Bierocks (German Stuffed Rolls)

Name: Bierocks (German Stuffed Rolls)
Prep time: 150 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 170 min
Yield: 8 people
Ingredients: 1 c milk, (warmed to 80F); ¼ c white sugar; 2 ¼ tsp active dry yeast ((1 package)); 4 c unbleached all-purpose flour; 2 Tbsp salted butter, (melted and cooled); 1 egg, (beaten); ¾ tsp salt; ½ lb ground beef ((85-90% lean)); ½ onion, (diced); 3 c shredded cabbage ((about ¼ of a medium head)); ¼ tsp salt; ¼ tsp ground black pepper; 1 Tbsp milk

September 23, 2013 by Sarah Ozimek 87 Comments

The flavorful combination of beef and cabbage stuffed in a fluffy roll makes German Bierocks the perfect hand-held food to go along with your Oktoberfest beer.

Oktoberfest in Munich

How we wish we were back in Munich right now.

Saturday marked the start of a huge, two week long celebration of German culture, heritage, and tradition.

Oktoberfest!

Some of you may be thinking, “Wait. I thought Oktoberfest was all about the beer?”

Ok, fine.

People from around the world have gathered in Munich to celebrate these things through one, much more specific thing.

BEER.

Oktoberfest: The World’s Largest Fair

This 16-day festival, held each year in Munich, Germany is considered the world’s largest fair, bringing over 6 million people to that Bavarian city each year.

To the locals the festival is known as “die Wiesn” after the name of the festival area “Theresienwiese” (literally “meadow of Therese“).

The history of this festival goes all the way back to 1810, but we’ll go into the rich history later this week.

Of the attendees, almost 3/4 are from the surrounding Bavarian region, with the last 1/4 being made up of visitors from all over the world.

These visitors consume liters upon millions of liters of Oktoberfest beer, which must meet special purity requirements.

Basically, it’s one HUGE festival!

German Bierocks: The Perfect All-In-One Meal

We thought these bierocks would be a great way to kick off the next two weeks, since, what goes better with beer, than a hand-held all-in-one meal?

Bierocks (pronounced bee-ROK) are yeast-raised rolls that are filled with a savory filling.

They originated in Eastern Europe and are very common among German immigrants to the US.

(You can find a similar hand-held meal from Eastern Europe in the Russian piroshki.)

The bread that surrounds the cabbage, beef, and onion filling in these bierocks is dense, eggy, and so delicious that it could be a meal in itself.

But it is also a perfect complement to the savory filling.

It’s sturdy enough to stand up to the filling, but soft enough that you’d swear you were eating your favorite, fluffy dinner roll.

How To Make Bierocks

For what looks like it could be a complicated dish, bierocks are quite simple to make. The most time consuming part is the time it takes for the bread dough to rise, and that’s all hands-off time.

We make use of this time to make the filling, which is just a simple sauteed mixture of beef, cabbage, and seasonings.

Once your dough is risen and ready, you simply divide it into eight portions and roll each into a ball. These balls get flattened a bit, so you can add the filling and create a pocket.

The important part is making sure the dough gets pinched tightly closed around the filling.

You don’t want any filling to spill out before you take a bite!

How To Reheat Bierocks

We like to make a double batch of these rolls whenever we make them, because they freeze SO well.

We freeze them after baking, so they just need to be thawed on the counter for a few hours. Then a quick stint in the microwave is really all you need to get them nice a warm!

It’s so handy to be able to pull a couple frozen rolls out of the freezer and reheat them for a quick meal!

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