Bierocks aka German Hamburgers (Bieroch)

Bierocks are a staple food item found mainly in towns with strong German heritage.  (I learned from my mother in law, how to make them.)  Bierocks are basically a meat/cabbage mixture filling inside a sweet roll dough. They are a great main dish, or in smaller sizes, an excellent appetizer. These reheat well, so make a large batch and freeze for later. There are recipes on the internet where cheese was added, or heaven forbid a frozen dough was used which the old German ladies would never do.  I made the filling last night and tonight I am finishing them by making the dough, filling them, and baking.

I have an earlier post from December 2011, which, much to my own amazement, included FROZEN bread dough.  So here's the real deal the way it's supposed to be done! My German grandmother would be proud.
This recipe makes a huge amount of dough.  I couldn't fit all of it in my stand mixer! You may want to make 1/2 of the recipe.

• DOUGH:
• 10 to 11 cups all-purpose flour, divided
• 1 package (1/4-ounce) active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2-1/2 cups water
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup butter, cubed
• 2 eggs
• FILLING:
• 2 pounds ground beef
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 2 pounds shredded cabbage, cooked and drained

Directions

1. For dough, in a large bowl, combine 4 cups of flour, yeast, sugar and salt; mix well and set aside.
2. In a saucepan, heat water, milk and butter just until butter melts. Remove from heat and cool to 120°-130°. Combine with flour mixture; add eggs. Using an electric mixer, blend at low speed until moistened then beat at medium speed for 3 minutes. By hand, gradually stir in enough remaining flour to make a firm dough.
3. Knead on a floured surface about 10 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch dough down; let rise again until almost doubled.
4. Meanwhile, for the filling, brown beef with onion, salt and pepper; drain. Mix together with cabbage; set aside. Divide the dough into fourths. Roll each piece into a 15-in. x 10-in. rectangle. Cut into 5-inch squares. Spoon 1/3 to 1/2 cup filling onto each square. Bring the four corners up over the filling; pinch together to seal. Repeat with remaining dough and filling. Place on greased baking sheets.
5. Bake at 375° for 30 minutes or until brown. Yield: 24 servings

Look at these bad boys!  The dough turned out perfect, and they baked to perfection.  I used 1/2 whole wheat flour and 1/2 unbleached flour for the dough..

Enjoy friends!

Bierocks (aka Runzas)

A great old German recipe.  These are made with a sweet dough and stuffed with ground beef, onion, cabbage, salt & pepper.  We like to add swiss cheese, too!

Start by browning the ground beef.  This is one pound of fairly lean beef.

After the beef is browned, gather the other ingredients:  short cut by using a bag of coleslaw (already shredded cabbage and carrots), onion, and drained and rinsed browned ground beef.

Add the ingredients to a skillet and mix everything together.  Pour in a bit of chicken broth to help steam the cabbage. Put the skillet on a medium heat and cover, cook until the cabbage is tender.

Get the dough ready.  Today I used a frozen whole wheat bread dough.  It  was a great time saver.  Roll the dough out into a rectangle and cut into squares approximately 4 inches square.



Take a square of dough, place a small slice of cheese, put a mound of filling on top.

Fold the corners over the filling and pinch the seams of the dough to seal it.

Continue filing all the dough squares, place on a parchment lined baking sheet, cover and let them rise.

Let the Bierocks rise until nice and puffy, bake in a 350 degree pre-heated oven for 15 minutes, or until nice and brown.  Brush the tops lightly with butter, place on a rack to cool.

Enjoy!!