Germany is famous for having different kinds of delicious bread – no doubt and bread is one of their most essential daily food. But coming from Hong Kong where most of the bread of soft and fluffy, this is what I really miss living in Germany.
One of my favorite buns from Hong Kong is Sausage roll (or Sausage bun). The bun itself is an airy and a little bit sweet, twist around a sausage – maybe I’m a bit weird, but I really like it when food has a contrasting flavor of sweet and salty. Since Germany is also famous for having many different kinds of sausages, meaning it’s easy for me to find the ingredients to make this sausage bun.
We are using this method called “Tongzhong” method (or Utane dough) – it is a very common method when making a soft and fluffy bun, especially in Japan and Hong Kong. I am still a beginner in bread making, but this is a recipe that works out really well. Every time when I make and share this bread, everyone loves it so much. I hope you will like this recipe and the sausage rolls as well!
Hong Kong Style Sausage Roll
Ingredients
Bread Dough
- 60 g Flour
- 85 ml Water lukewarm
- 20 ml Milk
- 30 g Butter
- 375 g Bread Flour
- 7 g Dried Yeast
- 60 g Sugar
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 12 pcs Sausages
- 20 g Egg Egg Wash
Tongzhong
- 30 g Bread Flour
- 150 ml Water
Instructions
Tongzhong
- Mix the water and flour in a small pot over medium heat, stir constantly until it thickens like a paste.
- Remove from heat and let it cool aside.
Bread Rolls
- Heat up the water and milk mixture until it’s around 50 degrees. Add the sugar and mix well. Add the yeast as well, gently mix it a bit and let it sit for 10 minutes. You should see the yeast dissolve in the water and may start looking a bit foamy. This process is to activate the yeast.
- When the yeast is ready, add 60g of egg, bread flour, a pinch of salt and tongzhong to the yeast mix. Start mixing it with a spoon, then start kneading it with a hand mixer or by hand (I usually start with a hand mixer, and finish it by hand). Transfer it to a clean table and knead more if necessary. When it becomes a smooth dough, add the butter to the dough and knead until it is smooth again.
- Leave it in a big bowl that is dusted with flour to prove for 45-60 minutes.
- Take the dough out of the bowl when time is up. The dough should have doubled in size. Press out all the air from the dough.
- Equally divide the dough into 12 portions (I weigh the total weight of the dough to make sure each portion is equal, but that’s not necessary.) Roll each portion to a long rope with a diameter of 1-1.5cm and a length of ~25cm (the goal is to make sure it is at a good length to wrap around the sausage.)
- Wrap the bread dough around the sausage and put it on the baking pan/container. (It will not be easy to transfer it until the bread is baked.)
- Cover with cling film or a clean damp cloth to leave it to prove for another 45mins.
- Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees.
- Brush some egg wash on the bread before putting into the oven. This will give a shiny look for the bread once it’s done.
- Put it in the oven and bake for around 15mins or until it turns golden-brown.
- Let it cool down a bit and it’s ready to eat!
