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Sausage Rolls (Tangzhong Method)

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Hong Kong Style Sausage Rolls01

It’s been a long time not to have this Hong Kong Style sausage roll, Hong Kong style. A reader left a comment on my Chinese food blog a few days ago, letting me know she liked the tangzhong recipe very much and was succeeded in making some soft and fluffy Hong Kong style sausage rolls. Waahoo…the comment really intrigued me to make some to satisfy my craving.

Here comes the recipe that I created and based on the method of bread making with tangzhong. Basically, the method is the same as the one posted here, but for the filling, I replaced with sausages. You might use any kinds of sausage you like with different sizes. I used the the Continental Frankfurt that’s similar to hot dogs in size. So each roll was big enough for being a light lunch for me, haha…

Hong Kong Style Sausage Rolls (Printable recipe)
By Christine's Recipes
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 120 mins
Yield: Makes 4 to 6

Ingredients:
  • 4 to 6 sausages, any kind to your liking
  • 350 gm bread flour
  • 55 gm caster sugar
  • 5 gm salt
  • 56 gm egg
  • 7 gm milk powder (to increase fragrance, optional)
  • 125 ml milk
  • 120 gm tangzhong (refer to this recipe for making tanzhong)
  • 5 to 6 gm instant yeast
  • 30 gm butter (cut into small pieces, softened at room temperature)

Hong Kong Style Sausage Roll Procedures

Method:
  1. Combine all dry ingredients: flour, salt, sugar and instant yeast in a bowl. Make a well in the center. Whisk and combine all wet ingredients: milk, egg and tangzhong, then add into the well of the dry ingredients. Knead until you get a dough shape and gluten has developed, then knead in the butter. Mind you, it’d be quite messy at this stage (That's why I used a bread maker). Keep kneading until the dough is smooth, not sticky and elastic. (Tip: you might like to test if the dough is ready. Stretch the dough with two hands. If it forms a thin “membrane” that’s very elastic in texture. Use a finger to poke a hole. If the hole is a circle, not an irregular tear-off (see picture 1). That means you have successfully kneaded the dough to a perfect stage. Yet, don’t over-knead the dough. Otherwise all the tissues inside would be broken apart.) The time of kneading all depends on how hard and fast you knead. (Note: I use bread maker to do this hardest part and messy job for me. I added the wet ingredients into my bread maker first, then followed by the dry ingredients. The yeast is the last to add.)
  2. Knead the dough into a ball shape. Place in a greased bowl and cover with a wet towel or cling wrap. Let it proof till it's doubled in size, about 40 minutes (Note: the time will vary and depends on the weather. The best temperature for proofing is 28C. I still used my bread maker in this stage. And my bread maker has a heater.)
  3. Transfer to a clean floured surface. Deflate and divide the dough into four to six equal portions. Knead into ball shapes. Cover with cling wrap, let rest for 15 minutes (see picture 2).
  4. Knead each part into a long tube, about 41cm in length (it depends on how long your sausage). Roll to enclose the sausage, with seals facing down (see picture 3). Place rolls on a tray lined with baking paper, covered with cling wrap or a wet towel. Leave it for the 2nd round of proofing, about 45 to 60 minutes, until double in size.
  5. Brush whisked egg on surface of rolls. Bake in a pre-heated 180C (356F) oven for 35 minutes, or until golden brown. Transfer onto a wire rack and let cool completely.

Hong Kong Style Sausage Rolls02

Notes:
  • This bread can be made with or without a bread maker.
  • Testing your dough before proofing is quite important to make sure you’ll enjoy soft and fluffy bread after baking.
  • The time of proofing has to be long enough, yet not to over-do, in order to get the best result.

Other tangzhong bread recipes:

77 comments :

  1. Looks better than the ones in the bakery which almost never taste fresh once you've bought them!

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  2. Christine, these are fabulous. They're just the right portion. Too small would not be enough for me. :)

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  3. your sausage rolls look really good. I eat them a lot in my childhood and this brings back fond memories & cravings :)

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  4. This is AMAZING! FANTASTIC! I just adore sausage rolls - especially when you have dough as beautiful as that. I will definitely make this soon!

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  5. They are perfect, well done!

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  6. Yummy, looks exactly from local HK bakery. I have to make time to try this method!

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  7. Hi Christine,

    it's the first time to visit your blog and it won't be the last...I absolutely loved what I found..I have a food blog too it's not professional as yours though but I'll be glad if you give it a visit and leave some comments :)

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  8. These look perfect...just like what I used to buy from bakery back home. Haven't seen any here. I think I should take a stall and sell these....LOL

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  9. These look wonderful...so soft and golden!

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  10. These look so good, totally delicious and very pretty!

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  11. These are so nice..great recipe!!

    sweetlife

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  12. These look perfect! Look exactly like from bakery store, you're so talented.

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  13. oh you got me craving sausage rolls!

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  14. OMG! I always buy this at breadtop. Now I know how to make it!

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  15. Perfect choice for my breakfast! Still have some to share? ;)

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  16. These are my daughters' favourite at dim sum! looks delicious! I really need to try the tangzhong recipe. I have had it lying around for a year and forgot about it!

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  17. I really have to making some of those tang zhong bread! Looks amazing.

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  18. I love these frankfurt buns! So much that I made teh tangzhong recipe last night....going to finish off tonight. Can't wait!
    Love your blog!

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  19. I've seen these around in some of the bakeries here, but even better I can now make them for myself! Thanks for sharing your wealth of information.

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  20. I love this roll! So soft and fluffy :)

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  21. The bread is so soft and fluffy. Using the breadmaker to knead and proof this dough using the tangzhong method, will the dough be easy to handle, is it sticky?

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  22. Hi Christine, how're you? A couple of questions. I'd like to incorporate tangzhong into my other bread & bun recipes, but how much do I put in? Also does 5-6 gm of yeast equals 2 tsp? Thank you.

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  23. To Sarah,
    You may use any bread recipes incorporating tangzhong method into it.

    The tangzhong is 20% of total weight of all the wet and dry ingredients of any bread recipe. Calculate the tangzhong: 1 part of flour with 5 parts of water on that 20% part.

    Then you have to subtract(take away) the amount of the flour and water that used in tangzhong from the main ingredients.

    For the yeast, 5 gm = 2 teaspoons

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  24. Thanks Christine for the explanation on the usage of tangzhong in other recipes. I'm now ready to knead and roll. But first I must make your Walnut Butter Pound Cake. Looks yummy. Have a good weekend.

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  25. hi Cristine, love your post about this tangzhong method, will try this soon as i get a dough hook attachment for my kenwood mixer, i bought a couple of hongkong bread cookbooks but it doesn't have this method...one of them states bread additive? is it the same as bread improver? Will update you once i've tried this method=)(*so excited*)

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  26. Hi Christine, I just made the sausage rolls and they are delicious! Thanks for the recipe!

    Greetings from Spain,

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  27. Just another note to say thanks for the great recipes. I made those hot dogs this weekend. They turned out great!

    Many thanks again.

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  28. Hi Christine,

    I was wondering what make and model is your bread maker?

    Thanks

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  29. Hi Anonymous,
    My bread maker is Sunbeam, the basic model-Bakehouse Compact.

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  30. OK, I just made the tangzhong part of this recipe, and I never saw those lines you spoke of. It just went very quickly to a thick pudding thickness. Could you help me to figure out what I've done wrong? Should I assume it won't work now?

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  31. To Lauren,
    The tangzhong is a thick flour paste actually.
    When cooking, swirl a balloon beater, you should've easily seen those lines when the tangzhong is done. It doesn't need to be too thick anyway.
    Btw, if you get a thick paste, I guess it's ok.

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  32. Hi Christine. What brand of the sausage did u use? The ones I bought from Woolworths was longer than the ones usually used in the Chinese bakery and they expanded in the oven and then shrank when they cooled down, leaving the bread much larger than the sausage. It looked really funny :P

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  33. To Lesley,
    I used Continental Frankfurt. That's quite long, but you can cut it into two if you like.

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  34. Hi Christine. How much portion of bread flour & water to make 120gm Tangzhong? Thanks

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  35. Hi Christine,

    How many days does your bread stay soft at room temperature?

    Is Tangshong same as bread improver? Thanks!

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  36. Hi Christine!

    I tried your recipe days ago. The bread flavour is very good, but it wasn't fluffy enough.
    I used my bread machine too, but how long is your machine kneading?
    Thanks for your reply!

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  37. Christine,

    In response to your explanation to Sarah about incorporating TangZhong into normal bread recipe, can I ask, when you mention 'all the wet and dry ingredients of any bread recipe', do you also include butter and egg?

    And when you say subtract, do you subtract from the 120g TangZhong amount or do you subtract from the original amount? How would you know how much bread flour and water is used to obtain 120g TangZhong?

    Sounds complicated but thank you!!!!

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  38. Hi Quinn,
    For making the tangzhong, I often use 50 grams of bread flour and 250ml of water and then I can get about 245 grams tangzhong (How can I know? I simply knew it by weighing the tangzhong with my electric kitchen scale.) Every time I just use half of it, or measure out 120grams.

    Based on the above info, you can cook 25 grams bread flour with 125ml water, then you’ll get around 120grams of tangzhong. (Mind you: the weight of tanghzong would vary a bit as the water you lose in the process of cooking varies every time. But this little difference won’t make a great impact in making the dough on the whole.)

    When you want to convert a regular bread recipe into tangzhong recipe , you have to take out the amount of flour and water from the original recipe because you have already got them in your tangzhong. Sounds easier?

    Hope it helps.

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  39. oh tried this recipe for my mother in law she came from Macao to visit us she always complain that i never cook i just don't cook very often because my husband is a Chinese chef so i feel kinda embarassed but when i made these she loved it so much haha she said i was quite a good baker hahaha i was so happy lol
    this all thanks to your recipes!!!!!

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  40. Hi krystina888,
    I'm so happy for you. I guess you hadn't tapped into your cooking talents before. Now you can prove your mother-in-law wrong. Keep it going, Krystina.

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  41. To Anonymous,
    Sorry for missing your comment.
    The crucial key to making fluffy bread is to knead your dough to a perfect stage with enough gluten inside.

    The time prescribed in the recipe is only a reference. Your aim is to knead your dough until it can be stretched to a thin “membrane” as the picture shown on this post. If you knead your dough well enough, let it proof until double in size, it'd be very soft and fluffy.
    Normally, I have to knead dough for 30 minutes in my breadmaker.

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  42. hi christine, when kneading the dough in the breadmaker, when do you add in the butter during the kneading cycle? 5 minutes or later? thanks a bunch!

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  43. To Anonymous,
    I normally add the butter in when all ingredients come together and just begin to form a ball shape.

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  44. Thank you for sharing this lovely recipe. My boyfriend was very surprised and very happy about them.

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  45. To Anonymous,
    Sorry for missing your question. And too many "Anonymous" here, a bit confused....

    Anyway, just a quick reply:
    The unsed tangzhong should be kept in fridge. It can't be kept very long at room temperature, a couple of hours would be fine, as long as the weather is not too warm.

    Tangzhong is not the same as bread improver.

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  46. Hi Christine, I just decovered your website last week and i love everything that you have made. Im going to try this recipe later today and was wondering how long should i mix the wet and dry ingredents in the bread maker :)Thank you for sharing your lovely recipes <3

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  47. @Janet
    Thanks for dropping by.
    If you use bread maker, that's pretty easy, just put all the dry and wet ingredients in and let it knead for you. I use my bread maker to KNEAD about 25 to 30 minutes, until the dough becomes elastic.

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  48. Instead of using a bread maker, can you use the dough hook on a kitchenaid to knead?

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  49. The tangzhong method and recipe is fantastic! This method is similiar to using a sponge starter for French Bread. The trick to kneading the sticky wet dough with a dough hook is to mix the ingredients until just combined, cover with cling wrap for ~10 min, and then knead again. This allows time for the flour to absorb the water. Then knead again until dough is smooth.

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  50. Christine:
    Just want to thank you for great recipe. I had made this last week and the bread result was incredibly soft! Another great success!
    Here is the link to the result:
    http://www.foodbuzz.com/recipes/3420211-hong-kong-style-sausage-rolls

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  51. @Yin:
    How nice!
    Aw, the tangzhong method is spread like a fire. Seems that every baker loves it once they give it a go.
    Glad that you had a big success too. Congrats!

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  52. hi christine,
    can you tell me how to get a soft n shiny crust?.
    mine sausage roll came out a bit hard...
    thanks...

    cherry

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  53. @dav:
    If the temperature of your oven is too high or bake too long, the crust will be hard and dry.
    Make syrup - Mix 1 teaspoon of sugar in a tablespoon of water, dissolve completely.
    When your sausage rolls are almost done, brush syrup on top, bake for 5 minutes. Then you'd get shiny crust.

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  54. thanks christine,
    just tried it today, and it looked lovely...
    and i think last time when i baked it i didnt let the bun rise enough.... this time, i let it double in size (almost an hour) n when i baked it, it was so soft n fluffy... thanks for the
    help.
    cherry...

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  55. Hi Christine,
    Tested your recipe it was amazing I live in hawaii and we can get this at chinatown or anywhere on the island of oahu but no more i can bake these myself your recipe is just awesome my family just loves it mahalo your recipe rocks!

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  56. @Anonymous
    Hi *waive*
    So glad to know that you and your family love this recipe. From now on, you can have fresh sausage rolls hot from the oven whenever you like. :)

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  57. Thank you so much Christine! I have always wanted to know how to bake fluffy bread and so glad find your site. Have you tried to bake taro filled taro bread? I can't seem to find that recipe anywhere. Again, THANKS!

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  58. Hi Christine,
    I'm a new fan of your sites, both Chinese and English. Thank you for sharing all of your recipes. My family is very happy with me trying out many of your recipes. I have a question, could this bread recipe be use for Char Sui Boa (叉燒餐包)? I've tried your recipe for 叉燒餐包 (it doesn't seem like your usual recipe since it was not measured in grams) and it was a bit dry and hard. I was just wondering if this recipe with the tangzhong method could be use the same way with 叉燒餐包?
    Thanks again for sharing all your recipes and knowledge. :)
    Lisa

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  59. @Lisa:
    As for this recipe, you can wrap any fillings inside, char siu is good.
    Don't bake the breads too long or at too high temperature, otherwise they turn dry. Every oven is very different.

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  60. Hi Christine,
    I'm making the dough this morning and use my Kitchen Aid to do the kneading. It kneaded a good 45 minutes and it was still sticky. The membrane has formed but the dough cannot be handled with hands. I let it knead for another 10 minutes and I was afraid it may be over kneaded. I live in US in the east coast, could the altitude here make a difference? I added more flours and it is a little better. It is proofing right now so I'll let you know how this goes? :)I'm making the rolls for my five years old nehpew's birthday party.
    Thanks you!
    Lisa

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  61. @Lisa:
    I have tested the tangzhong method with my stand mixer too. It took longer time to knead the dough than my breadmaker.

    Suppose that you have measured all the ingredients correctly, it's still workable, although the tangzhong is much more stickier than other kind of dough. You might sprinkle a little bit of flour on the surface so that you can shape it. But make sure not too much, as the texture of the bread would turn dry.

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  62. sorry think I posted onto wrong recipe.
    Any idea on how long roughly should I be hand kneading for as my dough came out from sticky and unmanagable but tasted fine.

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  63. @Katy
    It all depends on how fast and how well you knead. Some veteran bakers can knead dough within 20 minutes, but it might take an hour for new bakers.
    The goal is to knead the dough until it's not sticky, but stretchy, with enough gluten inside.

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  64. wow looks very very good, better than the bakeries'.

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  65. hi,
    i wanted to know if i could substitute bread flour with plain all purpose flour .

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  66. @chinnu:
    Yes, you could use plain flour/all purpose flour instead. But the texture of the end result won't be as soft as those made by bread flour.

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  67. I tried to roll the dough but it keeps sticking to my hand. have problem trying to curl round the sausage as dough is sticky. pls help

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  68. @Anonymous:
    Yeah, the tangzhong dough is quite wet and sticky. The dough has to be kneaded enough, generating enough gluten inside, not sticky on the surface at least.
    If using bread machine, it's much more easier.

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  69. What can we use regular sugar?

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  70. @Jon:
    I often use caster sugar for baking.
    For this recipe, you might use regular sugar if you don't have caster sugar.

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  71. Yayyy!! I finally got around to making these. Mine turned out ok (not as awesome as your's)... But they taste good! I didn't make the tangzhong properly (missed the step about cooking it) so I think that's why my rolls were a little flat. Anyway, this is the first time I've ever made Asian pastries--rolls, in this case--but I'm glad I found your blog. I just want to try everything here! Anyways, I finally made TangZhong the 'right' way and am waiting for my Japanese Milk Bread dough to rise (it's been 30 minutes) so that I can bake it and see if I should continue my food experiments or just stick to my day job (haha). Here's a photo of my sausage rolls: http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lzggpnCeVb1r8bamxo1_500.png

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  72. Made these rolls today...Yummmm...thank you so much for sharing the recipe!

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  73. I was wandering will the bread smell like yeast, or taste like yeast after it comes out? because I tried a few recipes with steamed buns, and tried baking buns they all came out smelling like yeast i had to throw them away. I use 1 1/2 tsp in one recipe, 2tsp in another, and another I used 3 tsp even I reduce the yeast it still comes out smelling like yeast

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  74. @Anonymous
    I lost counts of how many times I used this recipe, but without tasting any yeast smell as a result.
    If any dough is over-proofed, the yeast will produce strong smell.

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