These are probably the only "German" dish that existed in my home growing up. I admit, that though I have strong German veins running through almost all sides of my family lines, German cuisine died out by the time it reached my family.
Bierrocks are the exception. I was raised wtih them; I LOVE them; my family now LOVES them...including my 3 year-old. It is one dish that I am sure my family has "Americanized" though. I know there are several variations of them. The following "recipe" is the version that I was raised with complete with my homemade dough recipe that I use.
Note: If making completely from scratch, by yourself, this is a very time-consuming meal.
DOUGH:1 Egg + enough water to equal 1 1/3 Cups
1 1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Margarine or butter, softened
4 Cups (roughly) Flour
2 tsp yeast
FILLING:1 lb ground meat (hamburger, sausage, ground pork, etc...your choice)
Small head of cabbage, chopped (or half a large...the cabbage and meat should be about equal portion once cooked)
1 small onion diced or chopped
Cheese
1) In a large bowl or kitchen aid with dough hook, mix all the dough ingredients until the dough is soft and easy to work with. Cover and allow to raise about 1 hour or until doubled in size. If mixing by hand, knead the dough about 10 minutes before letting raise. (I use the dough setting on my braed machine...allows my hands to be free to cook the meat and chop the cabbage.)
2) In a large skillet (I use my electric skillet because I double the quantities and need LOTS of space), cook and crumble meat. Drain. Add chopped cabbage and onions. Cover and allow to cook until the onions and cabbage are tender.
3) When the dough is ready, pinch off dough balls about the size of a small tomato or slightly larger than a golf ball. On a floured surface, use a rolling pin and roll out the dough balls out into a circle. (They don't need to be real thick because the dough will raise more in the oven, but too thin will cause them to break when folding.)
4) Place rolled dough on a greased cookie sheet. Fill 1/2 of it with a spoon full of meat mixture. Sprinkle with a little cheese. Fold the top over and pinch closed.
5) Repeat 3 & 4 until the cookie sheet is full. Bake at 400 degrees for about 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. (While the first pan is baking, I keep the process going and have a second pan ready by the time the first pan comes out.)
I really don't have a serving amount. I double the recipe and then have about 50 that I can freeze and reheat later. Serving size will depend on the size that you roll your dough. We serve ours with ketchup and either fresh veggies or French Fries. I also realize that I made this sound really complicated, but they really are super easy to make just time consuming. I am usually in my kitchen for 4 hours cooking...but that includes making dough and working alone. :)
Cheats:-If you do not want to use this dough recipe, you can by the frozen dough balls. Just allow them to thaw per package directions, and then roll out and fill with the meat mixture. You may also have to melt a couple tablespoons of butter or margarine and brush the tops of the meat packets before baking to ensure that they brown. The dough recipe that I use has enough butter in the recipe that this step is unnecessary.
-I use my dough setting on the bread machine. When it gets down to 30 minutes, I start the meat mixture. While the cabbage is finishing cooking, the dough usually gets done, and I start rolling the dough circles out.
-If you happen are able to have 2 people, it is super fast and easy to have one person rolling dough and the other person filling the packets and folding them over.
-If you run out of meat before dough, the dough can be filled with fruits for "turnovers" or just baked as a dinner roll.
-If you have more meat and the dough is gone, just save the meat. It is tasty alone too.
Variations:
-Cabbage can be ommitted and saurkraut used in its place.
-Cabbage can be reduced by half and saurkraut can be used to make up the difference.
-Onions and cheese can be ommitted.
