Glasgow rolls with square sausage

Being able to make these light, airy but chewy rolls, a favourite in many parts of Scotland, will change your life! For a hearty Scottish breakfast, serve Jock Zonfrillo's home-baked rolls with square sausage, eggs and 'tartan sauce' – a mixture of tomato sauce and HP sauce.

Glasgow rolls with square sausage. Credit: Simon & Schuster Australia / Rob Palmer

• makes

  6

• prep

  25 minutes

• cook

  10 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

• 270 ml tepid water
• 7 g sachet fast-acting instant yeast
• 1½ tsp caster sugar
• 2¾ cup (425 g) strong bread flour
• 2 tsp sea salt flakes
• 2 tsp sunflower oil
• ¼ cup (50 g) rice flour, for dusting

To serve, optional

• Square sausage and tattie scones (get Jock's recipe for both here), fried eggs, butter, tomato sauce and HP sauce

Rising time: 2-3 hours in total.

Instructions

1. To make the rolls, pour 170 ml of the water into a small bowl, add the yeast and whisk in. Then add the sugar and whisk again, then set aside to activate.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour and salt, then drizzle the oil over. Use your hands to work the oil into the flour, creating a breadcrumb consistency. Use a rubber spatula to make a well in the centre of the flour then add the yeast mixture and remaining 100 ml of water. Use the spatula to mix, working the water into the flour.
3. When it comes together into a rough ball, turn the dough out onto a clean work surface and knead the dough for 10 minutes (you can use a stand mixer with a hook attachment on medium speed if you prefer) until it’s smooth and elastic. Form the dough into a smooth ball then dust the work surface with rice flour and gently coat the dough in rice flour.
4. Lightly spray the bowl with oil and place the dough inside, then cover with a clean damp tea towel or plastic bag and set aside to prove for 1–1½ hours. You’ll know this is done when they have doubled in size.
5. Dust the work bench with rice flour and turn the dough out onto the floured surface. Then you want to make them into flat discs so firmly tap the dough all over to remove the air pockets. Roll the flattened dough tightly into a log shape and use a knife or pastry scraper to cut the log into six 110 g pieces. Dust with rice flour and use your hand to flatten them slightly. Leave covered on the bench for 5 minutes, then pat them down again, sprinkle with rice flour and place them about 1 cm apart on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Sprinkle with rice flour and then cover with a damp tea towel, plastic bag or a plastic container and leave for 1-1½ hours until doubled in size again.
6. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 250°C and place a small, heatproof bowl on the bottom rack.
7. When the dough has risen, add 2-3 ice cubes to the hot bowl at the bottom of the oven. Weird but necessary for humidity. Then place the bread rolls on a rack above the bowl and bake for 10 minutes until golden brown. For well-fired (darker) rolls, bake for 12 minutes.
8. When it’s finally time to serve, butter the rolls and add tomato sauce and HP Sauce. We call this ‘tartan sauce’. Then start building the roll of your dreams with a slice of square sausage, a tattie scone and a fried egg. Boom!

Note

After shaping the rolls, they can be placed in the fridge or frozen to prove and bake later.

Extracted from Recipes to Remember by Jock Zonfrillo (Simon & Schuster Australia, RRP $55.00). Cover and internal food photography © Rob Palmer. Food Styling © Vanessa Austin.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.