries make their $8 kind. You know, the ones encased in golden flaky pastry that’s soft and pillowy on top but crispy and caramelised underneath. And the filling that’s umami and moist and…

It’s safe to say sausage rolls are never far from my mind. At 11pm on a recent family camping trip, we were chatting about food. While describing in detail our all-time favourite foods (as you do at almost midnight), my cousin described the sausage roll he eats at least once a week. He said it’s rich, not too meaty and “unlike any other” he has tried before. Luckily, this cousin also happens to work at the bakery that makes them – and it’s famous for its sausage rolls. 

Regular sausage rolls not big enough? Try our giant sausage roll recipe:

Sausage roll secret ingredients, revealed

Casually, my cousin revealed that the secret ingredient in their sausage rolls is cream. Yep, a whole heap of cream is added into the meat mixture. No wonder they’re so rich, moist and moreish.

This bombshell led to a whole heap of digging through our sausage roll recipes (like I said, I think about them a LOT), and it turns out Curtis Stone has been doing it for years! In his lamb sausage rolls recipe, he mixes cream into the breadcrumb mix. 

Why add cream to sausage rolls?

I asked our foodie experts about Curtis’ bakery trick and they confirmed that cream softens the breadcrumbs and stops the meat mixture from drying out, as the breadcrumbs won’t suck up moisture from the meat and other ingredients.  Taste.com.au‘s Food Director, Michelle Southan, explained: “No need for dry sausage rolls as the addition of cream adds extra moisture keeping them soft and juicy”.

It doesn’t stop there, Curtis also uses the cream to brush the tops of the pastry, achieving  that glazed, golden, bakery-style crust. Curtis Stone, you’ve unlocked the secret to next-level sausage rolls!

Well, this is the only way I’ll be making sausage rolls from now on.

Originally published as I found the secret to the ultimate sausage roll