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Bacon Roly Poly

Introduction & method

I love suet pastry, whether it's surrounding a steak and kidney pudding, rolled in a jam roly poly, or enveloping bacon, onion and stuffing. It's proper comfort food.

 Bacon Roly Poly Recipe

About the Bacon


For this roly poly I think rashers (slices) of bacon are best. Smoked or unsmoked, back or streaky, that's up to you.

About Suet


If you're not familiar with shredded suet, it's made from the hard fat around the kidneys of sheep, cows, pigs, etc. The leading brand in the UK is Atora and you can probably buy it online. Failing that you could sub grated frozen butter, lard or shortening.

Make the Suet Pastry


Mix together the flour, suet, and salt. Gradually stir in the water until a ball of dough forms. Wrap this in plastic film and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Make up the Stuffing


Follow the manufacturers instructions for making up the stuffing. It's usually as simple as stirring boiling water into the mix. Let it cool down to room temperature before using.

Prep the Bacon and Onion


Bacon usually contains a lot of water - you want to get rid of this before your put it in the puddiing. Spread the bacon rashers out side by side on a sheet of kitchen paper. Place another sheet of paper on top and more bacon if you have it. Then more paper. Microwave it for 2 minutes, then immediately separate the bacon from the paper. Top and tail, peel, and thinly slice the onion. Gently fry it in oil on medium-low heat for five minutes. The aim is to soften it without colouring it.

Assemble the Roly Poly


Sprinkle flour on your worktop and roll out the dough into a longish rectangle. Transfer the dough onto a sheet of greaseproof paper. Spread a thin layer of stuffing over the dough, leaving a 2cm (about an inch) margin all round. Lay your strips of bacon all over this, and then a layer of onion. Carefully roll it up from the narrow end nearest you. Moisten the margin at the far end with water and smooth it down onto the roly (or is it poly?). Roll it so that the seam is on the bottom, then raise up the greaseproof paper and fold it over to seal it. Twizzle the ends of the paper and fold them under the roll. You need to leave plent of space for expansion within the package. Now loosely wrap the whole thing in aluminium foil.

Cook the Roly Poly


Preheat oven to 160°C (320°F) for a fan/convection oven, 180°C (356°F) conventional, gas 4. Half fill a large roasting tin with boiling water. Place a wire rack over that and the roly poly on it. Put the whole thing in the oven and cook for 1 hour. When cooked, allow to cool for 5 minutes, unwrap it and serve with mashed potatoes, vegetables and gravy.


The video above is from the Keef Cooks YouTube channel. Click here to see the video recipe of Bacon Roly Poly on YouTube.

 
You might also like these recipes:

English Muffins

Cumberland Pie

Fish Pie

Ingredients & Info


SUET PASTRY
 200 grams self-raising flour
 100 grams suet
 150 ml water
 half a tsp salt
FILLING
 225 grams bacon
 170 grams sage & onion stuffing mix
 1 medium onion
  ground black pepper to taste

UNITS:
Metric
US Customary/Imperial

Serves 4 -6
Prep time: 30 minutes.
Cooking time: 1 hour 15 minutes.
Total time: 1 hour 45 minutes.